A comparison of lessons to be learnt by FTSE companies from the English Premier League.

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The Ideal Player As A Footballer:
What Lessons Can The FTSE Learn From A Premier League Game?
written by
Chuka Okonkwo & Dubem Okonkwo

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The Ideal Player As A Footballer: What Lessons
Can the FTSE learn from watching a Premier League game?
"You've got managers who want to win so much, players will try every trick
in the book to get over the line and try and win football matches." Steven
Gerard, Liverpool captain
The Ideal Footballer As A Playerr agrees with The Tw↑ns:
Env↑ronMENTAL Training that many FTSE companies would learn
about their own Performance Line if they paid closer attention to what
takes place during a football game in the Premier League at the weekend.
Strange as it may sound an afternoon or evening spent studying the costly
mistakes made by individuals can help resolve mistakes in their business
or company over the coming months.
Some of you may be asking yourselves how can watching 22 men
kicking a round ball or play acting at the feet of the referee assist your
business or company? Others may be thinking how much do these players
earn a week? Some irate readers may say to themselves that with 'mega
wages' and sponsorship deals footballers have no problems.
Forget the wages and sponsorship deals for a moment, and focus your
attention on performance. In any business, a good performance will yield
good results sooner or later and vice versa. Those who concentrate and
focus on what matters will succeed. But success is driven by good leaders
or by someone taking charge. Factors, e.g. the way the person thinks, the
beliefs they hold, the philosophy they foster, all help to breed confidence in
a business or company. Decisions made in the boardroom, on the shop
floor, or on the football football pitch will manifest in good or bad
results. When concentration slips, confidence soon follows, and a business
finds itself in trouble.

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Many companies and businesses fail to realise that decision-making relies
on self-control and discipline. They will speak of bad luck and other factors
handicapping their success, yet forget that successful businesses are
working in the same environment. Their success is not down to luck but to
the mental attitude of their leaders. This is where a football match can
serve as a wonderful lesson if viewed as a science or research project but
not as a fan supporting a local club. One way engages the head, the other,
the heart.
Decisions made with the reasoning faculties in control lead to favourable
results when compared to those made where passion is the blind master.
The next time you're watching a Premier League football match, note the
number of mistakes made over the 90 minutes, then think how many
mistakes your company made during the past week or month. At least the
mistakes in that match will be spotted and analysed on Match of the Day,
and hopefully rectified the following weekend. But who is your firm's Alan
Shearer or Gary Lineker? Who tells your CEO and board the errors they've
made and the impact those errors could have at the end of the financial
year? No one. So blunders are repeatedly committed until their results are
displayed for all to read in the pages of the end of year report. Are you still
thinking businesses can't learn a thing or two from studying a football
match?
If that's what you honestly believe, then your company will continue to
make a hash of things because of irrational decisions. What other result
are you expecting from decisions governed, not by reason but by fear?
Haven't Paul Farrow, Simon Lambert and Neil Woodford spoken
of the herd (or lemming) mentally pervasive in many FTSE companies?

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Without proper leadership, fools rush in where wise investors fear to tread.
Herd mentality costs investors dear by Paul Farrow
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/shares-and-
stock-tips/8129968/Herd-mentality-costs-investors-dear.html
The wisdom of crowd or herd mentality? by Simon Lambert
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/diyinvesting/article-2939905/MINOR-
INVESTOR-Crowdfunding-wisdom-crowd-just-herd-mentality.html
" Players want to win so much," Steven Gerard, Liverpool captain
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/31857114
Start-ups are losing out on funding due to herd mentality finders by Neil
Woodford
http://www.smeinsider.com/2014/09/26/start-ups-are-losing-out-on-
funding-due-to-herd-mentality-funders-says-industry-insider/
"Gerrard is for me, in the position he plays, one of the very best in the
world. He has a huge impact. For the job he performs, for me, he is one of
the greatest." Ronaldinho in 2007 with both players named in the FIFA
World XI.[13]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Gerrard
Neil Woodford speaking on Today (BBC Radio 4)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p027djlx

