The psychological impact of losing a leader – a timely example from the World Cup
16/06/2010, Author: Luigi Paiano
What self respecting Half Italian - Half Englishman (HIHE - check it out in the Dictionary of Modern Made-up Acronyms) wouldn’t have a view about the World Cup? And if one particular HIHE was able to put down thoughts on a blog somewhere shouldn’t he?
Exactly.
And so it is that I come to you after nearly a week of first round games buzzing from the excitement of Slovakia 1 New Zealand 1 and Italy’s latest scintillating start to a tournament.
However, I am here not to pass comment on the silky skills of Messi and the like, or the calamitous Robert Green show, but to pose a question about something that happened to the England team that impacts the leadership of the team. Who knows, we may even get a discussion going - after all, this is a professional blog…
And my question is, what was the impact of their captain Rio Ferdinand getting injured and unable to participate? Do you feel that there was a psychological impact on the organisation (i.e. the rest of the team) and if so what was it?
My thoughts are that whilst he has been an established member of the squad for over 10 years, he has been absent more often than not over the past decade and only recently was he made the formal leader. I would suggest that the captain of Italy, Fabio Cannavaro, (whilst arguably less mobile now), would be a greater loss for the azzurri were he to be made suddenly unavailable.
I base this on various differences in intangible and tangible leadership qualities. There are many, but I have selected seven that I feel are worth looking at and I hope will prompt discussion. I am specifically thinking of intangible qualities such as:
- Presence (aura)
- Reliability (not being injured, not getting involved in scandals)
- Access (you have to physically be there – both made their full international debuts in 1997, Cannavaro has been available to play 134 games to Ferdinand’s 78)
- Reputation (in what esteem you are held)
And I would back these up with these more tangible qualities:
- Track record (what have you won)
- Ability (what do the stats say)
- Skill (what do you do on the pitch to separate you from others?)
Now, I am not saying that Ferdinand doesn’t demonstrate any of these qualities, just that perhaps Cannavaro’s are more obvious and therefore recognised by the rest of the team. In other words, the absence of the latter would be more keenly felt.
What do you think? Am I way off the mark? Are there other qualities you would add?
Can you relate it to a story in your organisation – have you experienced a great leader suddenly becoming unavailable and what was the impact – what did you do? Any thoughts always welcome!
Luigi
Founder and sole member of the Association of HIHEs
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