At the age of 35 and after what is likely to be his final World Cup appearance, Lionel Messi will finally return to Argentina as a champion. The achievement marks the final checkbox on the requirements list to be considered as the greatest player of all time. Most impressively, Messi completed this chapter in his storied career as a central figure to the story, becoming the first player in the men’s World Cup to score in the group stage and in every knockout round. This included scoring two goals in the final, contributing an important part of the build-up to the third goal, and knocking home the first of Argentina’s game-winning penalty kicks in shoot-outs.
Messi’s game has evolved in recent years. As he has aged, he has lost the speed and agility for which he used to be famously dangerous. Yet, he remains lethal nonetheless having adapted his game to a more restrained style of play. The reality is that Messi has always been a somewhat laid back player, and at times he has even been accused of playing lazy football. During the 2017-2018 Spanish La Liga season, Messi traveled an average of five miles per game while most attackers in the same season covered at least six. Not to mention the fact that measurements suggest he walked 83% of that distance. In that same season, Messi ranked 1st in goals per 90 minutes, 6th in assists per 90 minutes, 1st in expected goals (a measure of the quality of shots taken on goal) per 90 minutes, 3rd in expected assists per 90 minutes, and 1st in successful dribbles per 90 minutes. He was, and has clearly continued to be, a highly productive player.
For us, the same level of productivity and achievement in our careers would be fantastic. But, our day-to-day is often subject to the pressure to “be busy”. There are a thousand things to do, pressure from a boss to take on more and do it faster, and new opportunities to go and chase at every turn. What gets lost in the shuffle is the value of being productive. Messi’s career has been a master class in orienting efforts towards productivity. Let’s look at some of the primary lessons we can take away from his example.
Don’t Chase Superfluous Opportunities
As mentioned, Messi covers less ground than comparable players. To better explain why, in 2018 Luke Bornn and Javier Fernandez presented an interesting research finding on Messi’s play style at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. They evaluated how players created space and won positions in high-value locations. What they found is that when he was not near the play, Messi frequently stood still or walked away from the activity.
At work, it can be tempting to chase the latest set of requests even if it moves us away from the projects that are important and that we really want to be working on. As an individual contributor on a team, one of the most effective tools to avoid this trap is to use an Eisenhower matrix.
To use the matrix, determine if the task is important. Ask questions like “Is this a problem we’ll be talking about in one to two months?” and “Does this align with my team’s strategy?” If it’s of high importance and high urgency, get it done as soon as possible. This is Messi with the ball at his feet in the attacking third of the field. If the problem is not urgent and not important, obviously forget about it and get it off of your to-do list. This is a pass being comfortably played back to his goalkeeper - Messi is not even watching and would instead turn to read the rest of the field. These are simple enough. Every business person and world-class soccer player abides by these rules.
A task that is highly urgent but not important to your strategy should be delegated to another team member, to a defined process, or to a different team entirely. To further elaborate on this metaphor, this could be a defensive corner kick. It is important but Messi is not a great defender in the air, so he often chooses to put that responsibility squarely on his defending teammates. When the corner is defended, Messi can then already be in the proper position to initiate a counter-attack. Messi understands what is and is not his responsibility and does not attempt to be involved in everything all of the time. Any mature and disciplined contributor should get this right most of the time.
Messi uniquely excels on tasks that are high importance but low urgency. Here, he truly sees the game differently. From the Bornn & Fernandez study, recall that Messi frequently walked away from the ball when it was not near to him. This passively created space for him as defenders would leave him to follow the ball wherever it was on the pitch. The end result was that Messi’s teammates could eventually easily find him in wide-open space with a pass and he would be set-up to start an attack from a valuable position. While the opposing defense would prioritize the urgent task of following the ball, Messi decidedly focused his efforts where others did not. This is the hardest part of the quadrant to master because you have to be able to see ahead to what will develop, even if others can’t.
Managers play an important role here too. One of the more valuable tools you can provide to your team is a clear set of strategic goals that serve as a north star over the next 18+ months. If you can provide cascading goals down to the upcoming quarters and months, that is even better. This provides a valuable framework to your team on what matters most to the group’s long-term success, and it can be paired with the Eisenhower matrix to accurately categorize new tasks. You also play an important role as a calibrator, ensuring that your team is properly defining how urgent or important a task may be.
Use Your Time & Energy Effectively
Research also suggests that in-game, Messi walks about 80% of the time. The parallel to the famous Pareto principle, or 80/20 rule, is comically apparent. I do not know for certain, but I can comfortably hypothesize that - despite only spending 20% of his time running - Messi records at least 80% of his goals and assists when running around or being actively engaged in the game. Knowledge of this nearly constant principle of nature is ubiquitous so we will only touch on it briefly. The rule suggests that 80% of results are driven by only 20% of the input work. Messi offers us yet another reminder to be mindful of our energy and how we choose to apply it to our work.
The more challenging question is how to do this in practice. Cal Newport, a computer science professor at Georgetown, famously wrote about Deep Work. In his book, Newport highlights the value of creating distraction-free working time to deliver output at your highest potential. To enable deep work, Newport highlights the importance of being able to notice “shallow work”. Once noticed, it can be avoided or batched all at once. These non-demanding tasks could be mindlessly checking email or adjusting design details on a presentation slide. For Messi, this could be chasing a ball that gets passed back to the opposing goal-keeper or running to be closer to a defensive play that he knows he is unlikely to play a part in. Shallow work helps us to feel like we are doing something, but in reality it just wastes time and effort. By identifying the shallow work, we can better learn to avoid it in order to save up our energy for the moments that matter most.
Don’t Do It All Yourself
Finally, it is important to note that Messi does not win solely on his own. In the World Cup final, it was the attack of Argentina’s left wing, Ángel Di María, who set-up Messi’s first goal by drawing a penalty inside the box. Di María was also the finisher at the end of a beautiful series of team play that Messi initiated for Argentina’s second goal. And Emiliano Martínez deserves credit for a number of crucial saves in the closing minutes to thwart a strong push by Les Bleus and seal the win for Argentina. At the 2022 World Cup, many commentators noted the change in role that Messi had taken on for his country. He was no longer the flashy player in his prime with the potential to single-handedly carry his team to victory. Messi became the knowledgeable and culture-building veteran, as impactful in his work of coaching others to success as he was in his on-field efforts.
Business, at any meaningful scale, is also a team sport. We each have our own role to play and are responsible for performing at our highest level. However, the ultimate measure of success is the output of your team. Lean into that model and proactively seek out ways to make those around you better and more successful. Success begets success and opportunity begets opportunity, for all involved. When our primary goal is focused around the strategic priorities of the team - rather than individual accolades - we realize the compounding impact of mutually beneficial individual efforts and are able to achieve something truly special. Something like winning the World Cup.
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