Great reads HTT! I completely agree with everything you've written, why more people aren't able to see this stuff I do not know why.
It reminds me of an article I wrote back in 2014 which was all about looking at the business and entrepreneurship lessons we could learn from Kevin Keegan. I've copied and pasted excerpts of it below - yes I know it's super long but I thought I'd try and out-HTT, HTT!
I started supporting Newcastle, like most people of my age during the Keegan years. 1994, to be exact – 20 years ago! And what years they were, full of flair and entertainment. I thought all football was like that, and that all teams played like that. It turns out, I was spoiled. Hmph.
1. Be Passionate
He has been called football’s last romantic. In an era flush with corporate interests and billion dollar TV deals, he represented the almost extinct purity of doing what you love, just because you love it. Passion is what Kevin Keegan is renowned for. It is probably the first thing you think of, when describing him. Everyone knows the “I’d love it if we beat them, LOVE IT!” quote, which became iconic of the man.
What is the power of passion? Passion has the power to GALVANIZE. If you truly believe in a vision, in a cause, in an ideology, you can convince anyone to believe in it too. When he joined Newcastle as manager in 1992, with NO previous experience, they were close to being relegated to the old Division 2. His sheer passion rallied the team and kept them up. They were promoted the very next season. If you share your leaders passion, you’ll work harder, you’ll fight tooth and nail, you’ll give every last drop of sweat to the cause. You are connected to your purpose and why you do what you do. THAT, is the power of passion.
2. Be Brave
You need your leaders to be brave. If your leaders are brave, chances are, you will be too. Or you’ll make more effort to be. I mentioned above, he joined Newcastle in 1992, a team where he was loved for his stint as a player in the early 80’s. He got one phone call, and despite not possessing any managerial experience, took the chance to save his old club from relegation. He had the supreme self-confidence to back himself to do the job. Failure would have meant letting down the fans who previously adorned him. Failure may have meant his management career would be over just as quickly as it started. None of that mattered.
He was brave in his decision making, preferring to trust his gut instinct over all else.
“I’ve seen what other people say about him. They think he’s a good player and warn about his temperament. But if I had signed players on the basis of what I heard about them, David Ginola and Andy Cole wouldn’t have come to this club and the fans would have missed some great players.”
“You’ve got to have the courage to look at what you need and get the very best available. That’s what I did. What other people think of players has never worried me. You listen to the talk, but you’ve got to make your own decisions. It’s on the field where it really matters.” – Keegan on signing Faustino Asprilla
He was also brave in his approach. Too often we see a pragmatic or overly tactical, defensive approach who play not-to-lose, as opposed to win. Park the bus syndrome, or counter-attack and we’ll score on the break. Nope, none of that here. Keegan was gung-ho. Attack is the best form of defence. Cliched as it is, his “Entertainers” team became associated with the ‘if you score three, we’ll score four” no-fear approach. In a role with considerable pressure and expectation, to not only have no fear oneself, but to stamp that on his teams is an extremely admirable quality. Imagine how productive and how much we could conquer, if we could first just conquer our fears?
3. Be Kind; Manage People and Emotions Well
Footballers are multi-millionaires, supremely talented and expected to perform week in, week out at an extremely high standard. If you look at someone like Messi or Ronaldo you don’t really see the human, you see the machine-level of productivity and performance, the uber-focus and intensity. It is easy to forget that they are people and have emotions too. This quote, from a recent BBC article says it all:
It meant a lot to Ginola at the time that his manager, Kevin Keegan, took him to one side and told him he could return to France when needed to, as he remembered the experience of feeling low at times when he first moved to Hamburg in Germany in his own playing days.
“When you are a foreigner, people are not interested that you need to go home, recharge yourself,” Ginola explained. “They pay a lot of money and they want results. Sometimes people forget that footballers are human beings. Keegan never forgot.”
Keegan’s kindness meant a lot to Ginola. They played a game of golf together in the rain (Keegan won on the last hole). “He told me: it’s not a problem. I know what you are going through.”
From a business perspective, how aware and empathetic are we of our staff’s human needs? Getting to know the person behind the job title can really help to solidify relationships and to extract that little bit extra from your employee. Not to mention build loyalty… more on that later.
