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Earlier this week, I released my latest Timeless: 10 Enduring Practices Of Apex Leaders. Apex Leaders are the best of the best in their areas of discipline. Two of today’s Apex Leaders are Manchester City’s manager Pep Guardiola and its star player Erling Haaland. During team’s May 3rd 3-0 victory over West Ham United, Haaland set a Premier League record by scoring his 35th goal of the season. In addition to his athletic brilliance, I also appreciated his post-match comments.
In this The Athletic article, Haaland was quoted as saying, “We cannot think of the FA Cup final against Manchester United because we play against Leeds in three days. We have to think of the next game and focus because every single one of the last nine games are finals… It (the guard of honour after the game) was a nice feeling but I cannot keep on thinking about these records or I will go crazy in my head. I am going to go home and play video games.”
6 Lessons on Apex Leadership we learn from Pep Guardiola and Erling Haaland
From the statement above as well as additional comments from Guardiola, we learn the following six lessons about Apex Leadership:
1. Apex Leaders Are Always Thinking About What Is Next – The difference between successful and unsuccessful people is how they think. While long-range goals are certainly important and serve as a North Star for your organization’s direction and intentionality, you cannot get there without taking the next step in the process.
It is quite easy to ambushed with failure on your way to success. While the FA Cup is certainly one of Manchester City’s main goals, Haaland acknowledged they were playing Leeds in just three days. That is where his focus was.
To go deeper on the leadership brilliance of Erling Haaland, read The 2 Things Leaders Value Most.
https://youtu.be/GtgKTXNY3n0
2. Apex Leaders Know Everything Matters – Successful leaders know how you do anything is how you do everything. Being successful in the little things requires discipline and focus. Every one of Manchester City’s final nine games matters a great deal.
3. Apex Leaders Are Content – Contentedness is one of the seven skills I discuss in my new book Mighty: 7 Skills You Need to Move from Pandemic to Progress. Being content is not to be confused with being stale. It simply means the leaders know who they are and what their strengths and weaknesses happen to be. I was struck by Haaland’s self-awareness when after achieving a historic record, he was going home to play video games.
4. Who You Are Is More Important Than What You Do – Manchester City’s iconic manager Pep Guardiola said after the match, “It is unbelievable how many goals he has scored and how he helps us to win games. The whole team is satisfied because he is a unique person. A great player of course but the person is also special. He deserved the guard of honour we gave him because it is an incredible milestone and one day maybe he will break his own record.”
To go deeper on the leadership brilliance of Pep Guardiola, read 35 Qualities Of A Pep Guardiola – Once-In-A-Generation Leader.
5. Apex Leaders Are Focused On Continual Improvement – One of the ten practices in my new masterclass Timeless: 10 Enduring Practices Of Apex Leaders is continual improvement. In another The Athletic article, Guardiola thinks Haaland has another level to go to as a player. He said, “Always I’ve said with Erling it will be tough when you look at what he has done and if he doesn’t score the goals like he’s scoring now people will say ‘Oh, he’s in a bad situation’ but his game can improve a lot.”
Here is what I know, if Erling Haaland has another level he can go to, so do you and I as leaders.
To learn more about and purchase my new masterclass Timeless: 10 Enduring Practices Of Apex Leaders, click HERE.
6. Apex Leaders Are Humble – Another of the Timeless practices is humility. Haaland embodies this trait. Guardiola concluded, “We have spoken about that. The movements, I wouldn’t say in the box but the game itself. I think he has that feeling ‘is that enough?’ I think he has the desire to get better as a player, as long as he has it he can do it. To go to work knowing you can do something better is the way.”
If you want to become an Apex Leader, there is a lot you can learn from Guardiola and Holland.
My latest eBook is available for download. The Top 65 Leadership Quotes Of 2022 Part 1 is a resource every leader should have. Great quotes bring clarity and put into words who we intuitively feel as leaders. They give us wisdom and insights which advance the mission and vision of our organizations. This eBook includes thoughts and insights from leaders like Warren Buffett, Nick Saban, James Clear, Dawn Staley, Jurgen Klopp, Jerry Seinfeld, and even Ted Lasso. This resource will take you about 10 minutes to read but a lifetime to apply. You will want to stop and ponder the implications of each quote. Click HERE or on the image provided for immediate download!