Tag Archive for 'umiltà'

Carlo Ancelotti humility

There is a lot of talk these days about Carlo Ancelotti’s leadership style and how he and the team, Real Madrid, came to this additional Champions League success. They had not started well at the beginning of the year, losing to Sheriff but then along the way, as underdogs they defeated Chelsea, PSG, Manchester City and Liverpool. He himself said that he told the president of Real Madrid, almost jokingly, that they would win La Liga and the Champions League. However, that is precisely what happened. Paolo Condò on Repubblica.it wrote that one explanation lies in the humility he showed by having the team play with a low defense against Liverpool, thus preventing the rushes the English team is famous for. Humility is certainly not a psychological dimension of leadership that is so well recognized and appreciated in sports, even more so when leading Real Madrid.

In fact, habitually traditional models of leadership place the leader at the top of the pyramid and demand that subordinates follow his directives. The leader who works in the service of the team, on the other hand, flips the pyramid and places himself at the base of the hierarchy. In such an environment, players are given clear job descriptions of their role, and the leader’s job is to “serve” or help them perform these tasks. This structure does not imply that the norms become permissive or that the leaders are the players. On the contrary, they are responsible for the effective execution of their roles. The end result, is a work environment in which relationships are cultivated, everyone is valued, standards are met, and team productivity is increased. Importantly, the intellectual humility, displayed by Ancelotti, is a way of maintaining one’s convictions with a studious attitude toward the next opponent and respect for players’ views. It also mitigates the negative effects of leader narcissism and promotes the commitment and active involvement of players.

Carlo Ancelotti is a coach who has won in every European team he has led, serving this approach centered on the involvement of the whole environment and to the care of interpersonal relationships. In doing so, he exalts and continually nurtures group values, understood as club principles and identity, team cohesion, and a sense of responsibility among players and staff. His key words are: educate, environment, spirit, responsibility, Club tradition, identity, relationships, work and compete.

This working style not new to him had already been well described 10 years ago in his book entitled “Il mio albero di Natale” (My Christmas Tree):

  1. Educating the team to pursue victory through offensive and creative play
  2. Foster the development of a positive work environment
  3. Building a strong team spirit by stimulating a high capacity for sacrifice and mutual commitment
  4. Fostering in each individual a sense of responsibility (evaluated on the basis of his or her actions and behaviors)
  5. Protect the tradition and principles of the club
  6. Working to provide continuity for the Club’s successes
  7. Compete for all major trophies
  8. Build a clear identity and style of play that takes into account the Club’s tradition
  9. Build good relationships among the various work teams

 

L’umiltà e il coraggio di Giovanni Pellielo sono un grande insegnamento

Le storie dello sport sono costruite sulla capacità, la tenacia e la costanza nel tempo degli atleti. La storia di Giovanni Pellielo è una di queste. Quarantasei anni, soprannominato il tiratore di Dio per la sua fede, anche questa estrema così come lo è la sua vita di atleta. Se praticasse uno sport più glamour come il golf, le moto o il tennis sarebbe ogni giorno sulle pagine dei giornali. Pratica invece il tiro al piattello, uno sport cosiddetto minore, che raggiunge le cronache solo nei giorni delle Olimpiadi.

Pellielo è l’atleta più forte della storia di questo sport. Ha vinto quattro volte il campionato del mondo e quattro medaglie in altrettante Olimpiadi. È un esempio a cui rivolgersi quando si parla di eccellenza dello sport italiano. Ci si dovrebbe rivolgere a lui per sapere e capire come sia possibile che dopo così tanti anni di attività, sia rimasta intatta la volontà d’impegnarsi per continuare a livelli mondiali assoluti. Negli ultimi quattro anni si è classificato primo, terzo e secondo ai campionati del mondo e ora ha aggiunto ai suoi successi la medaglia d’argento di Rio. La sua motivazione è basata sulla continua voglia di ricercare la perfezione, nella consapevolezza che non potrà mai essere raggiunta. Infatti, è capace di mettere spessori anche solo di un millimetro nel calcio del fucile per sperimentare differenze che quasi nessuno sarebbe in grado di percepire. Vuole dire essere tutt’uno con il proprio strumento sportivo, per raggiungere quella confidenza che gli consente di esprimersi a livelli assoluti da più di venti anni.

Pellielo ha raggiunto questi risultati anche grazie alla sua abilità nel gestire le tensioni agonistiche che vive in queste grandi competizioni. “Sono terrorizzato prima d’iniziare” è una sua frase ricorrente ed è in questi momenti, tutt’altro che piacevoli, che nasce dentro di lui il modo per affrontare queste emozioni, che porterebbero la maggior parte degli atleti alla distruzione, mentre sono per lui la base su cui costruire la fiducia di potercela fare anche per questa volta.