4. Identify the A-Players and Manage Difficult Staff Proactively
Following on from the last point, it is especially harder to manage the match-winners, the playmakers, the goalscorers, the flair players. Time after time, it is these guys that tend to fall out with managers the most, for losing the ball, for not tracking back, for missing an easy chance perhaps. The flair players often suffer the most, as their natural tendencies are to create magic out of nowhere, hence it is easy to flit in and out of games as opposed to a workhorse type of player – who whilst they won’t win you games, can always perform the functions of their role in every game, win, lose or draw.
The example of supremely talented Hatem Ben Arfa, currently farmed out to Hull City after (rightly!) criticising Pardew’s methods, and that of the highly productive Laurent Robert before him, let go on a free transfer by Graeme Souness suggests that moody, creative French wingers have always had trouble at Newcastle. Keegan had one of his own, in David Ginola to deal with. How did he cope with managing a maverick?
“To be honest, I wasn’t so sure when we signed Ginola. He was a Frenchman who was supposed to be quite moody and a primadonna and at first I thought there would be problems. We trained a few times and had a few practice games and the rest of the players seemed to be doing all his running, especially fullback John Beresford. I started having a moan during the training session and after it, Keegan pulled me in. He left me in no doubt how he felt. “Look, I know he’s got his faults and I understand what you’re saying about his work rate but he could win us the league! So if you’ve got to do a bit extra, then you’ve got to do it.” – Rob Lee, Newcastle’s captain during the Keegan years
In a business environment,the most important thing is the overall company, and the numbers. It’s a results game, after all. If you have a superstar in your team, you need him to be doing the added-value things that others cannot simply do. You need to set up your teams to get the most out of such talent, as opposed to ‘clipping their wings’, or stifling them because other team members moan of inequality or unfairness. We often tend to spend time reactively, with the less talented members of the workforce, ensuring they fully understand their roles and what they need to do. With the A-Players, it is quite easy to leave them to it, to let them get on with doing what they do as they require less of your time and focus. However you need to adapt your methods to maximise them and what they bring, as opposed to a one-size fits all approach.
“On his day, there is no more skillful player in the league than David Ginola. Yet after his brilliant start, he produced his form only in odd flashes. I left him in the side hoping he’d come good. Deciding whether a player like this is worth his place overall is a delicate balancing act. I always came out on his side because I like talent and attacking football. You can’t have a player of his age sitting on the bench. You either play him or sell him.” – Kevin Keegan
If your superstar is doing (or capable of doing) phenomenal things which are way above even your pay-grade, then let him! Don’t restrict them, just cultivate and steer them. It all reflects well on you, anyway. To play down their strengths for fear of upsetting the others, or showing you up is the wrong approach entirely. Anything and everything is do-able, as long as you can influence your stakeholders and your team over to your way of thinking. Look around you, who is the Ben Arfa of your business?
5. Be the best at Motivation, Inspiration and Development
A great leader gets the most out of their staff, and develops them to another level. Not only that, he inspires them to great achievements and inspires a great deal of loyalty as a result.
Kevin really made me the player I hope I am today. I was probably an average first division player when I went to Newcastle – Kevin made me into an International player. He changed the position I played to benefit both myself and the team. After only a week at Newcastle, he said “You can play for England. If you want to then I believe you can”. It was a wonderful thing to be told, a great boost, though at the time I thought “I bet he says that to everyone!” – Rob Lee
Gerry Francis is the best tactician I’ve ever worked with, he worries about the opposition and how to stop them. Kevin was only worried from a tactical point of view about his own team. He felt if we played the way he wanted us to play, there wasn’t a side in the country who could touch us. He never specifically sat us down in pre-season to tell us this, it was just at his team talks and general chats that his philosophy and way of approaching things came across. – Les Ferdinand
Kevin always made us feel a million dollars every time we went out. He was just how I imagined him to be. He got me really motivated and when he spoke, you just wanted to play football. Out on the training ground he was the same, his enthusiasm came shining through. He had Terry McDermott with him and he was a terrific sidekick for him. They would laugh and joke with the players and join in the training sessions and that made it really enjoyable and created a great atmosphere. – Les Ferdinand
I flew back from Holland and Belgium thinking he was different class as a man and a manager. Keegan treated me as if I were Pele. He made me feel like I was the best player in the world. He made me feel so important. He gave me my debut and stood by me in my darkest hour. My respect for Kevin Keegan will never die. – Steven Gerrard
It was only when Keegan arrived that things looked up for a while. I’ll always have loyalty to him, because when he was England boss he always had a great deal of loyalty towards me. – Robbie Fowler
6. Always foster open Communication, and display Honesty and Respect
In the cut-throat, almost sinister era where the beautiful game has become the very symbol of capitalism and ruthless business decisions (and ironically, probably not represented anywhere as much as present-day Mike Ashley led Newcastle), Keegan represented that refreshing modicum of honesty and open communication that is almost dead in the modern game. Someone who stands up for his principles and for his people (the fans). He introduced open to the public training sessions, so the fans could enjoy watching their heroes train.
