Edge: Leadership Secrets from Footballs’s Top Thinkers. Ben Lyttleton
were doing, the culture of Swedish football, the recruitment patterns; and looked at ways to compete, and possible advantages that Östersunds could find. If ÖFK competed on the same terms, they would fail, because they had less money than their rivals. So how could they develop an edge?
‘We had to find different players, and give them a reason to come here,’ says Potter. ‘We wanted to improve careers here, and work on players as people too. We used our location in northern Sweden as an advantage; it helped us create a tight-knit group. Swedish football was compact and physical; we looked for players who had different qualities, and came from different areas. This diversity also helped us. We looked at personality attributes and those who played football in a different way to other teams in Sweden. Our style was possession-based. We wanted players who could control the ball, who were flexible [position-wise] and, most of all, who wanted to improve.’
The universal principle of this is clear. Every business would like to create a USP but it can only do so by understanding the market and the competition; only then can it harness advantages for the greater good. This can be as true for the individual as the business. Potter simply asked: ‘What is my distinction?’ By choosing diversity as his USP, he has gone for the polar opposite of Athletic Club de Bilbao, for whom proximity is the USP.
Kindberg reduced the concept of hierarchy by empowering five individual departments to run themselves. He estimates that the board takes 1 per cent of decisions, he takes 4 per cent and 95 per cent are generated by empowered employees.16 ‘Everything we do has the aim of helping us win football matches,’ he said. ‘We use different methods to widen our eyes, improve our social conscience and take responsibility for ourselves. We cannot compete with other clubs financially. So we find other ways.’
One of those ideas came about after a meeting with Karin Wahlén, whose father Lasse Lindin is ÖFK general manager. Wahlén was a bookish child who grew up wanting to be a librarian. She ended up working for a publisher, then setting up her own cultural agency to promote museums and literacy for groups who don’t normally engage with culture.
Kindberg missed his initial meeting with Wahlén, who was convinced that meant he was not interested. When they did meet, she went in heavy with her pitch. ‘Getting the players into culture will improve their performances. It will take them out of their comfort zone and make them braver on and off the pitch,’ she said. ‘When we are brave we can explore our creativity without being afraid of the unknown.’
This chimed with Kindberg’s view, so he set up a two-day workshop where the players met authors, dancers and artists, and shared views on the creative process. It was a success, but nothing changed. So Kindberg asked Wahlén for more. He appointed her ÖFK’s ‘cultural coach’ and, later that year, the whole club put on a play. The coaching staff performed monologues, the players acted a meta-comedy about not knowing how to put on a play, and the youth academy did a dancing and singing extravaganza that required over 20 costume changes. ‘Everyone loved it, and the results improved soon after,’ said Wahlén, a passionate ÖFK fan whose daughters are careful not to stress her out on match-days.
Other cultural projects followed. In 2013, the club put on an art exhibition. In 2014, they published a book, My Journey, featuring every club employee’s story. In 2015, there was an art/dance piece, called ‘Strength through Diversity’. One year later, the club performed a modern dance interpretation of Swan Lake at the city’s local theatre on the main square, Storsjö. Maria Nilsson Waller, the choreographer, described dance to them as ‘movement of the soul’.
In rehearsals, the players began with nervous giggles as they divided into pairs and lifted each other up. But their inhibitions quickly left them as Waller’s drills had them moving in harmony. The rehearsals were like training sessions, a safe area for learning (and making mistakes), and peppered with positive feedback and support structure. Everyone was out of their comfort zone and helping each other. In football parlance, it was a real leveller. The power of touch in the dance also brought an intimacy to the group.
Psychologists have shown that sporting teams win more if they touch each other as a way of establishing bonds of trust. One study of NBA teams found that those who touched more (defined by a fist-bump, high-five or a hug) won more games.17 The smallest touch is a bonding tool of support. You are not alone on the field. Someone has your back (literally, in this dance). We will discuss the importance of tactility in the methodology of one of football’s most intriguing managers in Chapter 2.
And so, to show-time. There were 450 people in the venue, mostly theatre-going types. Midfielder Monday Samuel opened up with a graceful solo, before his team-mates joined him. The movements were elegant, the dances polished and, most of all, the focus was intense. This was not a joke for the players. Potter also performed a solo: lying on his stomach, legs bent at 90 degrees, on the gold confetti-covered stage. He slowly lifted his head and neck, but not his shoulders, and looked around him. There was a refined dignity, a stillness, to his movement. It was excellent. Afterwards assistant coach Billy Reid sang The Drifters’ ‘Saturday Night’ and the mood turned joyous as the whole team danced around him. They were back in their comfort zone.
Once mocked for its cultural projects, ÖFK was now having its performances reviewed by Stockholm’s high-culture media. ‘It was beautiful,’ Sverige Radio’s cultural expert Gunnar Bolin tells me. ‘The sincerity and power of expression made it extremely moving.’ Two theatres in Stockholm asked ÖFK to perform Swan Lake at their venues. The team declined. Bolin had noted that it was not just the players who were dancing, but all the club employees. ‘Even the ones who were not quite so flexible as the younger players,’ he smiles.
‘The cultural theme allows us to be more open, to be braver, to improve decision-making,’ Kindberg says. ‘It helps the group come together. When we look at players, people look at qualities like physics, technology and understanding of the game. But we believe the mental part is the most important. By allowing players to venture into situations they do not know, and challenge their own fears, they grow as individuals. By extension, that gives them greater courage on the pitch.’
Potter agrees. ‘The environment we have established means everyone is prepared to trust the process, but it’s definitely a challenge and by no means comfortable for any of us out there. You have to overcome some inner demons and insecurities to get out there and do it.’ Potter found his Swan Lake solo particularly tough. ‘We had just got promoted to the Allsvenskan [Swedish first division] and there was a huge buzz around the performance. It was very difficult to do, and I felt a right wally at times.’
Potter understands the positive effect of the coach showing his nerves and vulnerabilities to the group. ‘Culturally, everyone thinks a leader needs to only show strength and be this macho figure, but it doesn’t have to be like that.’ Potter was not scared of his team seeing his weaknesses. Sometimes giving them that glimpse can be transformative.
The time spent working on the dance also taught a valuable lesson. Time is important. Things don’t happen straightaway. The players in the squad are used to instant gratification: being able to watch TV on demand, order things online and even meet partners instantly on smartphones. But it takes patience to write a book, to put on an art show, to learn a dance. It can be arduous and punishing, but ultimately it is worth it. The lesson that ÖFK players took in from Swan Lake was not just about cohesion; it was also about self-confidence, job fulfilment and patience.
Management has changed from the days when Potter was a player. Millennials will no longer put up with always being told what to do. ‘It just won’t work any more,’ he says. ‘If you rely on your position of power, or control over the group, it’s only a short-term solution. You need to be authentic in the relationships you have, show the qualities you want to inspire in the group, and sometimes it’s about not having all the answers. As long as you are dedicated to improving yourself and those around you, are able to adapt and make good decisions, then you can manage. It helps to have some self-awareness, as if you understand yourself then you can understand others. That’s how you can build relationships that withstand the pressures of losing