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The Barcelona Way: How to Create a High-Performance Culture
'Does culture create competitive advantage? Case closed in this compelling analysis of sporting success. Read it.' – James Kerr, bestselling author of Legacy.
In The Barcelona Way , sports psychologist Prof. Damian Hughes draws on exclusive insight into FCB as well as first-hand research from organizational psychology, to set out a method to create your own high-performance culture. At the heart of FCB’s winning culture are a set of principles, epitomized by Pep Guardiola, Johan Cruyff, Lionel Messi and many other FCB legends, which govern how to nurture talent, prepare for change and provide the best environment to build a culture of sustained success. These Big Picture, Arc of Change, Repetition, Cultural Architects, Authentic Leadership are at the heart of FCB’s unprecedented domination of football, and are the key to developing high-performance cultures in any team-based organisation across every industry. The Barcelona Way is a hugely practical must-read that sets out a clear plan, based on the same principles, for you to create a culture of success and get the best of yourself and your team.
In The Barcelona Way , sports psychologist Prof. Damian Hughes draws on exclusive insight into FCB as well as first-hand research from organizational psychology, to set out a method to create your own high-performance culture. At the heart of FCB’s winning culture are a set of principles, epitomized by Pep Guardiola, Johan Cruyff, Lionel Messi and many other FCB legends, which govern how to nurture talent, prepare for change and provide the best environment to build a culture of sustained success. These Big Picture, Arc of Change, Repetition, Cultural Architects, Authentic Leadership are at the heart of FCB’s unprecedented domination of football, and are the key to developing high-performance cultures in any team-based organisation across every industry. The Barcelona Way is a hugely practical must-read that sets out a clear plan, based on the same principles, for you to create a culture of success and get the best of yourself and your team.
253 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 9, 2018
107 people are currently reading
903 people want to read
About the author
Damian Hughes
36 books23 followersProfessor Damian Hughes combines his practical and academic background within sport, organization and change psychology to work as a trusted adviser to business, education and sporting elite, specializing in the creation of high-performance cultures.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
March 30, 2019
Loved this book. I'm a massive fan of culture change but also a massive fan of football and Barcelona are one of if not the best team in the world at the moment. So, what is it about their culture that has enabled them to get to this point. Once again their success has been built off the back of a succession of key managers that have had the opportunity to imprint their mark as a part of the culture that prevails at the club today. Cruyff and now Guardiola have been pivotal to their success and both have managed to keep the essence of the culture that has led to the team’s ultimate success over the last 10 years especially. This book explores what the cultural elements could have been that lead to their success and posits the question as to whether or not other more mortal organisations across other industries (not just sports) could also emulate their incredible success. An exquisite book which I highly recommend especially if you work as a professional and have an interest in football. Here are the best bits:
Educating players where they needed to be located every given moment, took 150 dedicated practise sessions. Wolfgang Frank had his players standing for hours on end, outside, walking around slowly in unison in intricate patterns between poles stuck in the ground.
In his book published in 1946 he encouraged people to reframe their life by telling themselves to think less about what to expect from life but rather ask yourself what life expects of you.
Disney created a team of “imagineers” who were challenged to come up with new and exciting creations for their studios and theme parks. They created a concept called the “Animal Kingdom” as an upgrade for their zoo. They wanted to bring in real animals and twice the thick binder that the business case was presented in was thrown out of the window. Michael Eisner the CEO said that “people don’t want to see live animals. Where's the “wow” in that?” So, third time round Joe Rohde who was the senior creative executive at Disney bought in a 400 pound Bengal tiger into the board room. “Now do you get it” he asked. They got it. Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney world in Orlando was one of the results.
In the champions league final on 27th May 2009 between Barcelona and Manchester United before the game started Guardiola created a video which he showed to his team in the changing rooms. It left a good number of those professional players in tears. It was a video which mashed images and scenes from Russell Crowe's “the Gladiator” with players from Guardiola's team, in fact all of them who had participated in helping Barcelona get to that final were featured in that short emotional video. It worked. Barcelona went on to win that game 2-0 and that video is still discussed today - 10 years on.
