There’s something businessmen could learn from the styles of three gentlemen who have built name and fortune in their managerial capacities: John Buchanan, coach of the world record-breaking Australian cricket team; Otto Rehagel, coach of the Greek soccer team that pulled off one of greatest shocks in football history by winning the Euro 2004 championships; and the much-quoted Portuguese Jose Mourinho who led football club Chelsea to the English Premier League a few weeks ago.
Before he took over as coach of the ‘invincible’ Australian side, Buchanan was the coach of State team Queensland, which had never won a domestic tournament. Buchanan signed up as coach, and promptly took it to a few tournament wins. Chelsea hadn’t won a championship for 50 years, but that didn’t deter Mourinho to lead his side to win. Mourinho had similar success earlier with Portuguese side Porto. Last year, Rehagel became a candidate for being called the best coach in soccer in spite of knowing very little of the language that his team spoke, and the fact that Greece had never ever gone past the first round in any tournament.
Even more amazing, neither of them had any sort of playing experience!
But we do get to learn a few things seeing their successes:
To win consistently, your team has to know what it can do, not what it wants to do. Set achievable and rational goals.
You don’t need champions or stars to lead the team to victory. Past merits mean nothing if you can’t perform when required.
Having an attacking and aggressive team doesn’t win matches (or deals) as much as having an effective and disciplined team.
Be a visionary. Be innovative. “Look outside the square,” as Buchanan is known to say often.
Borrow best practices from other industries. Facilitate the team.
Respect the individual and let each player develop as individuals.
Make mistakes.
Take all the attention and pressure onto yourself and away from the team, so they can focus on the job at hand winning. (Mourinho does a good job of this!)
I confess, it was reading “The IBM Way” by FG ‘Chuck’ Rodgers, IBM’s former VP sales and marketing for 10 years, that inspired me to write this Big Picture.
One quote stood out in that book: “A real leader, through his or her actions and words, has the ability to motivate others to their highest level of achievement; then gives them the opportunity and the freedom to grow.”