The victory of Chelsea in the UEFA Champions league holds lessons for everyone, writes Olaoluwa Fadairo
The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions league is the most prestigious club competition in Europe as of date. It came about as a new version of the European cup in 1992/1993 session. This years’ competition started with 32 teams who played in the group stages with only two teams Manchester City Football Club (ManCity) and Chelsea Football Club emerging as finalists. A total of 250 matches were played in the competition and incidentally Mancity had the highest attempts at goal (170) while Chelsea the Champions in this year’s competition committed the most fouls (182) but then also one of top five teams with highest goals in the competition.
Looking at the entire competition there are key learning points for leaders and would be leaders which I will share in this piece.
First, in all human endeavors discipline as well as focus are key success factors that cannot be relegated to the background. You may not know many things but whatever few things you know or do be the best at it. Chelsea went into the competition not well prized to progress far and in the finals the team was the clear underdog. However with the team’s competence in defense and counter attacking football they emerged victorious. This brings to minds the story of the fox and the hedgehog by renown author Jim Collins. The fox knows many tricks but the fox knows one big thing. The fox in its cunningness will come against the Hedgehog using diverse tricks to prey on the Hedgehog but the latter at any time will shoot out its defensive spike. Leaders, individual companies and countries that will succeed must focus on its distinctive strength and competence and be the best of what they are to succeed in today’s ever-changing world. You don’t have to be everywhere doing everything after all you are not an Atlas.
Do not get complacent when you succeed or despair when you fail. The two managers parading their teams in the finals have a lot of contrasts. Pep Guardiola who manages Mancity had won the competition many times with his old club Barcelona while Thomas Tuchel of Chelsea got his first final with old club PSG but lost in 2020. In the world that changes faster than the speed of light where assets become liabilities, and strengths easily become weakness the things that cumulated in past successes will not in any way guarantee future success. Success is not an entitlement you need to work it. Failure on the other hand is a pathway to success. Thomas Edison made 5000 attempts to create the light bulb. In the word of Winston Churchill, success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts.
Permit me also to say history has a great place in everything we do. Before you get involved in project do your research and be sure you get acquainted with your planned project or investment. Research shows that from year 2000 till date no team making its debut in the final of the UEFA champions league ever wins. For example in 2019 Tottenham Football Club played its first final but lost to Liverpool while in 2020 PSG played its first final and lost to Bayern Munich and then now in 2021 ManCity plays its first final and also lost to Chelsea. Follow your money, don’t invest in what you don’t know or understand. History of the end of Ponzi investment is always a common bitter end.
Invest, build capacity and follow your dream. Mancity invested a whopping sum of GBP62m to sign Ruben Dias, a world class defender as shown in his performance in the Premier and Champions leagues while Chelsea equally invested millions of pounds to sign Kai Havetz and other players to strengthen the team an investment some counted as ”wasteful”. But on the final day it counts as Havetz justified his club’s huge investment and trust by scoring the crucial winning goal of the day. Leaders should learn to empower their teams, value their contributions and help to play to their strength. Leaders must invest, empower and support team members to achieve team’s goals and objectives.
While congratulating the Chelsea Football Club, the manager and the vivacious and vociferous supporters of the Club, it is needful to say success creates new expectations and challenges and leaders need to build momentum to create both an enduring and sustainable success.
Fadairo is a Finance and Tax Expert based in Port Harcourt
