The football pitch, in many ways, has long brought together the core values inherent within all kinds of businesses and industries, whether it be leadership, teamwork, responsibility and ambition.
So when Randstad, the second largest HR services company in the world and a Juventus partner, came looking for the perfect setting for Wednesday evening’s “Randstad Perfect Team” workshop, Juventus Stadium certainly fitted the bill.
Meanwhile, benefitting from years of experience as a prime leader of the Bianconeri, Giorgio Chiellini had plenty to bring to the debate on the key ingredients of success within football.
Speaking before a number of managers from a variety of companies across Italy, Chiellini covered prime areas, such as passion, leadership, experience, concentration, balance and destiny among others.
Passion:
“Passion forms the foundation for everything else. Clearly it can’t be absolutely constant, as every day is different. The way I look at it, passion is like a fire that you feed and always remains lit. In football, if the fire is blown out it means that you’ve finished.”
Leadership:
“I’ve worked under several coaches during my career and each one of them has a strong character. Some are softer, others are tougher, some joke more often than others, but their leadership skills were utterly fundamental, as, without those, no workforce can operate to the best of its abilities.”
Experience:
“It’s important to help the youngsters grow up, complimenting or criticising them where necessary and to show them how to become and act as men in this environment. Experience helps to ensure that you make fewer mistakes, especially in terms of behaviour rather than technique. The most important thing is not so much to commit errors, but to avoid repeating them.”
Concentration:
“Each person focuses in their own unique way. In any team, some players laugh and joke until the moment they enter the field, while others may not utter a word or stay plugged into some music in the hour before kick-off. Quite often before matches, I’ll talk in the changing room about certain situations which could arise during games.
“How do you forget about any mistakes made during matches? Experience helps a lot in these cases, but you can also get back into the swing of things by just concentrating on doing the basics right.
“Do I hear the fans when I’m playing? I flush out all noise completely for the most part. Only when there’s a stoppage or the ball goes out of play do I begin to hear everything around me again.”
Balance:
"Being happy and not overdoing things helps a lot. At 31 years of age, I no longer act as I did when I was 23. I’ve other interests now. Here in Turin, we’re fortunate to be living in a city that helps to maintain equilibrium in our personal lives, which is very important whether you’re going through a rough period or even when you’re riding high."
Destiny:
“Everyone is in control of his or her own destiny to a great degree. While it’s true that each of us may only reach a certain level, the most important thing is that it’s the highest possible.”