Leadership Lessons from the World Cup

This weekend the World Cup will come to an end, and the winner will finally be crowned. It has been amazing to witness the massive enthusiasm across the entire world around the tournament. Clearly, this has given people a needed outlet to come together and express their fervent support for their teams and for the sport at large.  It has been a great example of the magic of human passion and connectivity, and the deep need for it.  

When the winning team hoists the trophy high above their heads, it will mark a culmination of a six-week, 48-team showcase comprising many of the world’s greatest athletes and the most talented teams they play for. That award ceremony will last only a few minutes, but the leadership lessons from the coaches and the athletes will endure long after.  

What the world has witnessed so vividly over the last month and half is that whether it is the highest ranked team (France) or the lowest ranked one (New Zealand), every winning performance has relied greatly on coordination and balance between team collaboration and individual stardom.  The ultimate victor will be the team who has consistently created the conditions for the players to play their very best together and to bring their full, individual greatness to the field.   

As on the pitch, so in every successful organization: success comes when leaders put people in positions to succeed, build clarity around roles, strengthen resilience, create habits of continuous improvement and allow distinctive talent to have outsized impact.  

Here’s how that looks in football and in the workplace: 

A good leader, like a good football manager, needs to understand not only the role each person plays today, but also what enables them to grow into more complex responsibilities over time. Egon Zehnder’s Potential Model offers a more ownable way to think about that growth, focusing on the sources of energy that help individuals stretch, adapt and continue developing as the game changes. 

• Curiosity: the drive to seek new experiences, ideas, feedback, and knowledge and to turn that learning into growth. 
• Insight: the ability to make sense of complexity, connect information in new ways, and frame ideas so they can be acted upon. 
• Engagement: the capacity to connect hearts and minds, build commitment, and communicate a persuasive vision. 
• Determination: the energy to take on challenges, recover from setbacks, and keep moving forward without becoming rigid. 

Truly effective leadership is about creating the conditions for that potential to be unlocked: removing friction, sharpening judgment and giving people the confidence and context to act. As England’s team manager, Thomas Tuchel, told the media before the tournament began: “We try to encourage them to play with freedom,” adding that a good conductor “should not disturb the musicians.”    

With the mission established, everybody has a specific role to play for meeting the goal. For a football team, this becomes instinctive. In the simplest terms, the midfielder relays the ball from defensive players to the forward attackers. The goalkeeper keeps opponents from scoring while buying time for teammates to regroup. Before the first game, these players know their roles and how their actions affect their teammates through countless hours of training. 

In the business world, organizations must also promote this type of role clarity to help people understand where decisions should be made, which functions need to lead, and who the key stakeholders are. Once empowered, decision makers are better able to determine which actions will drive performance and how those actions should move through the organization.  

On the pitch, the midfielder doesn’t have time to take input from the manager standing on the sideline 100 yards away. The player must act in the moment to push the ball forward. Employees need the same independence. Like a good midfielder acting on the field, people cannot be constrained by overly rigid reporting structures. They need the space to make decisions, take accountability, and respond to what is unfolding in front of them. Football commentators often say, “Here is where the player needs to be creative.” Business leaders, like good coaches, should create that space as well. 

Organizational teams, like football teams, know that a plan is based on an aspirational best-case scenario. Things go wrong. How the team responds is crucial. The recent Belgium-United States knock-out game provides a case study in real time.  

As hosts, the Americans were in an envious position. Global media coverage focused on Europeans’ glowing reviews of their visits to the states, marketing campaigns promoted an “anything is possible” vibe, pointing to the stunning upsets the U.S. Olympic participants had pulled off. The Belgian team, meanwhile, had been highly regarded despite their under-performance in earlier World Cup matches and came into the round of 16 game under a cloud of mediocrity. American supporters genuinely believed an upset was in the offering, until the U.S.’s top scorer was handed a controversial red card in an otherwise impressive victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina in the previous game. By rule, a red card required the player to be suspended for the match against Belgium. News media reported that U.S. President Donald Trump intervened and asked FIFA, the sport’s governing body, to reconsider the red card. A day before the match with Belgium, FIFA reinstated the player, igniting a storm of controversy over the tournament and creating what one podcaster called “a U-turn on the good vibes.” 

