Edge: Leadership Secrets from Footballs's Top Thinkers

by Ben Lyttleton

What is talent? How do you get the best out of yourself? What are the secrets of leadership?

In Edge, Ben Lyttleton gets unprecedented access to some of the world’s top football clubs to discover their innovative methods for developing talent – and reveals how we can use them in our everyday lives. Elite teams now look for an edge by improving the intangible skills of their players ‘above the shoulder’. Liverpool’s approach to talent will make you more creative. Chelsea’s culture will improve your resilience. Didier Deschamps will improve your leadership skills. Xavi Hernandez will help you make better decisions. But how?

Football is the most hot-housed, intense, financially profitable talent factory on the planet. It’s time we woke up to the lessons it can provide.

We all want to have an edge. This is your chance to find one…

Genres: Football, Business, Sports, Nonfiction, Soccer

320 pages, Paperback

Published May 2, 2018

About the author

Ben Lyttleton is a journalist, newscaster,and soccer consultant. He is the author of Twelve Yards: The Art and Psychology of the Perfect Penalty Kick. He lives in London.

Reviews

[Quintin Zimmermann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let's be frank - the crazy world of elite football profligacy, obscene salaries and endorsements has almost nothing in common with the corporate world of business, unless we are taking about CEO salaries (but I digress).

Ben Lyttleton does make a commendable attempt to draw parallels and even endeavours to transpose lessons for the business world. But who are we kidding? That would be like using karate to teach ballet, both involve physical activity, but they are worlds apart in style and execution.

So did I hate this book for fundamentally failing to address it's very own premise?

No, Ben Lyttleton still takes the reader on a fascinating journey behind the football scenes and interviews some of the most progressive thinkers in football today.

The social model engrained at Athletic Club de Bilbao flies in the face of the globalised football industry and yet works for the club and their devoted supporters.

Ben Darwin's analytical tools such as TeamWork Index (TWI) and Team Shared Experience (TSE) provides quantitative insights into team performance. We have England's disastrous Euro 2016 campaign on the one side and Leicester's one season wonder on the other side.

A detailed examination of the partnership between Michels and Cruyff that revolutionised Dutch and global football with Total Football. The subsequent crossover in child development between the philosophies of Cruyff and Montessori to address the Relative Age Effect in sport teams.

AZ Alkmaar utilisation of an Israeli neural-tracking software tool called Intelligym to significantly improve the skills of players. Let's not forget the Moneyball type recruitment analytics that are infusing football with indispensable modern technology.

Even though this book may not give you the proclaimed edge in business, it is still an absorbing read for any football enthusiast who seeks a better understanding of the finer mechanics of the beautiful game.

[Sunny · Rating 5 out of 5]

6 stars. Another incredible sport psychology, leadership, business, management book. It takes examples from the beautiful game and shows how they can be applied to corporate leadership. I think if you understand football (or soccerball to my American friends) then that will help with the analogies that are used but honestly some of them are glaringly obvious. Professional football players train 95% of the time and they play 5% of the time in competitive games either on a saturday or midweek. What do you think that ratio of training to work is in the business world? Complete opposite right? What would our business look like if we were able to coach our staff 95% of the time and we executed our work 5% of the time? Yes surreal, yes utopian, yes probably not going to happen in my life time but just imagine if someone like Jeff Bezos, or Bill Gates, or Steve Jobs, or Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg or Warren Buffey were able to train the 10,000 hours before and reach the level of excellence that some of the elite sportsmen and women have? Have they already trained / learned / read more than the average person? Interesting. Anyway i should stop babbling .. here are my best bits:

Dr sherylle Calder A South African vision specialist who has worked in American football and lots of other sports advises that less screen time improves players decision-making. Reason is this: when you look at your phone there are no eye movements happening at all and everything is basically static within that small rectangle that you’re staring at. In the modern world the ability of players to have a good awareness is slowly deteriorating because of these stupid phones.

Getting the players into culture will improve their performances. It will take them out of their comfort zone and make them braver on and off the pitch. When we are brave we can explore our creativity without being afraid of the unknown. This chimed with Kindberg’s view so he set up a two day workshop with the players met authors dancers and artists and shared views on the creative process. It was a success but nothing changed. So Kindberg asked wahlen For more. Paragraph he appointed her OFKs culture coachAnd later that year the whole club put on a plate. The coaching staff performed monologues, the actors acted a matter comedy about not knowing how to put on a plate, and the youth Academy did a dancing and singing extravaganza the required 20 costume changes. Everyone loved it and the results improve soon after said wahlen A passionate 0FK fan whose daughters are careful not to stress her out on match days. Other cultural projects followed. In 2013The club 0FK put on an art exhibition. In 2014 they published a book, my journey featuring every club employees story. In 2015 there was an art/dance piece called strength through diversity. One year later, the club performedA modern dance in Pret interpretation of swan lake at the cities local theatre. Maria Nelson Waller the choreographer described dance to them as movement of the soul.

