SEARCH

Search

Explore

Blog
Podcast
Free Live Event
Self-Assessment
Manifesto
Book

Work with me

Connect

SUBSCRIBE

Search
Close this search box.

Leadership lessons from Germany’s Qatar disaster

Among the many fascinating leadership lessons from Amazon’s “All or Nothing” documentary about Germany’s Qatar football disaster, here’s one that stood out for me:

For Germany’s coaches, it was US and THEM, not WE.
“Us” the coaches and “them” the players, not “we” the team.

The coaches expected them to deliver.
As opposed to being in this together.

When the coaches expect the players to deliver, it delegates the responsibility the wrong way. It frees the coach from the responsibility and puts that burden on the player. Basically, the message is this: “I’ve told you what you need to do. If you fail, it’s on you.”

A leader who lights the path would turn this upside down. They would trust the players to deliver. They would believe in the players to deliver. Because they would figure out a path and light it in a way that the players would see it, believe in it and trust in the path (and themselves), too.

No need to expect anything.

But Germany’s players didn’t trust in the path (or themselves). Head coach Hansi Flick’s words made it sound like he didn’t trust in the journey and in the team’s ability to deliver. And so, the players couldn’t find that trust, either.

Flick used pressure (“We expect X from you”) as a substitute for trust. But that can’t work when the players don’t even trust in themselves.

Worse, when it’s US and THEM, i.e. when the TEAM is missing, then you can’t compensate lack of trust with will power (despite the obvious individual strengths of the players). For will power to surface you’d need a reason – such as belonging to something bigger than yourself. As there was no team, there was nothing bigger. Who would they stretch themselves for? The coaches? But why?

The documentary is a rare glimpse into how professional top-level leadership actually performs (or doesn’t). You’d make a mistake to assume that 1) this example would be the rare exception and 2) businesses would be any different.

Which is not to say that there aren’t businesses that are different or that there aren’t leaders who truly light the path. But it’s certainly not the default.

“Leadership skill” is still largely expected to just somehow come to leaders “naturally”. You’re either born with it or not. Training, coaching and professional advisory around communication is still the exception to the norm – and even when it’s done it’s sometimes just to check the box.

And yet, communication can make or brake leadership – even if you’re highly skilled in other areas.

If you’ve watched the documentary, what was your biggest takeaway?

PS: It was heartbreaking to see the outsized role that PowerPoint played in the team meetings. PowerPoint is no substitute for empathy and trust and the way it’s being used in these meetings is a bitter example of that.

How often Messi fails

Every shot that Messi didn’t make, wasn’t a goal.

He only ever scores when he shoots at the goal. Which he does.

Most importantly, he’ll frequently shoot despite the possibility that it might be a miss. Rather frequently, actually: he scores only 1 out of 8 attempts.

In other words: he fails almost 88% of the time.

And yet, he is admired as one of the best scorers who ever played football.

When we speak of geniuses, this is an aspect that’s often overlooked: Most geniuses don’t fail less, the fail more. Simply because they try more often.

But more attempts mean more possibilities for a hit.

It’s a mistake to only attempt a shot if you are 100% certain that it will be a goal.

Fußball ist langweilig. Oder?

Wieso fiebert eigentlich ein ganzes Land mit, obwohl es doch nur um einen kleinen Ball geht?

Fußball ist langweilig. 22 Mann rennen 90 Minuten einem Ball hinterher und manchmal schießen sie ihn in ein Tor, manchmal auch nicht. Gähn.

Und trotzdem ist gefühlt die ganze Welt im Ausnahmezustand wegen eines Turniers, bei dem 32 Mannschaften versuchen, einen kleinen Pokal zu gewinnen, indem sie den Ball mindestens einmal öfter ins Tor der anderen Mannschaft schießen als umgekehrt.

Was bitte soll daran spannend sein? Ganz einfach: Es gibt einen Helden, die eigene Mannschaft, mit der wir mitfiebern. Und es gibt eine Story. Der Underdog, der dem übermächtigen Gegner ein Bein stellen möchte. Der Vizeweltmeister, der Revanche für die bittere Niederlage bei der letzten WM sucht. Der Torwart, der kurz vor einem neuen Rekord steht und dann 5 Tore in einem Spiel kassiert.

Wenn Emotionen im Spiel sind, steht eine ganze Nation wie ein Mann hinter ihrer Mannschaft. Wie könnte das nicht spannend sein?

Und doch bleibt es ein Spiel, bei dem 22 Mann hinter einem Ball her rennen und 90 Minuten lang fast nichts passiert.

Dass Fußball für so viele Menschen spannend ist, liegt nicht an den Fakten, es liegt daran, dass es den Menschen etwas bedeutet, wenn ihre Mannschaft gewinnt, wenn unerwartete Helden geboren werden oder alte Helden straucheln. Kurz: es liegt an den Helden und an der Story. Die Menschen wollen, können und dürfen mitfiebern.

Wo dürfen Sie das bei Ihnen? Wo liegen in Ihrem Thema die Emotionen?

[Foto: Moazzam Brohi]

Verwandte Artikel

Mehr als Ruhm und Ehre: Warum wir alle Helden sein können
Die Tage des Herrn Jürgens
Spielend Geschichten erzählen

Spread the Word

Dr. Michael Gerharz

Dr. Michael Gerharz