On guardiola “he is curious about a lot of things beyond football. But you get the sense that sometimes he codifies them in his own special way. He then footbalizes them. In other words he finds a lesson applicable to football everywhere. I do something similar. I create “vacuums”. Hoovers that suck from the data / information all the relevant information that i can funnel into more refined subjects that i am more interested in.
Visualise. You can vividly and accurately recreate the big moments in your imagination, the sights the sounds the smells the sensations. You don't get surprised or knocked off balance by the big test because in a profound way you've already experienced it. All of which adds up to a basic truth of the Navy Seals: the trick of succeeding in the biggest moments is to use practise to reduce them into a series of small controllable moments.
OODA: observe, orient, decide, action. John "40 second" BOyd would use this concept to take a bet with trainees that he could beat them in a dog fight in his fighter jet in less than 40 seconds. He would collect the data, he would figure out where and what is happening. Analyse the data to form an accurate picture of his opponents, select an action from possible options and then execute the action and then return to the observation and collection of data step right at the start again. It shows that speed and agility are really about information processing.
Pixar's approach to structuring stories:
Once upon a time there was …
Every day …
One day …
Because of that …
Because of that …
Until finally …
Cultural architects are people who are able to change the mindset of others. The psychologist Willi railo said. They are able to break barriers, they have visions.
Psychologist Marjie Elferink-Gemser’s work shows that one trend that develops amongst successful athletes is when they are 13 or so - they develop a sense of ownership of their training. For the ones that succeed, this age is the one when they decide that it's not simply enough to be a cog in the development machine - they begin to go further, reaching beyond their programme.
All of the members of the good team spoke roughly the same amount of time a phenomenon referred to as “equality in distribution of conversational turn taking”. In some groups the conversation ebbed from assignment to assignment but by the end of the day everyone had spoken roughly the same amount.
The best players are the quickest thinkers.
The tenth man rule is that if you are in a group of ten then you should designate one as the tenth man and his role is to logically challenge the status quo and challenge the strongest possible argument of the group.
T_CUP: (thinking correctly under pressure) is a training technique that is taught to elite SAS soldiers. Clive woodward (head of england's world cup winning team) said that when they lost the last 3 grand slams deciders, the players had lost their composure and control when they were chasing the game.
A simple example of this is his use of still photos rather than match footage to illustrate certain points, such as how great teams celebrate every goal as though it were their first. We also do this and call it seeing in pictures
Players are expected to arrive an hour before they are due to train. Punctuality as a representation of being mentally prepared, is strictly enforced.
The neuroscientist Wolfgang Singer reported an interesting finding in the mid-1990s. he had identified a particular pattern of brain waves whose purpose appeared to be geared towards connecting different activities within the mind to create a sense of coherence. Specifically, he found that when people perceived something as meaningful, clumps of neurons in disparate parts of the brain mysteriously engaged in synchronized firing.
Zander letter - named after the music educator Benjamin Zander. Before he begins each semester Benjamin asks his students to take out a sheet of paper and date it in the future and title it: “i succeeded in the class because …..”in the letter they are asked to detail the concrete steps they will take that will lead to their success. Some businesses call this the postcard from the future.
What is essential when creating the big picture is to marry your long term goal - the what - with the short term critical moves - the how. The big picture risks being empty talk without lots of behavioural level execution. You have to backup your vision with good behavioural script.
James R corbett “only those that have the patience to do simple things perfectly will every acquire the skill to do difficult things easily.”
Annika Sorenstam a golf uses the concept of an imaginary line that separates your practise space from you performance space. When you are inside your practise space you are fully thinking and strategizing and planning but when you cross that line and go into the performance space you click off your mind and just play. I'm not sure if i fully agree with that. At a micro level you have to keep your mind free and play but at more tactical level you have to be thinking about the game at a more holistic level in my opinion.
One saturday morning i saw Ray Kroc (founder of the mcdonald's chain) on his knees with a toothbrush cleaning the holes in the mop wringer.
When marathon runners are 26.1 miles into a 26.2 miles race a special brain event occurs at a spot called the X spot - where runners turn the corner and see the finish line. This spot is also the most likely place for cardiac arrests to occur in marathons. This is why in any marathon races ambulances are strategically places at that very spot. Some people's bodies already fatigued cannot handle the neurological accelerants dumped into their bodies.
