Steven Goff’s recent piece on DC United’s young leaders offers two lessons for young staff and all organizations: Anyone can lead, and everyone leads in their own way. “We’ve got a lot of guys who will lead.” — DC United head coach Ben Olsen Anyone can lead. Leadership is about who you are and what you do — it’s not about your title…
Three Lessons and Caution for Managers from Michael Eisner’s Purchase of Portsmouth FC
The New York Times’ Rory Smith recently wrote about former Walt Disney Company CEO Michael Eisner’s purchase of Portsmouth FC, a storied English soccer team that recently “flirted with oblivion.” Smith’s piece offers three lessons and one caution for managers and organizations beyond soccer. Portsmouth Football Club, also called Pompey, was founded in 1898. Over its 120-year history the team…
A Noisy US Soccer Presidential Campaign is Going as Predicted
The election for President of the US Soccer Federation is in about three weeks, making this a good time to check in on the race to lead the governing body of soccer in America. A quick review for those whose interest in politics runs more to Michael Wolffthan Josh Wolff: Soccer in the US is overseen by the US…
Democrats can win and bring Americans together with civil religion
“America isn’t a map or a flag. Our country isn’t a president or a party. We are an articulation of a faith in what we are at our best.” As originally published in The Hill
Four Steps Political Professionals Can Take to Improve Politics
Those of us who work in politics have obligations to the political system. This system, our constitutional republic, is a bold experiment in governance that demands respect and needs nurturing to survive. Our system succeeds or fails based on how those of us in system behave, and we need to behave better. Read the full…
A Caution About the Politics of Soccer Politics Punditry
Today is the filing deadline for candidates for president of the US Soccer Federation. Between now and the election in February there will be lots of hot-taking, statement parsing, and political predicting. Soccer fans like to express opinions. A lot of soccer fans are also politics fans (or at least followers) and like to express opinions about…
Carter Makes it Eight and Changes Everything. Or Not. More politics of soccer politics.
The news that Soccer United Marketing (SUM) president Kathy Carter is likely to run for president of the US Soccer Federation — and that incumbent president Sunil Gulati likely will not run — adds a twist to an already interesting race for the top office in soccer’s governing body in the United States. First reported by Sports Illustrated’s Grant Wahl, Carter’s candidacy…
Breaking Up is Hard to Do – A parasocial explanation for why we care about media scandals
We care more about Matt Lauer being a creep (at best) than the thousands of managers at IT companies because we know Matt. We have breakfast with him every morning. Those other guys are just other guys, but he’s our Matt. Odds are good that someone who works at your favorite pizza joint, the hardware store, or the grocery…
A Political take on the Politics of Soccer
The failure of the US men’s national soccer team to qualify for the 2018 World Cup has upended a lot of things, including the US Soccer Federation presidential election. I often suggest lessons managers and organizations can learn from soccer. The upcoming Federation election offers a rare opportunity to do the reverse. I’m a…
Lessons for Organizations from Soccer: The myth of the magic bumper sticker, and execution matters.
“I think the task [of improving the success of the US men’s national soccer team] is a lot more complicated than people want to give it credit for. People want to believe it’s simple. It’s been a failing at U.S. Soccer that we’ve always had this attitude that if we just discover the one thing…