When Andy Cole was sold, much to the disgruntlement of the public, he went and faced the fans himself to explain personally why they did so. There is a great story about this exchange, here.
“From the kids to the grandmas. I learned a lot from him about how to respect the fans and everyone at the club which is why he was so loved and appreciated by so many people” – David Ginola
Communication is absolutely key as a leader. You have the ability in your communication to diffuse a potentially stormy situation, and to make a good situation great. In Jim Collins famous book ‘Good to Great’ one of the keys identified to turn a company from good to great was to ‘face the brutal facts but never lose faith’ – known as the Stockdale Paradox. Be open and transparent and people will understand bad news. More importantly, they will TRUST you. A great book well worth reading, on the importance of trust in business is The Speed of Trust, by Stephen M.R. Covey.
7. Dream big
For me, every successful entrepreneur needs to have a vision and to be a bit of a dreamer. And then get others to believe in that vision. Nothing is impossible, if you have the focus, desire and motivation to see it through. Of all of Keegan’s attributes, for me this was the biggest one, and the one that set him apart from anyone else. That level of optimism and positivity is infectious and can inspire you and your team to greatness. The following quotes, from the man himself encapsulate the vision:
From my previous experiences with Newcastle United I knew it was a massive club. It wasn’t just a sleeping giant, it was scarcely breathing. But I knew, because of those incredible supporters, that it could be turned around. I am not talking with the benefit of hindsight. You only have to look at my programme notes after we were promoted to the Premier League, in which I warned Alex Ferguson that we were after Manchester United’s title. We always set targets but they were realistic. If your ambitions are merely to consolidate – a word I despise – that is simply an excuse for accepting mediocrity.
Since I had made it clear I had no interest in club management there had been no serious offers. Anyway, who would want someone who had been out of the game as long as I had? The answer, of course, was Newcastle United – the only club which could have made me change my mind. I would not have even contemplated turning to management with Liverpool, but the whole ethos of Newcastle triggered something in my mind. The sheer energy bubbling below the surface gave St James’ Park more potential than anyone had dared to dream. All that untapped potential, pent up passion and the willingness of the supporters to really get behind the side made it a frustrating club to play for, but managing it would be something else. There was a strong chance of success. Everything that had gone before had been so mediocre that it could be attained very easily.
My first programme notes for that season summed up how we felt and the optimism circling the club “The Premier League must be our number 1 priority this season”. To some it seemed an outrageous statement, after all we’d just avoided relegation by only 4 points, but we wanted to tell everyone at the club – not just the players – that we were a massive club with ambitions to match. Our aim, I added, was to become another Liverpool and dominate football. We tried to turn all the past events at Newcastle on their head by thinking and talking positively. I’d spend hours reading books on positive mental attitude, management skills and the advanced thinking of experts like Vince Lombardi, and I still read them now.
At last I had the chance to put all this theory into practice. I was not promising the supporters a false dawn, what I was saying was that promotion was our main target and it was achievable. If we fell short of that, like a good politician, we’d address that at the time. We couldn’t expect to win every match, but we’d try.