The time spent working on the dance also taught a valuable lesson. Time is important. Things don’t happen straight away. The players in the squad were used to instant gratification being able to watch TV on demand, order things online and even meet partners instantly on smart phones. But it takes patience to write a book, to put on an art show, to learn to dance.

Tuchels team of the future may have no systems of defence, midfield or attack but simply action principles based on how his players behave in certain situations, the respect they have for the space, and how the character shows itself in the way they play football.

On our team we put a huge premium on body language. If your body language is bad you will never get in the game. Ever. I don’t care how good you are when I watch a Game film I’m checking on the bench. If somebody is asleep over there, if somebody doesn’t care, if somebody is not engaged, they will never get in the game. I know what he’s talking about tuchel agrees. We call it the eyes. Does he have a good eyes or not? Can I trust this guy? It’s about binding relationships and respect and belief and faith.

Differential training is based on the belief that repetition and correction holdback learning.

It’s rare to complete any task at 100% but if the struggle is encouraged as part of the process it will organically leads to improved performance. As Gandhi said full effort is full victory.

The head of methodology at Barcelona Football club understands the benefits of differential training and introduced it to La Masia (the farmhouse) The Barcelona youth Academy which is considered to be the best use Academy in the world. Coaches used no more than three repetitions of every exercise. They brought in more variation in training. The best physical coaches make their players fall in love with training: I want them to say that this is the nicest thing I’m doing in my life it’s not having fun it’s falling in love that’s the difference.

There are three measurable aspects associated with high-level sporting performance. They were number one motivational constraints: this is the commitment of the player to reach a difficult goal which includes hours of purposeful practice dedication and willingness. To make sacrifices. Number two.Effort constraints: the ability to recover from training without feeling exhausted or burnt out which includes two forms of coping mechanisms: problem focused where you can change the outcome or emotion focused with the outcome is hard to change. Number three. Resource constraint: the tendency to seek social support from friends or loved ones when confronted with problems or drawbacks to form a network of mutual assistance.

I ask what are the lessons Johann Cruyff preached. And this is what he said: to know your strengths and make them better. Dae to make mistakes as only then you can truly learn. Try something new. Don’t copy but think ahead all the time. And make really good decisions.

He breaks down the key factors of decision-making in football into three segments. These also work away from the pitch. The first is visual perception which he describes as the ability to take in and interpret information. The second is visual explorer tree behaviour or the ability to actively search and scan to collect information. The third is anticipation or the ability to see what is about to happen.

He asks parents of 11-year-old players to allow the children to stay up until midnight on the night before a big game, just so they can see how they perform the next day on less sleep than usual. We asked them to do it for a couple of days and by then they understand the experience and take the sleep a lot more seriously. If after the experience you give them sleep advice they will engage in it a lot more seriously.

The key exclamation is how your advice fits with their motivation. He asked one age group to WhatsApp him images of their breakfast every morning for five days. For the rest of the year that group of players started the days with the perfect meal.

In golf, and I’m sure applies to lots of other sports like football, you may not be aware of your psychodynamic state, but one scientist identified how those physical positions impact on our ability to execute skills. Submissive golfers who lack confidence or commitment to the shop will book the ball because they can’t engage their cool and turn into the shop to correctly. Aggressive golfers who are trying to hard will slice the ball is the shoulders for arms and wrists are too tense. Assertive golfers have an engaged cool with a relaxed extremities and they hit the ball straight.

The same scientist described the pencil test. Two groups of people were given a pencil and asked to rate how funny they found a series of cartoons. The first group held the pencil between their teeth. The second group held the pencil between the lips. The group who are the pencil in the teeth thought the cartoons were funnier. Having the pencil between your teeth force them to smile more. However you can’t smile with a pencil jams between your lips. The hypothesis: Physical posture can affect the conclusions you draw about the world around you.

Another scientist who had studied football matches found that the best chance of scoring is within eight seconds of winning the ball back from the opposition. In training the coach set a countdown clock with a target to score within those eight seconds.

