In his insightful feature, former president of the Experiential Marketers Association of Nigeria (EXMAN) and Group Managing Director of Republicom Group, Mr. Tunji Adeyinka, draws timely lessons in goal-setting and achievement from the recent Africa Cup of Nations football tournament. Using pointed examples from the Nigerian national team’s tactical approach and ultimate loss in the finals, as well as the comeback victory of tournament champions Ivory Coast, Adeyinka emphasizes the importance of an offensive mentality in sports, business and life.
You Miss 100% Of The Shots You Don’t Take
This quote was credited to Wayne Gretzky, a former Canadian ice hockey player but it rang true for Nigeria at the just concluded AFCON in Ivory Coast. I am an avid supporter of the Nigeria national team and it is always a pleasure to watch when they play. However, in this competition, I could not sit down to watch any of the matches. Something was wrong with the tactics even though the team progressed to the final of the competition. I am not a football analyst, neither am I a coach but it was obvious to everyone that the way the coach set-up the team, goals would be ‘scarce’. I am used to the normal ‘Nigerian style’ with the wing-play and the creative midfielder in the mould of the Jay-Jays of this world. If we tried to go from the wings and we were blocked, we could go through the centre without compromising the defence.
However, in this tournament, it was a painful watch so I decided not to watch. I got updates from different online platforms as the team progressed. Please note that I am not blaming the coach, he is probably comfortable with his ‘catenaccio’ style of football or he did not have the right players available for selection.
In the final game against the host, the Nigerian team had 37.7% possession, five total shots and one shot on target, the opponent got 62.3% possession, 18 total shots and 8 shots on goal. This was the trend throughout the tournament for the Nigeria team- defensive play, weak midfield, throughout the tournament for the Nigeria team- 3-4-3, defensive play, reliance on fast breaks and opportunistic goals. This is not the way Nigeria plays, it is contrary to who we are. I admired Senegal, Equatorial Guinea, South Africa and of course Ivory Coast, the new champions. They played ‘beautiful football’.
Ivory Coast’s story is very interesting – after losing 4-0 to Equatorial Guinea at the group stage and after getting into the knockout stage as one of the best losers, what a story. But the most interesting part of this entire story and the key business lesson for me was the motivation and mindset of the team. The summary of the mindset was presented by Frank Kessie, a former Barcelona and AC Milan player after they beat the former champion, Senegal. He was quoted as saying to reporters after the game;
“When you come out of a match against Equatorial Guinea (0-4) where you get beaten up in front of your audience, in the stadium that bears the name of the president, that’s when we felt this humiliation and this frustration. It was as if we were the outcast of the nation. After the Morocco win, we managed to qualify and at that point, I think we had nothing more to lose! As they say: a ghost cannot be afraid.”
In life and business, you don’t win big by playing defence. Matches are won by scoring goals.
The late Myles Munroe spoke about dying empty several times. According to him “…the wealthiest place in the world is not the gold mines of South America or the oil fields of Iraq or Iran. They are not the diamond mines of South Africa or the banks of the world. The wealthiest place on the planet is just down the road. It is the cemetery. There lie buried companies that were never started, inventions that were never made, bestselling books that were never written, and masterpieces that were never painted. In the cemetery is buried the greatest treasure of untapped potential…”
I have asked myself several times why Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote would want to add a $20billion complication to his life at 66! His cement business was already massive in scale and operation, why did he decide to build a refinery? It is about scoring more goals, playing offence and not defence. Why would a 70 year old Adebayo Ogunlesi’s Global Infrastructure Partners be bought by Blackrock in a $12.5b deal? According to his own story, he switched careers at the age of 52!
In conclusion, one of the Bible stories that continues to intrigue me is the parable of the talents. A rich man was embarking on a journey and he gave his servants his goods; he gave one of them five talents, another he gave two and the last he gave one. When he came back, the first two had traded and earned double the investment but the last one did nothing with the investment and returned exactly what he had been given. The most interesting part for me was that after the master had spoken to each one of these servants, he collected the one talent from the ‘waster’ and gave it to the man whom he had given five talents . He gave it to the highest goal scorer because he recognised his capacity.
No excuses. Play more offence and less defence.