Educating players where they needed to be located every given moment, took 150 dedicated practise sessions. Wolfgang Frank had his players standing for hours on end, outside, walking around slowly in unison in intricate patterns between poles stuck in the ground.
In his book published in 1946 he encouraged people to reframe their life by telling themselves to think less about what to expect from life but rather ask yourself what life expects of you.
Disney created a team of “imagineers” who were challenged to come up with new and exciting creations for their studios and theme parks. They created a concept called the “Animal Kingdom” as an upgrade for their zoo. They wanted to bring in real animals and twice the thick binder that the business case was presented in was thrown out of the window. Michael Eisner the CEO said that “people don’t want to see live animals. Where's the “wow” in that?” So, third time round Joe Rohde who was the senior creative executive at Disney bought in a 400 pound Bengal tiger into the board room. “Now do you get it” he asked. They got it. Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney world in Orlando was one of the results.
In the champions league final on 27th May 2009 between Barcelona and Manchester United before the game started Guardiola created a video which he showed to his team in the changing rooms. It left a good number of those professional players in tears. It was a video which mashed images and scenes from Russell Crowe's “the Gladiator” with players from Guardiola's team, in fact all of them who had participated in helping Barcelona get to that final were featured in that short emotional video. It worked. Barcelona went on to win that game 2-0 and that video is still discussed today - 10 years on.
On guardiola “he is curious about a lot of things beyond football. But you get the sense that sometimes he codifies them in his own special way. He then footbalizes them. In other words he finds a lesson applicable to football everywhere. I do something similar. I create “vacuums”. Hoovers that suck from the data / information all the relevant information that i can funnel into more refined subjects that i am more interested in.
Visualise. You can vividly and accurately recreate the big moments in your imagination, the sights the sounds the smells the sensations. You don't get surprised or knocked off balance by the big test because in a profound way you've already experienced it. All of which adds up to a basic truth of the Navy Seals: the trick of succeeding in the biggest moments is to use practise to reduce them into a series of small controllable moments.
OODA: observe, orient, decide, action. John "40 second" BOyd would use this concept to take a bet with trainees that he could beat them in a dog fight in his fighter jet in less than 40 seconds. He would collect the data, he would figure out where and what is happening. Analyse the data to form an accurate picture of his opponents, select an action from possible options and then execute the action and then return to the observation and collection of data step right at the start again. It shows that speed and agility are really about information processing.
Pixar's approach to structuring stories:
Once upon a time there was …
Every day …
One day …
Because of that …
Because of that …
Until finally …
Cultural architects are people who are able to change the mindset of others. The psychologist Willi railo said. They are able to break barriers, they have visions.
Psychologist Marjie Elferink-Gemser’s work shows that one trend that develops amongst successful athletes is when they are 13 or so - they develop a sense of ownership of their training. For the ones that succeed, this age is the one when they decide that it's not simply enough to be a cog in the development machine - they begin to go further, reaching beyond their programme.
All of the members of the good team spoke roughly the same amount of time a phenomenon referred to as “equality in distribution of conversational turn taking”. In some groups the conversation ebbed from assignment to assignment but by the end of the day everyone had spoken roughly the same amount.
The best players are the quickest thinkers.
The tenth man rule is that if you are in a group of ten then you should designate one as the tenth man and his role is to logically challenge the status quo and challenge the strongest possible argument of the group.
T_CUP: (thinking correctly under pressure) is a training technique that is taught to elite SAS soldiers. Clive woodward (head of england's world cup winning team) said that when they lost the last 3 grand slams deciders, the players had lost their composure and control when they were chasing the game.
A simple example of this is his use of still photos rather than match footage to illustrate certain points, such as how great teams celebrate every goal as though it were their first. We also do this and call it seeing in pictures
Players are expected to arrive an hour before they are due to train. Punctuality as a representation of being mentally prepared, is strictly enforced.
