Notes from the CEO
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I am sure we have all had quite enough politics in the last couple of weeks, so let’s get back to that other great English obsession – football.
JP Morgan Chase & Co has just produced a lengthy “quantified” report assuring us that England will win the World Cup. A curious PR stunt that will surely further undermine our belief in bankers, and remind us that most business plans are full of spurious quantification.
Everyone knows that English footballers always arrive at the World Cup a) knackered at the end of a long season b) distracted by their publicity hungry WAGS c) carrying long term injuries and d) so hyped up by national expectations that normally dependable footballers are sure to whack their crucial penalty into Row Z, oh and e) we never practice penalties anyway.
This week I observe that the press pack have already turned on our previously highly rated national manager, Fabio Capello, partly to manage our national expectations, but also to start building the bonfire around the stake so that we can all give him a good roasting when England fails to lift the trophy.
In a different part of the football forest, last week I joined the Fulham faithful for a memorable trip to Hamburg for the final of the Europa Cup against Atletico Madrid. We played to perfection the classic British role of gallant loser – by conceding a goal three minutes from the end of extra time. As we trudged back to our convoy of buses to be airlifted out of enemy territory as fast as possible, the only good news I could reflect on was that we didn’t lose on penalties. And for the rest of time I can continue to kid myself that five crafty Fulham players might just have performed better than an equivalent bunch of nervy Spaniards.
For the real veterans amongst us Fulham supporters, the other compensation was that we gave the other team a better run for their money than the last time we got into a major final – in 1975 – when we went down pathetically 0 – 2 to West Ham .
We may not have won any cups this season (and anyway we don’t have a trophy cabinet to put it in), but we did win the Manager of the Year through “Professor” Roy Hodgson.
Fulham fans can bore you for hours about what Roy teaches us all about leadership, but watching Fulham since he came to the club is an object lesson in a) knowing your priorities (don’t let the other side score, matches are won on the training pitch not in the media) b) improving the skill of each individual player through expert coaching (the majority of the team that played in Hamburg were inherited by Hodgson) c) making the team play effectively as a whole (the players say they sometimes tire of Hodgson’s endless training drills to make them keep their shape as a team when playing, but it works)
I just hope that when Capello fails that the FA don’t turn to Hodgson. A) we want him at Fulham and b) it would be awful to see such a nice man burned at the English media stake.
Posted: May 20th, 2010 | Author: hugh.burkitt | Filed under: Leadership Central, Notes from the CEO | Tags: Hugh Burkitt, leadership, team work, the marketing society | 9 Comments »
Professor Hodgson must be the only football manager ever to number Updike, Ford, Bellow, Roth and Yates amongst his favourite authors (yes really!). And Fulham fans the only ones ever to try and start a fight with a rolled up copy of the Guardian.
Isn’t that Yates a wine bar rather than a poet? But then I believe that it is also true that Fulham fans only drink white wine (according to those rough fellows from West Ham)
Where I sit at Fulham some of the old style hard core fans drink merlot by the 250cc glass. Well hard.
Further proof that Roy is far and away the best manager Fulham have ever had: he speaks 6 languages, including Croyden, fluently!
Never has there been such a fury of interest in one of my blogs…I think I will write about Fulham every week!
Further proof that Woy is far and away the best manager Fulham have ever had: he speaks 6 languages, including Croyden, fluently!
Professor Hodgson must be the only football manager ever to number Updike, Ford, Bellow, Roth and Yates amongst his favourite authors (yes really!). And Fulham fans the only ones ever to try and start a fight with a rolled up copy of the Guardian.
+1
Keeping Woy next season has to be something that is vital. He has shown the difference that an experienced manager – who is on brand – can make.
His character fits the Fulham values of being “the friendly club”, the respect of his team, staff and fan, modest in success, gracious in defeat.
He has got ordinary players to over achieve this season and has recruited and motivated people brilliantly and every member of his team knows what there role is.
A couple of thoughts
• The Marketing Society Fulham Fan group – this season has shown me that there are more than I thought!
• Get Woy to do a piece on managing a team for a MS event?
Simon, Both of those are great ideas! If you can persuade Roy to say yes, we’ll fit him into our programme any time that suits him… How about this year’s Conference on November 18 at the Royal Opera House which is is all about leadership…and includes General Sir Mike Jackson ….perhaps he could pop along and do an interview that day!