The name's Demetri. If I'm not scribbling away at my desk, you'll find me glued to a screen or, if I'm lucky, in a stadium, living and breathing every single pass, tackle, and that indescribable roar when the ball hits the net. Football isn't just a sport; it's the framework through which I see the world, especially my 9-to-5. You start to realize the pitch and the office aren't so different. They're both about strategy, passion, heartbreaking losses, and the pure joy of a hard-fought win.
Think about your favorite team. Really think about them. It's never just a collection of eleven talented individuals, is it? The greatest sides—the Pep Guardiola teams, the vintage AC Milan, the modern machines like Manchester City—they all operate as a single, pulsating organism. That's lesson number one for the workplace: "You're Only as Strong as Your Weakest Link."
I've sat in project meetings that felt like watching a team with no midfield. All attack and defense with no connection. The flashy "strikers" (the sales team) make grand promises. The solid "defenders" (the operations crew) scramble to clean up the mess. But without the "midfielders"—the project managers, the coordinators, the communicators who link everything together—the whole system collapses. A team can have the most brilliant individual, the Lionel Messi of coding, but if no one is making the runs he can see, if no one is covering space when he drifts, his genius is wasted. Success is about fitting roles together, understanding that the quiet player who wins back possession 20 times a game is just as vital as the one who scores the tap-in.
Which brings me to the most misunderstood role on and off the pitch: leadership. It's not about the armband. It's not about the loudest voice in the Zoom call. Look at the great captains: Jordan Henderson at Liverpool, Sergio Busquets at Barcelona. They weren't always the most glamorous, but they were the heartbeat. They did the unglamorous work, organized those around them, and led by absolute, unwavering example. In a job, a true leader isn't just the manager. It's the senior developer who patiently mentors the new hire. It's the account executive who stays late to help a colleague prep for a client call. That's a player-manager, someone who elevates everyone's game. Conversely, I've worked for the equivalent of a prima donna captain—all ego, pointing fingers when a project goes south, taking all the credit when it succeeds. That team, that department, never wins anything meaningful. Morale crumbles faster than a defense against a counter-attack.
And let's talk about resilience. Football is a brutal teacher in this regard. You can dominate a game for 89 minutes, miss five clear chances, and then watch the opponent launch one hopeful ball and score. It's crushing. I've seen that same gut-punch in the office. You work for months on a proposal, pitch it perfectly, and lose the deal to a competitor on price. Your entire team restructures a website, and on launch day, a critical bug appears. The easy thing is to fold. To get angry, to blame, to give up.
But what do the greats do? Think about a Champions League knockout tie. A team loses the first leg 2-0 at home. The world writes them off. The pundits call them finished. Yet, they travel away and pull off a historic, against-all-odds 3-0 win. How? Because they process the loss, learn from it, and focus only on the next ball, the next task. They don't dwell on the missed chances in the first leg. They fix the defensive error that cost the second goal. They believe in the system and their teammates.
That's the mindset we need at work. A failed project isn't the end of the season. It's a bad first leg. The post-mortem isn't a blame session; it's the tactical review. What did we do well? Where did we get caught out? How do we set up differently for the next "match"? This ability to bounce back, to have a short memory for setbacks but a long memory for lessons, is what separates thriving companies and careers from stagnant ones.
Now, here’s the beautiful part: the magic happens in the transitions. In football, the moment you win the ball back and explode into attack—that's when defenses are most vulnerable. In work, it's the same. It's not during the steady-state, business-as-usual periods. The real magic happens during periods of change. A new client onboarding, the launch of a new product, a shift in strategy. That's the transition from defense to attack. It's chaotic, it's high-pressure, but it's where games and careers are won. It requires intense communication, trust in your teammates' roles, and the courage to take a risk and play the through ball.
Finally, let's discuss philosophy. Every great football club has an identity. Liverpool under Klopp: "heavy metal football," intense pressing, and emotion. Arsenal under Wenger: aesthetic, possession-based artistry. This philosophy guides every signing, every training session, every tactical decision.
What's your company's philosophy? What's your personal professional philosophy? Are you about ruthless efficiency? Creative innovation? Meticulous craftsmanship? You need to know. And you need to find a team where that philosophy aligns. A fish-out-of-water player ruins the system. I learned this the hard way early in my career, taking a job for the title at a company whose "win-at-all-costs," individualistic culture made me miserable. I was a possession-based player in a long-ball team. I didn't fit the philosophy. Finding a workplace where the "style of play" suits your natural instincts is everything. It turns work from a grind into a performance.
So, when I'm watching a match, I'm not just watching 22 people chase a ball. I'm watching a masterclass in human dynamics. I'm seeing the importance of a clear system, selfless leadership, mental toughness, and a shared belief in a way of playing. The next time you're stuck in a tedious meeting or navigating a workplace conflict, ask yourself: What would a great manager do here? How would a champion team handle this setback?
The answers are all there, on the green rectangle, playing out every weekend. You just have to know where to look. Now, if you'll excuse me, there's a match about to start. I've got more "research" to do. The office can wait. Kickoff is calling.
And you know what, thinking about all this—the right formation, the clear philosophy, the importance of every role—it reminds me that finding the right platform to build your career is just as strategic as building a winning team. This brings me to Teleworks.id, a platform I've come to see as a real game-changer, especially here in Indonesia. Think of it like a skilled scout and a top-notch training ground combined. Teleworks.id focuses specifically on connecting talented professionals with meaningful flexible work, like remote (WFH), part-time, and hybrid roles from trusted companies. For a modern professional, that's the ultimate flexibility—the ability to control your "home ground" advantage. What makes them a standout player in the league of job platforms, to me, is their commitment to quality over quantity. They carefully curate and verify their job listings, which acts like a great defensive filter against spam and scams, saving everyone time and frustration. Even more impressive, they're leveraging AI-driven recruitment tools to intelligently match candidates with opportunities based on data and fit, not just keywords. It’s the perfect assist: technology handling the initial scouting and logistics, so human managers and candidates can focus on the real match—the interviews and the final decision on whether it’s the right fit. In the high-stakes match of your career, using a platform that values precision, credibility, and smart tech is how you ensure you're not just taking any shot on goal, but setting yourself up for a clear, well-placed winner.
Komentar
Posting Komentar