The neuroscientist Wolfgang Singer reported an interesting finding in the mid-1990s. he had identified a particular pattern of brain waves whose purpose appeared to be geared towards connecting different activities within the mind to create a sense of coherence. Specifically, he found that when people perceived something as meaningful, clumps of neurons in disparate parts of the brain mysteriously engaged in synchronized firing.
Zander letter - named after the music educator Benjamin Zander. Before he begins each semester Benjamin asks his students to take out a sheet of paper and date it in the future and title it: “i succeeded in the class because …..”in the letter they are asked to detail the concrete steps they will take that will lead to their success. Some businesses call this the postcard from the future.
What is essential when creating the big picture is to marry your long term goal - the what - with the short term critical moves - the how. The big picture risks being empty talk without lots of behavioural level execution. You have to backup your vision with good behavioural script.
James R corbett “only those that have the patience to do simple things perfectly will every acquire the skill to do difficult things easily.”
Annika Sorenstam a golf uses the concept of an imaginary line that separates your practise space from you performance space. When you are inside your practise space you are fully thinking and strategizing and planning but when you cross that line and go into the performance space you click off your mind and just play. I'm not sure if i fully agree with that. At a micro level you have to keep your mind free and play but at more tactical level you have to be thinking about the game at a more holistic level in my opinion.
One saturday morning i saw Ray Kroc (founder of the mcdonald's chain) on his knees with a toothbrush cleaning the holes in the mop wringer.
When marathon runners are 26.1 miles into a 26.2 miles race a special brain event occurs at a spot called the X spot - where runners turn the corner and see the finish line. This spot is also the most likely place for cardiac arrests to occur in marathons. This is why in any marathon races ambulances are strategically places at that very spot. Some people's bodies already fatigued cannot handle the neurological accelerants dumped into their bodies.
April 8, 2020
I've got mixed feelings here, because this one's been pulled from distribution because Hughes plagiarized. Hughes has apologized and has a note about it up on his site.
As for the book itself, it's good. It blends the story of FC Barcelona and Pep Guardiola with an analysis of leadership and commitment culture ideas. It's a fun read, enjoyable as much for the look at Barcelona as for the application, and I think Hughes has plenty of good thoughts to offer this field of study.
As for the book itself, it's good. It blends the story of FC Barcelona and Pep Guardiola with an analysis of leadership and commitment culture ideas. It's a fun read, enjoyable as much for the look at Barcelona as for the application, and I think Hughes has plenty of good thoughts to offer this field of study.
May 21, 2019
A great account of the most successful football team of our generation and how although the players were amazing, the underlying culture developed from Cruyff through Guardiola has resulted in such success. I will definitely dip back into this book through my career.
November 5, 2019
very interesting book. good parallels between leadership in business and football
January 19, 2020
At the intersection of two of my big interests simply told with great insight stories and practical application. Recommended by my friend Ian Moore. X
January 5, 2019
Good insight into the recent story of Barcelona FC, with many common business ideas applied to illustrate points.
Didn’t learn a whole lot new but good examples of those ideas in practice to compliment existing theoretical understanding.
Didn’t learn a whole lot new but good examples of those ideas in practice to compliment existing theoretical understanding.
September 29, 2019
Not insightful nor deep of Barcelona. It's too general, fluffy, and cover too wide about other things than Barcelona. It talks too much about cultures in general and try to convince the reader about the commitment culture in Barcelona with some snippers/stories here and there but not enough for a Barcelona fan. The earlier book that I read about Pep: Pep Guardiola: The Evolution, is much deeper and have more stories to tell.
January 17, 2020
I really enjoyed the mix of football and business team culture. A lot to take on with how to perform and lead teams that applies as much to business as it does football. Probably more outside football as not many teams have ever created a culture like Barcelona have done. I wish it could have expanded on why it has not been replicated by other teams.
January 20, 2020
An outsiders perspective on the impressive achievements of FC Barcelona and the possible reasons for their success. Recommended for those who would like some everyday, practical tips on how to slowly, but surely develop or contribute to a performance culture (especially in, but not limited to sports).
October 18, 2018
Loved this book, brilliant blend of leadership and football written in a really accessible way. The activities and things to consider make it practical too. Brilliant for leaders who love football or anyone interested in Barcelona and curious about Pep Guardiola's genius.