The coach at RB Leipzig Tells his players to act not to react. To dictate the game with and without the ball not through individuals. And to use numerical superiority. He also knows that the most sprints of teammates to win the ball back the greater the likelihood they will score a goal once they have won it back quickly. This was a predecessor to Gegenpressing or Jurgen Kloop called it heavy-metal football.

Comes back to one magic word: talent. When you look at the derivation of the word from Greek times, in those times it was a coin you paid with. And that’s exactly what it is. What are you willing to pay? What are you willing to give of yourself? That is talent.

Here is an example of unconscious bias. Everyone remembers when a goalkeeper is beating at the new post but no one seems to care if the goalkeeper is beaten at the farm post or even in the thirdOf the goal nearest that for post. Most goalkeepers overprotective the near post to avoid criticism from conceding there. They should be interested in protecting the entire go not just a part of it because of the anticipated criticism. A goalkeeper who is not so obsessed with his near post my concede two or three more goals there through the season if he changes his starting position but he might also say five or six extra goals at the far post.

Another formula for talent: potential plus time plus opportunity minus interference equals talent.

The challenge of every player is to adapt and recover at each stage. So what are the dangers? Number one is the disease of me which refers to players inability to put the team first: resenting teammates success or feeling paranoid frustrated or underappreciated even at moments of success. Another is called the choke for those players who lack the psychological strength required to reach the next level. Inglethorp knows lots of good players who have not been able to make the step up because of their response to pressure. Ability to play and field is ultimately down to how you think and approach the enormity of what you’re doing. The next pitfall: complacency. This is the I’ve already made it attitude of hubristic pride. There also thunderbolts: these are unpredictable factors like a career ending injury or a long-term illness. This could happen to anyone.

What’s important is the presence of a caring environment which allows you to take risks and innovate without the fear of failure. Some managers also believe that helping a teammate during a game can take your mind off your own pressure and so enhance your performance. Love that. This is similar to the concept in the improvisation comedy club/group called the upright citizens Brigade from the United States who is comedians are inculcated with the idea that success can only be obtained if you work as a team and if you try to elevate the success of your supporting actors rather than use them to try to elevate your own position and your own comedy routines.

Kids coming into professional football these days are not used to quit language commands and all the time on their iPhones makes them incapable of quick commands on the football pitch. They text instead of talking and that means that they are not quick thinkers anymore. I really do think this is influencing the games now: we have to teach them how to communicate on the pitch. I know some players have been told to get off Twitter as they were addicted to it.

Before the 1986 World Cup final all is quiet in the Argentina dressing room. The biggest moment in the players lives was close. Everyone was nervous. The Maradonna started to cry out to his mother. He shouted tota Come and help me I’m afraid I need you to protect me! Maradonna was sending a message to his teammates don’t worry if you’re afraid. I’m afraid to.

It’s good to be able to play football well but you must also be a person who knows how to value effort, who overcomes difficulties, and that is a question of personality. Education forms part of a rounded person, someone who knows about the world around them: politics business how things happen. Does it make them a better professional? I’m convinced that it does. In the end, someone who knows how to express themselves who knows how to reason who has the ability to have relationships with people, that is all very important. This is fundamental. That opens you up for everything and it helps you deal with the pressure.

There was also the super chicken factory. And evolutionary biologist called William M there was also the super chicken factory. And evolutionary biologist called William Muir was interested in productivity and he devised a study of chickens, assuming there is would be easy to measure as you could just count the eggs. Chickens live in groups and so he left one group of chickens for six generations and monitored their productivity. He then created a second group taking only the most productive chickens from the first group. He called the second group are super flock. he waited another six generations and then compare the results. The first group was getting along just fine. The chickens were plump and feathered and that a production was up. The second group the one with the super chickens was not so good. Only three were alive. They have suppressed the productivity of the others and picked them to death. Most organisations and some societies I run along the super chicken model says Margaret Heffernan An expert in corporate cohesion. We thought success is achieved by picking the superstars, the brightest in the room and giving them all the power. The result has been exactly the same as in Muir’s experiment: aggression dysfunction and waste. An expert in corporate cohesion. We thought success is achieved by picking the superstars, the brightest in the room and giving them all the power. The result has been exactly the same as in this experiment: aggression dysfunction and waste.

[Tim Roast · Rating 4 out of 5]

How do you get an edge in football? You do it by eating half-time oranges – just look at the cover of this book. No, that is not really what this book says.

