The Greatest Lesson Leicester City Has Taught Us About Performance!
A few weeks ago, before they pulled off the greatest moment in modern sports history, Leicester City head coach Claudio Ranieri wrote an open letter to the Players Tribune called "We Do Not Dream."
CLICK HERE to read the full article. I highly recommend it!
What Ranieri confirms in the article is what I've been talking about for a while now. It isn't about goal setting. Or expectations. It isn't about a dream. It is about LOVE!
As I wrote, ironically on the same day, I have boiled down our goals for our team to ONE WORD - LOVE. We define love as being:
judgment free;
understanding;
open to all possibilities.
In his letter you can see that Ranieri doesn't judge his players. He doesn't impose HIS expectations on them. He embraces there individuality. That's VERY hard to do in my opinion. There is so much judgment in sports. You are lazy, you are hard working, you don't have a good soccer IQ, you aren't fit, you are a leader etc...The second you start judging it becomes impossible to be understanding and open to all possibilities.
At the end of his letter Ranieri describes four things needed (not including pizza) to reach your potential and get the most out of your performance: "an open mind, an open heart, a full battery, and run free."
Open mind and open heart = judgment free, understanding and open to all possibilities.
Full battery and run free = mental clarity which is a byproduct of being judgment free, understanding and open to all possibilities.
So why don't more coaches follow this approach? Because judging, imposing standards, goals, expectations, order, uniformity, and being controlling is much easier.
When Ranieri found out his club has attracted many new fans all over the world he didn't talk about championships or promise them a title. His message was simple and perfect:
Welcome to the club. We are happy to have you. I want you to love the way we play football, and I want you to love my players, because their journey is unbelievable.