November 20, 2018
A different approach to self help, management books in comparison to what I would normally read.
June 28, 2023
Poor.
There is nothing new, original or insightful about Barcelona in this book.
The author, a professor apparently, just picked up random anecdotes and then fitted them with the prevailing theories about winning culture or how his own views.
There is no deep research, academic study or analysis here. Those looking to understand about winning culture will be disappointed. Also there is nothing about what made Barcelona great here.
Everyone knows that without the generational talent of Messi, Xavi or Iniesta there would be no Barcelona legend as we know. Add these players to Cruyff's philosophy and Pep's coaching and intelligence, you have the answer. There is very little about the culture.
There is nothing new, original or insightful about Barcelona in this book.
The author, a professor apparently, just picked up random anecdotes and then fitted them with the prevailing theories about winning culture or how his own views.
There is no deep research, academic study or analysis here. Those looking to understand about winning culture will be disappointed. Also there is nothing about what made Barcelona great here.
Everyone knows that without the generational talent of Messi, Xavi or Iniesta there would be no Barcelona legend as we know. Add these players to Cruyff's philosophy and Pep's coaching and intelligence, you have the answer. There is very little about the culture.
May 28, 2020
The idea to merge sports and management is not a new one, but the way in which the author links the evolution of Barcelona (under Guardiola's leadership) and the explanations of methods that any leader can use, is really original.
There are some sentences inside the book that for sure I will use in the future, for example que Culture definition: “Culture is what happens when the leader isn’t in the room, which is of course most of the time”
If you like football and want to know how to develop a high performance culture in your company, this book will be a must.
There are some sentences inside the book that for sure I will use in the future, for example que Culture definition: “Culture is what happens when the leader isn’t in the room, which is of course most of the time”
If you like football and want to know how to develop a high performance culture in your company, this book will be a must.
May 31, 2020
Great book! Inspiring! Brought me to my knees to wholeheartedly be a passionate fan of Barcelona. This is an authentic curated write up of a high-performing sports team as related to business. Damian Hughes did a great job in convincing a skeptic like me.
Lesson learnt:
1. Targeted leadership
2. Authentic leadership
3. The tenth Man rule
4. The necessity of skills and intelligence key in shaping a winning culture
5. Finally, I am going to read this book again and repeat the process till I can quote every page in sleep ☺☺☺
Lesson learnt:
1. Targeted leadership
2. Authentic leadership
3. The tenth Man rule
4. The necessity of skills and intelligence key in shaping a winning culture
5. Finally, I am going to read this book again and repeat the process till I can quote every page in sleep ☺☺☺
April 10, 2019
This is an ode to the destruction brought by the mandatory school system that produced Hughes. A city has "his way". No, it's not a city. It's a football club. The club has a DNA. And that DNA is locked. There is also such a thing as a Winning Culture. Probably in the second volume Hughes will point out the connection with the Pyramids and the secret tunnel to the unfinished Sagrada Familia church.
