Good Moods vs Bad Faces

Pep Guardiola. Football Genius. A rare example of someone who truly takes the subject into brand new areas.

In widely reported remarks at his press conference before first 2022 UCL knockout tie, here was one delicious insight.

"To win or lose is random, you never know what will happen in the future. But the period we are together we try to beat our opponents with big smiles and good moods because, when you have bad faces, it’s impossible. When that happens, the rest is not important – we can’t control the results. Nobody knows what will happen, not even myself, the manager.”

You can write - and there probably have been and will be many more - books on how this coach thinks. And you'd be marvelling, re-reading and trying to enact for a long time.

One such observation, is how players talk of him as always telling them how good they are.

Belief breeds belief. If you think it, you can be it. To succeed you must first believe.

Yes, this could veer into dodgy social media deepism turf.

Yet the nuance of Pep avoids this dead-end.

There's not many people in our sector that've been intimate with as many salesrooms as I've been privileged to be involved with.

You can spot the underlying vibe instantly.

The imbalance cannot be hidden. Between stick and carrot. Micromanagement over leadership. Outcome above process.

Earlier, he referenced the environment which gives players all the support they need. Letting them concentrate on what in business argot you'd call 'execution'.

Think about your Sales surrounds.

Are there 'good moods' or 'bad faces'?

One is clearly a precursor to the kind of sustainable, repeatable, success of which I always speak of as a Sales fundamental.

Be like one-of-a-kind Pep.

How do you move from the bad to the good?