Johan Cryuff was a legendary football player and manager known for his innovative style of play called "Total Football." Some of his philosophies can be applied to business management. [1] Focus on skill, creativity, and teamwork over financial resources. [2] Leaders should cultivate an environment where mistakes are learning opportunities, not failures. [3] Successful approaches may differ between organizations, so find what maximizes your own team's potential.

1. The Johan Cryuff Approach
Applying total football to modern business management

2. Who is Johan Cryuff?
 Dubbed “the inventor of modern football” by the Financial
Times, Johan Cryuff was a hugely successful player and
manager, most notably with Ajax and Barcelona.
 Cryuff believed that the foundations of success for any team
centred around skill, adventurousness and a blend of
individual creativity and teamwork.
 The following are quotes from Johan Cryuff which I believe
can be applied in management not just to football teams, but
to any team.

3. “In my teams, the goalie is the
first attacker, and the striker the
first defender.”
The key to unity and working together is through understanding
your teammates’ and stakeholders’ goals and motivations.
When you gain an idea of their ‘how’ and ‘why’, you learn how you
can work with them, and for them, towards a common objective.

4. “Why couldn’t you beat a richer
club? I’ve never seen a bag of
money score a goal.”
Out-spending the opposition can only take you so far; out-thinking
and out-performing them will get you all the way.
Limitations, budgetary or otherwise, should inspire creativity.

5. “Leaders shouldn’t bash those
who make mistakes. True leaders
on the pitch already assume
others will make mistakes.”
Winning and losing happens as a team. Making mistakes and
learning from them leads to success.
An environment that cultivates this way of thinking will create more
rounded individuals and in turn, a stronger team.

6. “I’m not religious. In Spain all 22
players make the sign of the cross
before they enter the pitch. If it works
all matches must end in a draw.”
If something seems to work for one person, team or company, it
doesn’t mean that it should be applied across the board.
Find the formula that maximises your team’s potential and then
utilize it to its fullest.

7. “Every professional golfer has a
separate coach for his drives, for
approaches, for putting. In football
we have one coach for fifteen
players. This is absurd.”
Ideas, experiences and outlooks from different members of the
business or team can be harvested, and an open forum will lead to
new and successful approaches.

8. “There’s only one moment in which
you can arrive in time. If you’re not
there, you’re too early or too late.”
Deadlines exist for multiple reasons and should be adhered to.
A content team that consistently misses deadlines is harmful to any
business. In the fast-moving, “news now” world of online content, a
flexible, hard-working and understanding approach to deadlines is
crucial.

9. The Johan Cryuff Approach
Robert Hogan 2015

10. The Johan Cryuff Approach
Robert Hogan 2015