July 25, 2021
首先，我想说我是黄马德里的球迷[Grin]，我以前很讨厌巴萨这个队但是，看完这本书就让我很尊重它们的历史，文化，还有它们的足球的风格。
其次，这本书是关于管理和文化，不管是哪个领域或者组织(公司，体育club,...) 这本书很有用。
巴萨的风格其实很简单，就是传球，传，传，传，然后进球，很简单也很美丽，球员也不一定是个子高肌肉发达的那种，不管你多高，如果你能融入巴萨的文化（了解巴萨和加泰罗尼亚的大目的，要谦虚，纪律，多传球。。）就可以了，所以很多厉害的明星像Ibrahimovic,Ronaldinho都被解雇因为它们没有巴萨球员的个人品质。
最后，我很后悔因为我没有感受到以前巴萨的足球风格因为在此时间我以憎恨看它们的比赛，目前没办法看那么厉害的巴萨因为Guardiola,Xavi,Iniesta 已经离开了，所以有时候我觉得在生活中如果遇到比我们厉害的对手，要么向他们努力学习，要么欣赏他们的表演[Onlooker]
其次，这本书是关于管理和文化，不管是哪个领域或者组织(公司，体育club,...) 这本书很有用。
巴萨的风格其实很简单，就是传球，传，传，传，然后进球，很简单也很美丽，球员也不一定是个子高肌肉发达的那种，不管你多高，如果你能融入巴萨的文化（了解巴萨和加泰罗尼亚的大目的，要谦虚，纪律，多传球。。）就可以了，所以很多厉害的明星像Ibrahimovic,Ronaldinho都被解雇因为它们没有巴萨球员的个人品质。
最后，我很后悔因为我没有感受到以前巴萨的足球风格因为在此时间我以憎恨看它们的比赛，目前没办法看那么厉害的巴萨因为Guardiola,Xavi,Iniesta 已经离开了，所以有时候我觉得在生活中如果遇到比我们厉害的对手，要么向他们努力学习，要么欣赏他们的表演[Onlooker]
January 9, 2024
Great book on multiple accounts. First of all, as a football fan it gives great insight into how Pep managed to make his Barcelona such an iconic team. It proofs, a bit counter to the argument in the book at the end, that a great manager can make all the difference. Secondly, it shows how you can translate Peps doings into any organization to create a high performance culture. Hands on tips and very inspiring to put into practice!
December 7, 2019
The Barcelona Way - Professor of organizational psychology and sports psychologist Damian Hughes details how Association football (soccer) clubs demonstrate the way to organize for success. A case study worthy of admiration and replication.
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>> https://aarifbillah.com/the-barcelona...
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>> https://aarifbillah.com/the-barcelona...
September 30, 2022
Một cuốn sách khá khó chấm điểm, bởi có những đoạn viết rất mượt với sự chặt chẽ trong lập luận kết hợp với dẫn chứng cụ thể của Barcelona, có đoạn lại giống một cuốn self-help mà các ví dụ khá khiên cưỡng. Tôi mong chờ nhiều hơn về mặt số liệu, đặc biệt khi nói về thành công của một CLB cỡ Barca, chứ không chỉ là những “truyền kỳ”.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 30, 2019
Highly recommend.
Would highly recommend ‘The Barcelona Way’. Brilliant mixture of leadership and football written in a really accessible way. Brilliant for leaders who love football or anyone with an interest in Pep Guardiola's genius.
Would highly recommend ‘The Barcelona Way’. Brilliant mixture of leadership and football written in a really accessible way. Brilliant for leaders who love football or anyone with an interest in Pep Guardiola's genius.
August 7, 2019
Awesome read! BARCA approach is excellent and can be applied to sports and non sports leadership. Chapters are laid out with examples and deeper understanding. This is good for a book in this category.
April 30, 2020
A good solid 8/10 book with some interesting team and organisational insights. Definitely worth a read, could probably have gone a bit deeper into the “DNA” of the culture but enough to get your brain thinking
August 20, 2020
what an absolute joke of a book...no behind the scenes insight whatsoever. tell us something about the club we can't see on tv or read in the papers....rather than interpreting how certain well known events in the club was managed. waste of time!
December 26, 2018
Phenomenal book about character, leadership, and how to create a commitment culture!!!
January 25, 2019
Game Changer
You are probably doing your organisation/sports club and yourself a great disservice by not reading this book. Won't be disappointed.
You are probably doing your organisation/sports club and yourself a great disservice by not reading this book. Won't be disappointed.
January 30, 2020
Great read. Learned a lot about what it takes "behind the scenes" to build and grow a successful program. While the sports may be different, the process/information is the same!!!
April 26, 2021
The arch of change, cultural influences, “a stop doing list”. A great culture driving book as to the ways Pep Guardiola influences changed. The book that swung me into a lockdown craze.
March 9, 2022
Shoutout to Daniel Abrahams for introducing this book in his brilliant podcast: The Sport Psych Show.
June 18, 2022
Heerlijk boek over top management en een van mijn favoriete trainers. Ik zou het zeker aanraden aan iemand die geïnteresseerd is in presteren en Pep Guardiola.
February 27, 2023
how can i get the pdf of the book for free. please guide me, or send me via my gmail. bests
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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