A friend invited me to watch a Sounders Game, last week. For those of you who don’t know – the Seattle Sounders are a soccer team, playing in the U.S, Professional Soccer League – MLS. It was a great event, we lost the match – but the atmosphere was great.
As I watched the game, I remembered a conversation I’d had with another friend - who recently watched the Sounders take on one of the worlds best teams – Chelsea FC, of the English Premiership, in a friendly match. He talked about how Chelsea dominated the match with creative attacks and disciplined defence. Spraying passes effortlessly and making the game look more like a practice session. I heard similar feedback about another friendly, against FC Barcelona.
If you’re a die hard Sounders fan, you may disagree with this assessment – I wasn’t there, so I can’t judge. However, I’ve played and watched football (or Soccer), for most of my life and I’m quite knowledgeable about the worlds best leagues, and players.
As I listened to my friend go on and on about how well Chelsea played and how fit and strong -they looked, I asked him a question. Do you think any of our Seattle Sounder players could play for Chelsea? Are they good enough, and if not – why not?
I’d like to throw this out as an exercise to all you Leaders & soccer lovers out there.
- What’s the key difference between both Football Clubs?
- Why do you think the Chelsea players – played so much better than their counterparts, in the Sounders
- Could a key player from Sounders FC, become a key player in Chelsea FC? What would it take for that to happen?
Now, think of Chelsea as a Fortune 50 Company – (such as Coca-cola, Procter & Gamble or Microsoft). The Sounders could be a much smaller, mid-tier Fortune 10,000 team.
- What would be the key differences between both organizations?
- What do you think would be the key differences between leaders in both organizations?
- Do you think a leader from Sounders Inc could be succesful in Chelsea Inc? if not – why not?
Pls feel free to respond to my questions through comments on this blog post, or you could email me directly at leaders@theleadershipjournal.com
Servant Leader