On the pitch in Seattle, the tension was palpable. The younger Americans lost their direction, made mistakes and played tentatively. The Belgians were arguably more determined: Winning the game was the sole focus. Belgian coach Rudi Garcia told reporters after that game that he didn’t let his players become distracted by the controversy. “What really mattered to us was our game plan,” he said.  

What we see time and again is that business teams likewise thrive amid adversity not because they avoid disruption, but because they visibly step into it, adapt and “keep their eyes on the prize.” In short, both resilient teams and resilient organizations maintain vision, empower people to make decisions in moments of uncertainty, communicate transparently, and continually refine how work gets done when change is essential. Like a dog with a bone, they don’t let go, seizing the situation aggressively and working tirelessly to triumph over even the most unimaginable challenges. 

Rather than treating setbacks as isolated events, leaders can use them to strengthen capabilities, deepen trust, and position the organization for long-term growth. These moments can become catalysts for ongoing growth, continuous improvement, and competitive advantage. 

Organizations improve most when they build frequent, structured reflection into the rhythm of work rather than relying on occasional, large-scale reviews. Likewise, during a tournament, a football team reviews game film, adjusts plays g and changes formations. Adjustments regularly happen on the fly and during breaks. Business organizations would be better served by allowing themselves this same breadth of growth and adaptability. Perhaps too often they lock into an agreed upon plan and stick to it long after its effectiveness has waned. Like a football team at halftime, business teams should pause more regularly to examine what practices should be discontinued, introduced, or reinforced. 

Javier Aguirre, the coach of a Mexico team who dominated its group-play division and topped Ecuador in round 32 before succumbing to England in a tight 3-2 game in round 16, emphasized how vital reevaluation and modification are to success. Upon his defeat, he told reporters, “I am going to think about the future. It's important to maintain this mindset where we don't stop thinking that we've already done our work.” 

This World Cup tournament has featured examples of collective sacrifice, leading lesser-known teams like Cape Verde and Cote d'Ivoire to their first knock-out round appearances. At the same time and among displays of team brilliance, many of the game’s biggest stars have taken center stage to secure victories. Lionel Messi kept Argentina alive with his late heroics in two knock-out round victories, France’s Kylian Mbappe has shined amid his country’s dominance, and Norway’s Erling Haaland earned his fame as a global fan favorite. "There are a lot of Kylians, but only one Kylian Mbappe,” France’s manager Didier Deschamps said in 2018 when Mbappe was only 19 years old. It’s a leadership, coaching   challenge for football managers to ensure their stars can shine while keeping the tactical enforcers engaged. The winning teams are the result of both team dynamism and player prowess in full display, always.   

So, how can an organization support that same energetic balance, motivating both the team and an individual to aspire to their highest potential?  

First, good leaders never limit exceptional players to make all players equal. They create the conditions for the whole team to succeed by defining roles, building resilience, and practicing continuous improvement—so that distinctive talent can have extraordinary impact without weakening the collective. 

Manager Lionel Scaloni built the Argentinian team around Messi's strengths while ensuring the team did not become dependent on Messi alone. He created the conditions where the world's greatest player could have the greatest impact. “He has always been there, and he has always been fundamental for us. And now even more so,” Scaloni told the media while reflecting on Messi before the tournament started.  Messi did drive Argentina to wins during the knockout round. But in the quarterfinals, Switzerland did well to at least contain the superstar. That left it to three other Argentinian players to help secure the quarterfinal victory and advance the team to the semifinals.  

The World Cup’s outcome could ultimately be determined in a single moment—a last minute defining goal, an unfortunate, disabling penalty, or a disastrous injury to a critical player. These are the stakes of every game. Championship teams, however, are not built in singular moments. They are built through decisions made long before the final whistle: defining roles, building trust, adapting under pressure, and creating an environment where every player can contribute at their highest level. 

Business organizations face the same challenge. Success comes from creating the conditions where people understand the mission, have the freedom to exercise judgment, learn from setbacks, and bring their unique strengthsas both individuals and team players.  

The best coaches and business leaders understand the same, fundamental truth: The job is not to try and control every outcome. The job is to build leadership conditions that allow a team and its players to reach the highest potential and achieve something greater together.