The Parallels between Sport and Business.
๐๐ป๐ผ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ, ๐ฎ๐ป๐ผ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ ๐ง๐ผ๐๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ต๐ฎ๐บ ๐๐ผ๐๐๐ฝ๐๐ฟ!
But this time... Iโm feeling hopeful.
Iโve always believed there are so many powerful lessons we can borrow from sport and apply to business. And this recent interview is a perfect example of that connection.
https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/2025/june/we-ll-work-every-day-to-make-magic-moments-for-the-fans-thomas-frank/
A few quotes from Thomas Frank really stood out to me:
โฝ ๐๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฌ๐ด, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฌ๐ด.
โฝ ๐๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด, ๐ด๐ฒ๐ถ๐ข๐ฅ, ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ต๐บ๐ญ๐ฆ, ๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ โ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐บ.
โฝ ๐๐ง ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ.
โฝ ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐๐ฐ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ช๐ตโ๐ด ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ.
โฝ ๐๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ตโ๐ด ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ. ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ? ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ตโ๐ด ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ณ.
What I love about this is how aware he is โ not just of the tactical side of the game, but the human side too.
Heโs clearly focused on:
โข Understanding people and playing to their strengths
โข Building a strong, consistent culture throughout the organization
โข Creating an environment of psychological safety โ where effort is expected, risk is encouraged, and mistakes arenโt punished if made for the right reasons
And although he doesnโt mention it here, heโs spoken before about the โno d$%!headsโ rule borrowed from the All Blacks. No egos. Just people who are fully invested in the team.
Can you imagine Mourinho or Conte saying any of this? Honestly, they often were the egos getting in the way.
So yes, Spurs are entering yet another new chapter โ but for the first time in a while, I feel genuinely optimistic. And itโs made me reflect: how can I keep bringing this mindset into my own work and coaching?
Because whether itโs football or business, it all comes down to culture, people, and purpose.
What about you โ what parallels do you see between sport and business? Iโd love to hear your thoughts!
