Leadership lessons from the World Cup (and some from cricket)

Here's a post for all you sports fans out there. There's been no getting away from football this summer. What with all the national pride, action and heartbreak, the World Cup has been a force to be reckoned with for the past few weeks. After the Black Stars' particularly painful exit, I began thinking about other ways to look at the World Cup; aside from all the hype and emotion, what lessons can we learn? Since Databank is all about leadership, I figured it would be pretty cool to link the two. They go well together; no team (football or otherwise) can be successful without effective leadership (as highlighted by this article on Fabio Capello's disgraceful campaign). After a little rooting around, I came across an article by Roseabeth Moss Kanter, a Harvard Business School professor. Here's an excerpt:

The World Cup has drawn on national pride to captivate hundreds of millions around the globe in the most-watched TV event ever. Most people watch the action. As a leadership groupie, I watch for lessons about the circumstances behind the action, the factors that propel any organization to victory.

Consider the contrast between the emotional meltdown of the French team, which was eliminated early, and the German team's discipline as it advanced to the semifinals and perhaps to the Cup. Or the African comparison pointed out in the Wall Street Journal between Ghana, with a stable, transparent democracy and the proud achievement of being only the third African team ever to play in the quarterfinals, and Nigeria, whose losses were accompanied by a corruption investigation into the Nigerian Football Federation. Fair, transparent, collaborative = winning. Corrupt, chaotic, petty = losing.

The leadership culture surrounding teams shapes outcomes. Whether in the boardroom, locker room, or living room, success is derived from not just the talents of individuals but the context surrounding them.

This principle is visible in another international sport: cricket. To Americans, cricket is unfamiliar and incomprehensible. At least it was to me until my British student Emma Herbert explained it. But cricket is tremendously important to the countries from the former British empire that send teams to world cricket championships — Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, and a 14-country coalition from the West Indies. Like the World Cup, cricket carries the weight of national attitudes and aspirations. Teams compete in three to six matches, each several days in length, or about 25 days of cricket, about the length of the World Cup.

As part of the research for my book Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End, Herbert and I examined why one formerly dominant team, West Indies, slid into decline, while another, Australia, came from behind to dominate the sport. Both involved culture and leadership.

You can read the article in full here.

Well done Black Stars!!!