A sports hero and a leader

“I start early and I stay late, day after day, year after year; it took me 17 years and 114 days to become an overnight success.”
Lionel Messi

This quadrennial’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar captured our attention and our hearts like never before. A standout hero, Argentina’s captain Lionel Messi, and his team’s humiliating opening-game defeat made their overtime victory all the sweeter in what has been called the best World Cup final in history.

Messi’s quiet demeanor and his words indicate a champion who, much like another standout sports superstar, Michael Jordan, gives credit to his teammates while also making it clear that his achievements are the result of hard work and a true love for the sport.

Here are some of his comments worth repeating and remembering as we strive to become better leaders (emphasis is ours):

• “I have fun like a child in the street. When the day comes when I’m not enjoying it, I will leave football.”
• “I’m lucky to be part of a team who help to make me look good, and they deserve as much of the credit for my success as I do for the hard work we have all put in on the training ground.”
• “You have to fight to reach your dream. You have to sacrificeand work hard for it.”
• “I prefer to win titles with the team ahead of individual awards or scoring more goals than anyone else. I’m more worried about being a good person than being the best football player in the world. When all this is over, what are you left with? When I retire, I hope I am remembered for being a decent guy.”
• “Without the help of my teammates I would be nothing. I wouldn’t win titles, honors, nothing.”
• “In football as in watchmaking, talent and elegance mean nothing without rigour and precision.”
•  “If I hadn’t had support, I wouldn’t have been able to fulfill my dreams.”
• “Sometimes you have to accept you can’t win all the time.”

Thank you, Lionel Messi, for those great thoughts and a thrilling ride.

One great thing for 12.20.22 – The most popular TED Talks of 2022
including this one: Why great leaders take humor seriously