Umiltà e coraggio sono le sue due più grandi qualità. L’umiltà di sapere che in uno sport di precisione l’errore può succedere in qualsiasi momento e non è recuperabile, a meno che l’avversario non commetta lui stesso un errore. Coraggio, poiché ogni gara viene comunque affrontata con quella convinzione che è alla base di ogni tiro.

La sua è una lunga carriera in cui questi due aspetti non si sono mai persi. Basti ricordare che dopo l’uscita dalla finale delle Olimpiadi di Londra per un piattello, Pellielo ha continuato ad allenarsi sino alla prima prova di Coppa del Mondo dell’anno successivo, vincendola. Quindi costanza e volontà di continuare a dimostrare a se stesso di essere sempre il campione che era stato sino a quella gara.

Pellielo è un esempio per tutti quelli che pensano che il successo sia qualcosa che una volta raggiunto non ci abbandonerà mai. Non è retorico affermare che il successo è invece il risultato di un continuo impegno, svolto in modo intelligente e sistematico, che si protrae nel tempo e che richiede il proprio totale coinvolgimento. Pellielo merita il nostro ringraziamento, perché ci dimostra che l’età non deve essere un limite ai nostri sogni. È un uomo che ci dimostra che l’importante non è essere gazzella o leone, ma serve muoversi, impegnarsi, avere obiettivi e volere raggiungerli. Abbiamo bisogno della sua motivazione per esercitare il nostro ottimismo verso il futuro.

If Roger Federer & Valentino Rossi show that talent is ageless

“Yeah, I’m still here,” sings Vasco Rossi and the same they say Valentino Rossi and Roger Federer. Both came second, proving once again to be worth the first and second place in the world ranking. Many of them have given up for dead on many occasions, stating that they did not know winning no more, they were old or the physical was not  holding them more.

Probably these objection for a while time were true, but any athlete goes through moments like these, often the champions exceed them by changing something in the way they train and live competitions. Most likely the other sink, because they use these negative moments as an excuse to withdraw, because of something they consider superior to them. People often focus their comments on their age, as if it was an essential limit, a characteristic to which we must surrender.

I heard to say: “Federer is old and no longer able to hold that little exchange, otherwise he loses the point.” But how many would like to have this trouble just to be second in the world? They also say that because of this threshold has had to change how you play. True, but why interpret this change as a negative connotation? And instead to emphasize his determination to change to stay on the top of the world ranking. The same it was said until last year for Valentino Rossi: “Why does he not withdraw rather than collect disappointing results?”

The chorus of “why he/she does not abandon” has been told also about other sport champions. In Italy Giovanni Pellielo, in shooting, after three medals in three different Olympics, in London, at age 42, he did not enter the finals and also here the same voices, he has not noticed them, he has trained and the following year again won the world championship. Valentina Vezzali, 41, fencer, she won everything repeatedly, and she wants to go to Rio. Not to mention Andrea Pirlo and Gigi Buffon and the dream they are living in these days with Juventus. We have to evaluate these men and women for their performances but not to the age. Above all we have to learn from them, because they are an example of fighting mentality in the face of difficulty and humility in dealing with the daily sacrifices, that are needed to return to excel in their sports, without being sure to succeed in this venture.

The soccer words: umility, confidence and motivation

“We have not fallen into the shoes of the match. Draw useful at least to bring us back down to earth” (Allegri, coach Juventus).

“Before we did fear, we were more confident” (Florenzi, Roma footballer)

“The confidence of Mancini is critical to my teammates and me. Every day he gives me motivation and enthusiasm” (Guarin, Inter footballer).

Humility, confidence and motivation are the key concepts expressed in these sentences. Beyond the players’ technique and talent if in a team are lacking these mental qualities everything else is worth less than nothing.

Bravery and humility

The coach of the All Blacks recently said at a conference that the warrior mentality of his players is based on the balance betweeny braver and humility: to be able to do extraordinary things but also recover quickly from mistakes, knowing how to quickly raise and win.

This skill distinguishes the from top athletes from the other talented athletes. Examples are:

Roger Federer changing is playing style to continue to remain at his level by compensating the physical limits with an increase of the effectiveness of the service and with more frequent descents to the net. Change to reduce the limits and win.

Valentino Rossi this year returned to win at MotoGP after  a long time, setting the record for oldest winner, he has not given up this opportunity and at the end he succeeded.

Tiger Woods from 60th in the world rankings instead retire in three years he returned to be #1

Giovanni Pellielo lost the London Olympics but the following year he won the world championship and he has already qualified for the Rio

Learn from them! Not just the talent it takes courage and humility.

Jason Day: a bath of humility

When the ball goes into the water, off his shoes and pants rolled up … so did Jason Day  at the hole two during the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville. He did not only a bath in the watert but also a bath of humility to remember to yourself how hard it’s to do your best.