The book’s aim is to discover how certain teams or individuals in football have gone about getting an “edge” – “a competitive advantage” – and then how that can be applied in the business world. “Edge” is broken down into five aspects, a chapter covering each: Cohesion, Adaptability, Decision-making, Resilience and Creativity.

The book starts at Athletic Club de Bilbao and focuses on their Basque-only policy. In today’s global football world they restrict their player pool to an area with the population of 3 million making them different and an interesting case study. In fact I thought all the case studies in this book were good picks. Even controversial clubs like RB Leipzig are not overlooked. They do it a different way, which everyone may not appreciate, and so it makes them a good case study to look at.

I enjoyed the football but I don’t know so much how I would relate this to a non-football business if I needed to as some of the stuff in here doesn’t seem transferable. For example looking around more on the pitch makes you a better player because you have a better picture in your head of where you can put the ball when you get it. This is then likened to preparing for a meeting in the business world which is something I do already.

Talking of business people there are plenty of references to where the research used can be obtained from throughout the text (although the one piece of research I wanted to see, “research that showed the best chance of scoring is within eight seconds of winning back the ball”, was not referenced).

So overall I enjoyed the football, less so the business parts.

[Fabrizio Poli · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read a lot of books about business and peak performance (see my numerous reviews here on Goodreads) and I must say this book is ACE!
I am a football fan but a also an entrepreneur. Ben Lyttleton has done extensive research and brought it all together with an engaging and practical style. I disagree with some of the negative reviews about this book. I captured a number of very useful lessons applicable in business from the footballing world.
Interesting to see what the scouts look for in young players. Not so much the skill but how a player reacts when he makes a mistake, misses a penalty and loses the ball. Resilience is an important factor in order to achieve success. You are going to make mistakes along your path, you neeed to learn and move on. The book also talks about environment and how that influences a player. There are some great stories in this book and I highly recommend it!

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is like a road trip, where Lyttleton interview many top-level soccer coaches, to learn about modern techniques for getting the best out of players and everyone in involved in football teams (though mainly players).

It was interesting, an enjoyable read, and at times entertaining, but the subtitle is "What business can learn from football", and the book doesn't really live up to that billing. Sure there are parts where it's obvious, but each chapter could have done with a final section distilling down the message, and then a final chapter distilling the whole book. The Epilogue kind of does that, but reads like the editor told Lyttleton it was needed, and he bashed it out in double-quick time.

I'd give it 7 / 10, rounding down to 3 / 5. Needs some rework and editing for tightness.

[GeorgeMonck · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating book that delves into many aspects of the highly competqtive world of elite professinal football.

I am not sure if the title of the book is completely accurate but enjoyed the content nevertheless.

My favourite chapter was about Athlectic Bilbao and I hope they continue with their culture into the future.

If you want a slightly different book abiut top level football then you will enjoy this.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

[Kristina Relampagos · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Football" was a come on - I had to read it. There are many valuable and heart-warming lessons from football that, as a fan, I know people should be exposed to. As a marketer, his collection of researches and interviews are better appreciated as a series of posts or articles. Online would be a more effective medium.

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating studies written in a very clear and accessible way. Illuminating to read such varied accounts of success and development, then over time ultimately seeing the recurring threads that bind all the innovators in this book together. Hugely enjoyable and educational. Well done all involved.

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although its about what businesses can learn its also a very interesting book if your a football fan.

[Raihanda Rafi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every football fans should read this book, easy reading and enjoying

[Jeff Lynskey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Talent=ability x commintment

Superb 📚really enjoyable on lots of fronts

Talent definitions plus range of prople sime great anecdotes

Any sporting person should read

[Fabian Heeg · Rating 5 out of 5]

top Buch, hielt was es verspricht. Viele Learnings aus der Fussballwelt.

[Arnold Raharja · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the same vein with his earlier book, Ben Lyttleton dives into business with the same formula as how he dived into penalties. The topics are divided into mid-length articles in which he interviews or cites football businesspeople, managers, team staffs and experts from other fields. This can be somewhat boring in my opinion, but the range of discussion is wide enough.