“We went out to entertain a Geordie public who crave entertainment, and that required players of flair and imagination who dared to perform in a certain way. My side and the Geordie fans were a marriage made in heaven. Teams are usually all about defence. All the coaching manuals tell you to build from the back, that if you don’t concede a goal you can’t lose. I preferred to believe that if you didn’t score you couldn’t win.”
Newcastle United became the personification of the man himself, during his time there. Ambitious, full of charisma, entertaining, refreshing and extremely likeable. Probably the polar opposite of the club today. But reading some of the above quotes lets you know the extent of his vision. The mark of which, is still there to see at the club today, some 20 years on. Never ever let anyone stop you from dreaming.
To finish, a segment of Napoleon Hill’s classic ‘Think and Grow Rich’ which conveys this need to dream very well indeed.
“In planning to acquire your share of the riches, let no one influence you to scorn the dreamer. To win the big stakes in this changed world, you must catch the spirit of the great pioneers of the past, whose dreams have given to civilization all that it has of value, the spirit which serves as the life-blood of our own country–your opportunity and mine, to develop and market our talents.
Let us not forget, Columbus dreamed of an Unknown world, staked his life on the existence of such a world, and discovered it!
Copernicus, the great astronomer, dreamed of a multiplicity of worlds, and revealed them! No one denounced him as “impractical” after he had triumphed. Instead, the world worshipped at his shrine, thus proving once more that “SUCCESS REQUIRES NO APOLOGIES, FAILURE PERMITS NO ALIBIS.”
If the thing you wish to do is right, and you believe in it, go ahead and do it! Put your dream across, and never mind what “they” say if you meet with temporary defeat, for “they,” perhaps, do not know that EVERY FAILURE BRINGS WITH IT THE SEED OF AN EQUIVALENT SUCCESS.
Henry Ford, poor and uneducated, dreamed of a horseless carriage, went to work with what tools he possessed, without waiting for opportunity to favor him, and now evidence of his dream belts the entire earth. He has put more wheels into operation than any man who ever lived, because he was not afraid to back his dreams.
Thomas Edison dreamed of a lamp that could be operated by electricity, began where he stood to put his dream into action, and despite more than ten thousand failures, he stood by that dream until he made it a physical reality. Practical dreamers DO NOT QUIT!
Whelan dreamed of a chain of cigar stores, transformed his dream into action, and now the United Cigar Stores occupy the best corners in America.
Lincoln dreamed of freedom for the black slaves, put his dream into action, and barely missed living to see a united North and South translate his dream into reality.
The Wright brothers dreamed of a machine that would fly through the air. Now one may see evidence all over the world, that they dreamed soundly.
Marconi dreamed of a system for harnessing the intangible forces of the ether. Evidence that he did not dream in vain, may be found in every wireless and radio in the world. Moreover, Marconi’s dream brought the humblest cabin, and the most stately manor house side by side. It made the people of every nation on earth back-door neighbors. It gave the President of the United States a medium by which he may talk to all the people of America at one time, and on short notice. It may interest you to know that Marconi’s “friends” had him taken into custody, and examined in a psychopathic hospital, when he announced he had discovered a principle through which he could send messages through the air, without the aid of wires, or other direct physical means of communication. The dreamers of today fare better.
The world has become accustomed to new discoveries. Nay, it has shown a willingness to reward the dreamer who gives the world a new idea.
“The greatest achievement was, at first, and for a time, but a dream.”
“The oak sleeps in the acorn. The bird waits in the egg, and in the highest vision of the soul, a waking angel stirs. DREAMS ARE THE SEEDLINGS OF REALITY.”
Awake, arise, and assert yourself, you dreamers of the world. Your star is now in the ascendency. The world depression brought the opportunity you have been waiting for. It taught people humility, tolerance, and open-mindedness.
The world is filled with an abundance of OPPORTUNITY which the dreamers of the past never knew.
A BURNING DESIRE TO BE, AND TO DO is the starting point from which the dreamer must take off. Dreams are not born of indifference, laziness, or lack of ambition.
The world no longer scoffs at the dreamer, nor calls him impractical. If you think it does, take a trip to Tennessee, and witness what a dreamer President has done in the way of harnessing, and using the great water power of America. A score of years ago, such a dream would have seemed like madness..”
Like Keegan, that pioneer of the past, let us never stop dreaming.
