What makes Pep a leader?
When Pep Guardiola took over the Barcelona B team in 2007, the journey to find soccer´s most influential coach had already taken off.
Just one year into his coaching adventure and Pep had already been assigned as the head of historic FC Barcelona, the club in which he debuted as a player in 1990.
There, he managed to unite all his former teachings and apply one of the sport’s most important managements ever seen.
Traits of Guardiola´s leadership
What is to learn from the current Manchester City manager?
Here are some of Guardiola´s leadership traits, ones you can pick up on your day-to-day work:
- Spot good ideas and use them. The former Barcelona manager is an innovator, not a creator. He knows a good idea when he sees one and uses it to make it part of a new idea.
- There is always something to be learned. Guardiola learns form everybody; politics, artists, old coaches, young talents and tough crowds. For Pep, there is always something to be learned and mastered, he has a specific objective on being always prepared, as his favorite question can be “what would we do if…”.
- Passion in speech. You can see Guardiola has a very unique passion about soccer. When he talks, walks, and leads a press conference, Josep is always an interesting character to listen to, as he dominates speech attributes and makes you want to listen. Not even most politics can say they master this Guardiola attribute.
- Winning is always possible. Since 2008, the best friend of the late Tito Villanova has won over 20 trophies, and his ambition is to win more and more. Even though he enjoys a good celebration alongside his players, he is very quick to understand the next phase of work and how winning can be possible in the future. When some are still cheering, Pep is working.
.A man who loves his job
Guardiola has now established a record-breaking winning-streak in 3 of the most competitive leagues in Europe: Spain (16 wins), Germany (19 wins with Bayern Munich) and now in England (15 wins).
But clearly, the Spaniard has not done so by himself, so it results amazing in seeing Pep inspire so many talented players and bring out the best in them to conquer even the wildest odds in the sport.
To grasp the way Pep has shaped the modern figure of a leader in soccer, here are some of his words after being awarded the Gold Medal from the Parliament of Catalunya.
“At the end, everything is about those moments when we enjoy what we do, and I want to share that with you, I would like people to know how I feel doing my job.”