[Haur Bin Chua · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat random collection of different leadership styles in football world. Summary of this book:

1. Cohesion
- create environment that help retain talent e.g. sense of belonging to a community, greater purpose
- measure performance as a team instead of individuals; whole is greater than sum of its parts so don’t underestimate the team chemistry. Experiment on group of chickens put together naturally vs specially selected high eggs yielding chicken or superchicken - results, superchicken group suffered competition, aggression and waste resulting in high attrition. Team needs diversity, like bricks and mortar
- foster environment that supports learning which means it’s okay to make mistakes. Stop the blame culture

2.Adaptability
- be a rule breaker. Don’t always play by existing rules. Be honest with own shortcomings and acknowledge we do not have answers for everything
- differential training. Help others see the big picture by exposing to different perspectives
- control your learning process. Self regulation correlates with success
- listen to others and this helps to build trust. Body language is essential

3. Decision making
- do what you like and get good at it. Have high aspirations and be happy to go towards them
- learn to anticipate. Always be aware of your surroundings, be hungry for information. As a leader, think a few steps ahead and understand the options available
- biases are real. Understand own inherent biases and beat them. Bias = wastage
- develop winning mentality. Set high goals and understand each person develops differently - no cookie cutter method to development
- create your own future. Make individual responsible for their own development while providing support and opportunities. Teach them how to get past their fears

4. Resilience
- improve your resilience. Able to separate adversity from consequence, understand what we can do and what we can’t, find the real problem and fix it rather than worrying about it, continue to question yourself
- believe in yourself and your course. Own your goals, manage your emotions and stress level by managing expectations
- challenge unconscious bias. Are current metrics set up rightly to gauge performance e.g. height of goalkeepers do not correlate with success. Mistakes are just the symptom, important to find the source

5. Creativity
- innovate through diversity. Diversity brings varying viewpoints leading to breakthrough
- allow creativity to flourish. Make work enjoyable for people to want to come in to solve problems. Give them room to explore, mavericks need room to fulfil their potentials

[Roman Khan · Rating 5 out of 5]

i gave this book 5 stars, as it was a titillating frivolous read on how some niche managers/ people in authority rose up the ranks of football in their own unique way. it dives in on different coaches and their unique take on a particular part of football. it showed there is way to do football as we know it a different way, which symbolizes an ever growing concern on the direction of football is heading. i'd recommend this book to player and managers alike.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good insight to how various clubs and individuals mainly based in Europe seek to get an edge in the highly competitive cut throat arena of professional football where the stakes are high.The variety of methods used by certain clubs and individual managers was interesting from the basque based policy used by Athletico Bilbao to the clear and focused insight of Didier Deschamps a World Cup winner as a player and now recently as a manager of France.A book of interest for any football fan that wants to delve a bit deeper into the process of some of the different perspectives and methods used by professional football clubs and individuals to improve their results.

[Samar · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave this book two stars because most of the things the author had said in this book my dad had already said.

The Top 3 things that i did learn from the book were :

Number one: never show your emotion after getting a bad decision or making a mistake.

Number 2: if your managing a team be calm and be one with the payers. as a dog would pick up the emotions of its owner, they feel what the owner is feeling.it must be the same if you are managing a team, think of them as the dog and feel feelings that you know would put them at ease at times of panic and distress

Number 3: Hard work makes the cut.

[Karl Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really insightful book that brought together a passion of mine in football but looking at professional development in how lessons from this can be applied in work. Definitely worth a read as there were lots of interesting insights and snippets of advice from some really successful people. The only challenge in reading this is that with the passage of time some of the characters held up as good examples have not had the success predicted but this is inevitable when dealing with a subject like this

[Jordan Florit · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author assembles an enjoyable read absent of the gimmicky nature this genre can often take. Industry leaders gave insightful interviews to make for a worthwhile read and there is plenty to learn from football for leaders (but not just leaders) of any field. I don’t believe the reader would need to be a football fan to benefit from reading this book, but being so may heighten the enjoyment.

[Andrew Johnston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book that seeks to apply the coaches treatment of top level footballers to leadership and management. It’s interesting to see inside the oaches heads and there plenty of ideas here for football, I’m not sure how it can be transferred though.

[Robert Saade · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most amazing sports book there is!
The cheer volume of interviews and research done in this book is outstanding.
You will have an insightful perspective after reading it and you won’t look at football the same way.

[Assaad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting a bit boring, with too much football :D

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book but found it could be quite hard going at times but maybe this was because I am not as familiar with all of the teams and managers as I used to be.

[Nilesh Joshi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome for football lovers

[LimeCream · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm probably not the target reader for this book, given that I hate football and all, but I did find it interesting. The writer has done a good job and manage to hold my interest throughout. I would recommend this.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for the opportunity to read.

[Toyin Spades · Rating 4 out of 5]

Management lessons that give insight to how different high performing managers yield the desired results in different teams that they find themselves.