La selección francesa de fútbol, crónica de un desastre de management anunciado

Normally, books, articles and case studies on management tell the story of winners. They extol impeccably designed and implemented strategies, leaders who inspire their followers to scale new heights of excellence, brilliantly-conceived plans that are flawlessly carried out and so forth. Success stories are a source of learning and can reveal paths to one's objectives. However, as it is known, people-and by extension, organizations-also make mistakes. No one is perfect, especially in today's turbulent world. It is recognized that a great manager is not someone who never errs but rather someone who learns from his mistakes. Excellent organizations accept foul-ups because they are strewn along the path to improvement and innovation. As a result, there is great potential for learning from both one's own and others' mistakes. This is the spirit in which this article is written. Everything went wrong for the French national soccer team in the South Africa 2010 World Cup. France was knocked out in the first round of the tournament, but that was not all. There were allegations of star players 'scoring' with child prostitutes, undeserved bonuses running into millions, heated arguments in the dressing rooms that almost led to blows and a team mutiny. The French débâcle was served steaming to the world's biggest ever live TV audience (cumulative screen views topped 26 billion). This was the tragic result of a team lacking values and strategy, trained by a narcissistic and destructive leader, backed by a hidebound French Soccer Federation ran by a chosen few for their own benefit. The crisis was so deep that France's President, Nicolas Sarkozy, took a hand in the matter, calling for root-and-branch reform of the way French soccer was run. This article is about three of the most important management areas in a company: Strategy. Leadership. Organization. It describes key elements of the three above-mentioned areas, the way they interrelate, and the mistakes that can be made within each one of them. By means of a recent and ultra high profile sport disaster, this article provides a fresh and entertaining approach to the understanding and discussion of strategy, leadership and organization.