QUIET LEADERSHIP

It’s a reflection of Carlo’s time in football and his thoughts and philosophies on what it takes to be a leader in this profession as a football coach/leader.  Values like resect, loyalty, value of money and hard work and the importance of relationship and family.

Quite Leadership

There is power in being calm and measured, in building trust and making decisions coolly, in rising using influence and persuasion and being professional in your approach.  It is born out of the idea that a leader should not need to rant or rage with iron fist, but rather, their power should be implicit.  It should be crystal clear who is in charge, and their authority must result from respect and trust and value creation, rather than fear. 

You earn the respect you are shown, partly through a successful career of delivering trophies (value creation) for players, clubs, but perhaps more importantly because of the fact that I respect those I also work with (building relationships).  This method of leadership must be part of who you truly are! – it is true to our character and an essential element of your personality.  Leadership can be learned but cannot be imitated.

If you really want to know who you are, you have to learn what people say about you when you leave the room.

People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.  To get people to work passionately for you, you need to show them you want them to achieve career success for their own sake!

Real Madrid President Florentino Perez described Carlos Ancelotti as a manager who could keep the superstars of Madrid happy while finding a way to make it work without grumbling in public – what else could a President desire from a Coach?

Being a Coach/Manager

-        You must never think being a former player is enough to be a Manager or Coach.

-        Have fantastic relationship with your players but remain the boss.

-        Everybody has the will to win, but only the best have the will to

prepare to win.

-        Managing competition among players in a big club is also a problem.

-        Nothing is as important as being loved and valued.

-        Sometimes it’s key players in the Team that have to be the leaders or reference points for other players, not the Coach.

-        You have to understand that no matter how insignificant you think your actions or words are, to your staff, you cast a shadow over all aspect of their lives.  Take this responsibility seriously:  take care of your people, don’t abuse your power.

-        Sometimes, a relationship just get tired, it’s time to move on, don’t internalise it, everyone has a cycle, the key is to remain productive in each cycle.

-        Speaking truth to power has to be acceptable behaviour.

-        As a Coach/leader, also find a solution, don’t waste time looking for the guilty.

-        Respect is everything.  It is a daily currency that can go up and down in direct relation to your behaviour and choices.  Take it seriously.

-        Don’t always be obsessed with drawing loyalty from people with whom you work.  Aim to inspire greater performance in the moment and focus on showing you really care about them as people and their professional growth.

-        Mutual trust comes as a formal piece of the relationship pyramid but demonstrate you can always be trusted.

Culture

-       Culture can eat strategy for breakfast (Peter Drucker).  Without empathy for culture, success can still be achieved but it can be fleeting, hard to sustain.

-        In Football world, there are two (2) sets of families:

          -        trusted lieutenants, staff, people, etc, people that have worked

with over the years.

          -        club family – officials, owners, media, etc

-        Learn the language, if no sufficient time, study the culture, it demonstrates a willingness to integrate to a new way of life, and it’s central to understanding the club, the country and its culture.  It enhances your performance on the job.

-        As a player, the jersey you wear represents a people, their culture and way of life, you must respect that and show it on and off the field of play.   For players and Coach, it’s even a measure of professionalism.

-        Cliques are not acceptable, integration is only key to success.

-        Cultural education comes from workmates, players, etc, rather than the Coach

-        You don’t need what you think you want, change can be liberating, don’t resist it for the sake of it.

-        Loyalty is the centre of all relationship, it’s to people, not organisation, for organisation is not personal, it’s only business.

-        Don’t be caught in overlaying the value of loyalty to your key people or lieutenants.  Your people will judge you on how you build a support Team to drive performance, not how loyal people are to you.

Hierarchy

-        Manage expectations from above to protect those you lead from presidential or owners of the club.

-        Never be afraid to delegate – nobody is good enough to do everything.

-        Owners of clubs have egos, treat those egos carefully.

-        Don’t play favourites – this is business

-        Quickest and most effective way to keep your owners and Board happy is to win.  To win, you need to build and nurture best relationship with your talent.

-        Take your owners on the journey with you.  Make sure they understand they are part of the story.

-        Over-communicate the key issues that drive success and manage the “noise” they can create around other areas.

-        Never underestimate the power of instinct in Football.

Talent

-        Players are the most important part of any football club.  Without players, no fans, nothing happens.

-        Managing talent is the heart of leadership challenge in Football – recruiting, on-boarding, training and development and succession is critical to talent.

-        A coach has to convince his talented players to put it’s talent to the service of the Team.  This is how they continue to develop.

-        A Coach must raise the Team to fit the talent of your star player, not diminish it to satisfy the Team.

-        Discipline is key in Football, if there is no discipline off the pitch, there is no discipline on the pitch

-        Recruit to your values and cultural fits.

-        You cannot control talent, you can only provide right information and value creation for them to achieve their full potentials.

-        Recruit to Budget – when you recruit, first take time to understand you recruit as a person, what drives him, what makes him who they are, etc.  Other things can come after.

-        Listening is key, ideas can come from anywhere.

-        For selfish talent – help them understand that the satisfaction of wining as a Team is greater than winning alone.

-        Take unbounding of talent seriously.

-        “Altitude of a Team is very key in Football”.  Even when you are not winning, you cannot control the result, but you can control the altitude.

Product

-        Every business has at his heart, the delivery of the product to the consumer.  In Football, that product is the “Pitch”.  What happens on the pitch drives three (3) basic revenue streams:

          -        Match day – Ticket sales

          -        Commercial sales/sponsorship

          -        Broadcasting – dominates the turnover of elite European leagues

-        Success for big clubs is trophies, for other clubs, it could be avoiding relegation or just remaining in business.

-        Identity is also key.  This is the style of play of the club on the pitch.  To win is not just enough, but winning with style and spectacle, upholding the culture and style of play of the club.

-        Know your business as a Coach or leader.  Those you lead expect nothing less.  If they observe less, they won’t be led by you for long.

-        Let your talent breathe on your problems include them in finding solutions to them.

-        The greatest lie in football is that all payers are treated equally.

-        Remember, there are no great Coaches or leaders.  They are only a great as the talent they seduce and lead and how much permission this talent gives them on a daily basis to deliver their ideas.

Data

-        Trust your instinct, but always embrace data and analytics and any edge they can give you.

-        Your most important analytics are your eyes and brain.  Draw on your experience and don’t get distracted.

-        Embrace data, but as a Coach, your role is to translate it into insights and then be the point person for delivering it to the talent.

-        Clear and frequent communication is always key to success.

-        A Team that wins all the time needs to lose to benefit from the lessons that only defeat can bring.

-        In the world of Football, we should never lose sight of the Target.  The target wasn’t to win titles or trophies initially, but to achieve a certain way of playing – focus, pattern of play, high energy – set pieces, etc., and enjoying doing that.   Once that level is achieved, the trophies and laurels will follow.

-        In the world of Football, there is only one secret, “do I have the ball or not?”  Barcelona opted to having it, but it is legitimate for others not to want it.

-        In Barcelona, they play a possession football, positional play, attacking football, not just for the fun of it, because if you have the ball always, it is impossible for your opponents to attack you.

-        Sometimes you lose, sometimes you win, but the ultimate obligation of a sportsman is to be constant, to always compete to the maximum of his ability and effort.  That is what coaches like Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola have done by changing play patterns, players nutritional patterns, individual players to team players and making them Winners!

-        As a leader, you must be hungry to learn, to search for challenges and awaken new feelings in oneself to achieve the unimaginable.