Football and Leadership
The other week, my friend Paul sent me this article about the poor state of commentary on the performance of English football goalkeepers. Paul said he thought it “was an interesting metaphor for leadership.”
I agree. Some of the passages—and lessons—that stood out to me:
On grading “success”:
“‘The morning after the game people get a grade out of 10,’ explains [former professional goalkeeper Rich] Lee. ‘I might look at it and think: that’s a 10 out of 10. Communication was fantastic, great starting positions, aggressive in everything they did, assertive with their back four [defensive players]. And I wake up the next day and they’ve got a six because they’ve not made that great save. You’re being graded on a completely different model.”
The leadership lesson: Those who don’t know what the job is will develop their own criteria for success. Good leaders will focus on what’s most important, not on external judges.
On developing the team’s skills:
“It’s like the difference between a babysitter and a parent. From the outside, we look at the goalkeeper as a player who sweeps up any mess and is there just in case something goes wrong. This is part of their job but their primary role is to guide the team along the way. Navigating trouble, constantly communicating and inspiring confidence in those around them. Sure, they’ll be there to kiss it better if you fall and scrape your knee, but they’ll also ask why you were there in the first place and, crucially, make sure you don’t do it again.”
The leadership lesson: If you’re leading well, you’re constantly giving direct but supportive feedback, so that people develop the skills to get ahead of issues. Just cleaning things up after their mistakes doesn’t help the organization be more successful going forward.
On creating the strategic conditions for success:
“One example is the throwaway line that a shot has “just hit him”. Well, why has it hit him? Keepers are card counters forever working to tip the odds in their favour. They may not be able to make the striker miss, but they can force him to be perfect to score. [Rich] Lee says a goalkeeper’s job is to maintain their “maximum position” throughout the 90 minutes. “You mention the cliché of ‘it’s just hit him’. Well, of course it’s just hit him, but it’s hit him because he’s put himself in a position that’s given him the greatest probability of making a save. That’s what goalkeeping is about: probability. You can’t know where the ball is going to go but you can put yourself in the best position according to percentages of what’s happened previously.”
The leadership lesson: Good leaders are constantly focused on putting the organization in the best position to succeed. That doesn’t mean you can know the future or that your strategy will always work, but that’s the best you can do.
On taking risks:
“Another mistake pundits make [is] to focus on a goalkeeper’s mistakes rather than their overall contribution to a team’s result. ‘One of the classic ways for me is crosses,’ explains Lee. ‘If you come for 10 crosses, you catch nine, but miss one and they score. People remember the one that you miss; they don’t remember the nine. And all of a sudden that becomes a mistake against your name. But if you don’t come for any of the crosses, the chances are that some might question why you didn’t come, but most won’t. So you end up getting blamed for zero, even though you may concede four or five. There will be tiny examples in games where – and I can only sense this because I’ve been there myself – there are positions you might take that weren’t the most effective, but effectively you were hiding. But no one picks up on it.’”
The leadership lesson: Taking risks invites criticism when it doesn’t work out, but not taking risks is cowardly and a larger issue.