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The Ideal Player As A Footballer knows the importance of self discipline,
self control, self-mastery. Why do you think he studies assiduously 'The
2010 World Cup South Africa: England's Preparations' and 'The Follow-up:
The Next Step To Take'? He finds it useful to constantly remind himself
that lapses in concentration can often result in more than a red card. The
two reports focus on the importance of a player training himself
to maintain his focus at all times during a game. If only the highly
decorated captain of that Premier League team had done the same
(Liverpool v Man Utd 22 March 2015). He might have discovered valuable
points not taught in football academies. But whatever they're taught,
players seem to ignore or forget about them the moment they step on the
field. And just as a bull goes mad when it sees a red cloth, so
it appears young (and even older) players also go mad when they
see blades of grass. They charge about foolishly, and end up having to
apologies for their behaviour when it results in a sending-off. Is there any
logic to leaving your teammates disadvantaged because your exuberance
has got the better of you? One wonders if these players will ever learn.
The Ideal Player As A Footballer understands the need for the captain, as
leader, to want to stamp his mark on a game, to impose his will on the
field, to support his players and to inspire them, to take command in
a given situation. However, none of these are possible to perform from the
dugout when you're recovering from a hamstring injury, and certainly not
from having to sit out three vital games because of a lack of self-discipline.
To The Ideal Player As A Footballer every act of ill-discipline is a lapse of
concentration. He does not care who you are, what honours you have
won or why the transgression occurred. No, he doesn't buy the 'heat of the
moment' excuse. To him, your duty as a player and as the captain is to
help your team win the match. You owe it to yourself to train and discipline
your mind, every day, in order to ensure rash behaviour is completely
eradicated from your game.

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" Players want to win so much," Steven Gerard, Liverpool captain
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/31857114
Is that why players dive and simulate, and urge the referee to bestow red
cards on their opponents? Is that why players grapple in the
penalty area and commit needless fouls up and down the field? Do we see
the familiar herd mentality here?
The Ideal Player As A Footballer feels that if players leave the dressing
room with such thoughts of the herd ingrained in their brains, it is no
wonder they have no self-control on the field. What is the benefit of being
so pumped up that you can see nothing but red? Why fall for the traps laid
by opponents to have your colleagues a man short? Can you not make
the sacrifice of ignoring that brutal and unfair challenge for the sake of your
team? Are you so peeved at that elbow in your face (reckless and
dangerous as it was [Come on, ref, are you blind?]) that you prefer to
smoulder on the bench instead of being on the field beating the opposition.
Where is your concentration? Where is your sense of pride?
The Ideal Player As A Footballer believes that if a player wants 'to win
so much' he has to learn to concentrate better. Concentration is the only
assured way to win 'so much'. Concentrate for 90 minutes of the game
or for longer if required. Concentrate on every tackle. Concentrate on
everything taking place around you. Concentrate with every
challenge. Concentrate on every header. Concentrate on every shot.
Concentrate on every pass. Concentrate on every save. Concentrate,
concentrate, concentrate concentrate. If you feel it's too much or too
difficult for you to concentrate, you're in the wrong sport. You don't need
Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, et al to tell you about concentration. However,
if your lapses of concentration happen to be dissected on Match of The
Day be thankful (they mean your career no harm.) and pay close attention
to what they have to say. Unless if it has anything to do with a dubious
'penalty shout'.

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"Sometimes it doesn't look nice...", Steven Gerard, Liverpool captain
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/31857114
You're damned right that it doesn't look nice. It's ugly, downright ugly. So
why is it practiced week in and week out? Why mock the sport, the club
and viewing spectators with something that doesn't look nice? As a player,
does it not trouble you that you prefer to select such route, just to win,
rather than taking the steps required to concentrate to achieve success?
The Ideal Player As A Footballer takes his role as a player very seriously,
and would never do anything that brings the sport he loves into disrepute.
He knows the importance of striving to focus on delivering a masterclass
to everyone watching the game. He wants your attention to be solely on
his artful display and nothing else. He wants you to learn from him how to
concentrate under pressure. He has no interest in demeaning his talent
by selecting to get away with a professional foul.
"...but we've all been guilty of it throughout our careers, of not always
abiding by the rules." Steven Gerard, Liverpool captain
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/31857114
The Ideal Player As A Footballer is a law unto himself and doesn't care for
the opinion of professionals with their cynical practices. Speaking
for himself, he promotes his own philosophy, but he has never been guilty
of or felt the need to challenge the rules set by the IFAB. When
a player accepts the false doctrines of 'the tricks' of dishonest play, he
must be prepared to have his subconscious mind express those deep-
rooted beliefs at an inopportune moment . He fools himself if he thinks he
can maintain such beliefs and at the same time prevent them from
affecting his game. Sorry UEFA Player of the Year 2005, but the root
of that weekend's rush of blood to your head lies in your beliefs.

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"Gerrard is for me, in the position he plays, one of the very best in the
world. He has a huge impact. For the job he performs, for me, he is one of
the greatest." Ronaldinho in 2007 with both players named in the FIFA
World XI.[13]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Gerrard
Will Gerard sending-off cost Liverpool?
http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/32012236
So as we can see, mistakes can be costly, just like lapses of
concentration. But you don't need to watch a Premier League game to
understand how, do you? That may be the case, but we can definitely
learn from many of these players how not to concentrate if we want to see
any success in our business life.
"You either abide by the rules or you don't. There is no in between." The
Islington Tw↑ns