Leadership Thought #490 – Sometimes A Leader Sticks Around Too Long: Arsene Wenger

Sadly, sometimes a leader sticks around too long.

I am a huge fan of Arsenal Football Club, and this has become a much more difficult chore than it used to be. The club, once known for its innovative offensive playmaking and rock-solid defense, has become predictably easy to defend against and quite vulnerable to penetration. Star players from around the world used to line up for a chance to play for the team, and now the best current players want to leave or only stay if the money is ridiculous. Moreover, we rarely make it onto the radar of outside top players these days, and if we do, it is often used as a bargaining chip by other teams or our own to secure a better deal. Sensing our desperation, competing clubs take hard negotiating lines, resulting in us losing many more opportunities than we gain. We used to be a real threat in the Champions League, but now we have dropped from being an easy quarter-final opponent to not even qualifying this past year. It has been a sad decline over the past ten years, not without some occasional glimmers of hope, but marked mainly by expected disappointment.

If you want to look for the main reason for all these problems, look no further than the coach and leader, Arsene Wenger. I take no pleasure in saying this. There is much to admire about the man. Indeed, his extensive history as a world-class manager and past record of accomplishment will be remembered in football (or soccer) history books for years to come. Arsene has numerous positive leadership traits. He possesses an air of professional dignity, a rare trait in today’s world. People have referred to him as a coach who focuses on nurturing young talent and allowing it to develop. His objective has never been to acquire championships through a rotation of purchased players; instead, he dedicates himself to his core group of players. He also appears to genuinely care about transforming young athletes into high-functioning adults. He also rarely assigns blame and confronts criticism directly. His teams are well-run financially, yielding a positive return for the owners, while other teams are burdened by excessive debt or require significant subsidies from wealthy owners. Lastly, he exhibits unwavering loyalty, even when it isn’t always reciprocated. However, sports, akin to life, necessitate living in the present, striving for the future, and avoiding entanglement with the past. Winning does still matter. It is certainly clichéd to say the following: “absolute power corrupts even the most well-intentioned leader,” “what got you here doesn’t always keep you here or take you where you need to go,” and “the best predictor of future behavior is recent past performance.”

It’s challenging to run a first-class, competitive organization for over 20 years. I tell my clients that they need to reinvent themselves as leaders every 5-7 years and adjust the organization accordingly. One could argue that this timeline is being compressed, given the pace of change these days. Here are some tips on how you can avoid ending a long, successful career in less-than-ideal circumstances (Wenger will sadly most likely get fired):

• It’s great to have multiple definitions of success, but never forget the most important one: winning.
• Focus on the few areas where you can truly make a difference and hire the most talented people you can find to do everything else.
• Once you hire them, let them do their jobs.
• You must become more, not less, curious with age and challenge your conceits before they cost you dearly.
• Ask more questions rather than thinking you have all the answers. Be open to new ideas.
• Never stop believing there is a better way to do things. And not every great idea needs to be homegrown.
• Excuses are for losers; winners take affirmative action.
• Routines are only beneficial when they yield positive results.
• You must spend money to make money and yield top results.
• Be mindful of your risk profile becoming more conservative with time; don’t forget the importance of taking big risks.
• You need to be careful not to surround yourself with “yes” men or women.
• Your job is to find and leverage talent to its highest and best use; never forget this. Set people up for success.
• What it takes to motivate talent evolves over time, and you need to adjust your approach accordingly.
• Not all criticism is created equal; some of your closest critics speak out because they genuinely care about you and the organization. They want you to do better, not fail.
• Don’t forget you have multiple stakeholders, and you ignore any one of them for too long to your peril.
• Never hold on to people who would rather work elsewhere. Let them see that the grass isn’t always greener, and have confidence in your ability to attract new talent.
• Never become predictable to your competition.

No leader can rest on their laurels for too long, and there is always another year or season coming when you must prove yourself again. Sports can be even more ruthless than business in this regard. I truly wish Wenger had retired last year after winning the FA Cup. It would have been nice for him to have a quasi-graceful exit. However, at some point, turning around an organization requires a change in leadership. There is just too much overhauling necessary for the existing architect to embrace. It’s hard to look in the mirror and accept that the problems are of your own doing. It takes a big person to acknowledge their responsibility for failure.

I am an eternal optimist who would love to be proved wrong in the case of Wenger and Arsenal, although I highly doubt it.

Admittedly, I’m writing this post after a tough defeat to Liverpool today, but creative inspiration can come from odd places….