When else in life other than soccer or sport do we engage in a weekly battle where we face opposition that genuinely wants to defeat us? Everything is relative, so whether you are playing in the Champions League final or your over-40’s C division game, you are facing an opposition that will do pretty much anything to defeat you. Yes, you may be friends before and after … [Read more...]
The Soccer of Business: Being Effective
How do we become EFFECTIVE? Because being effective helps us shut down counter attacks, helps us score goals, and in turn helps us win games. We all want a player on our team who is effective. Effectiveness is not about what you do, but what you contribute to the team and therefore the result. So, if you want to get into a mindset of being effective, don’t ask what can I do? … [Read more...]
The Soccer of Business: Don’t Think About Your First Touch
Great players never think about their first touch. They don’t have to. It’s automatic. They have practiced it so much that they are on autopilot when the ball comes to them. They can spend those next seconds (or even milliseconds) thinking about their second touch, where the ball will go next. Long? Short? Where’s the gap? Who’s coming toward me with two feet raised? But … [Read more...]
The Soccer of Business: Brand and Culture
Why is it that some players perform incredibly for one manager and poorly for another? Why do they perform poorly on one team and then one transfer later they are at the top of their game performing at the peak of their career? It can’t all just be a different determination (or lack of it) from the individual player, can it? Top-level athletes are mentally honed to … [Read more...]
The Soccer of Business: Dig Deep
There comes a time during a game when you have a short amount of time to either make something happen or hang on for dear life. This usually occurs in the last five minutes of a game or during injury time. You have about five minutes to make something out of nothing to either tie the game up, create that winning goal or not concede. The stakes can be huge, and in … [Read more...]