Villas-Boas, from coach to president: “I was more authoritarian early on” | OneFootball

In one of the latest episodes of the Primeiro Toque podcast, released this Friday, André Villas-Boas spoke about leadership and explained how his approach changed from his days as a coach to taking over the presidency of FC Porto.

“The coach I was in England was very hard to shape. At first, I thought a leader had to be just one person, with the same values, and that those receiving the message had to adapt to my leadership. That was the big transformation I underwent as a leader. A leader has to be able to motivate their athletes, staff or co-workers,” stressed the top leader of the Dragons.

“And for that to happen, we have to create the conditions for those people to be able to put all their talent at the team’s disposal. We, as leaders, are the ones who have to adapt to what those people want to hear, to what makes them surpass themselves and to what motivates them in carrying out their duties, while following specific rules within an organization so that the overall vision is fulfilled,” added Villas-Boas, before admitting he was more “authoritarian” at the start of his career.

“I was a much more authoritarian leader at the beginning of my career, which was backed by the FC Porto structure. I was a coach-member, a coach-supporter. My experience in England opened me up to a new reality, which I then successfully applied in the rest of my career. I am a competitive animal, and I was one as a coach. I had a 15-year career and won seven titles. I would have liked to win 15 out of 15, but I look back with pride at what I did,” he noted.

“What the presidency took away from me was writing. I loved writing, I loved philosophizing about different subjects. Now I hardly read at all, which is very bad for me. Different leaders inspire me; I have always been fascinated by trying to understand the minds of the best in the world – Michael Phelps, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Phil Jackson, Pep Guardiola…,” the FC Porto president also said in the .

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.