3 Incredible life and business lessons to learn from Portugal’s improbable triumph at the Euro
While the world, and specially Portugal, celebrates their historic 1-0 win against France during this year’s Euro finals in Paris, at Cynuria Consulting we cannot stop thinking about how this victory leave us many lessons that can be applied to our daily lives, and to your business as well.
1. You don’t need a champion to save the day
When Cristiano Ronaldo left the field in tears, on the 24th minute of the game due to a knee injury, the majority of the soccer world probably thought the game was over for Portugal and that France would inevitably become the champion. Up until that moment, and pretty much for the rest of the match, France was far superior. The French had plenty of opportunities to score, but failed. Portugal, on the other hand, even without their superstar, continued to play in the same orderly manner, as a team, just as they had been doing during the entire tournament. They went into the tournament with the idea to play as a team, without heavily relying on Ronaldo’s brilliance, but sticking to a philosophy of hard work and consistency. This mentality, among other things, was the determining factor for their victory.
2. Team work beats talent
An important point to emphasize, never, during the entire championship did Portugal rely completely on Ronaldo to save the day. He contributed equally, but the entire team worked together to keep moving forward until the final, and ultimately, the championship. The complete opposite happened during the Copa America final held in New Jersey just a couple of weeks ago, where Argentina completely relied on what Lionel Messi could do during the game to win. With a Messi short of brilliance and ideas during that final, Argentina ended up losing to Chile, a better TEAM. Chile has a solid team, with a couple of world class players. However, none of them come even close to Messi’s level and brilliance. It is for that reason that Chile never relied on just those key players to win, but worked together to achieve their dream.
3. Have faith
This is a key element to success that sometimes goes unmentioned in business talks. Faith, or believing in something is incredibly important when starting any kind of endeavor. When the Euro began, no one but the Portuguese, believed they had a chance to win the trophy against the likes of Germany, Italy, France, or even England. However, with a plan in mind, and the desire to make history for their country and themselves, the Portuguese team began the improbable journey that ended last night with their historic win against the more powerful and local France.
To put this in perspective, you don’t need a celebrity investor, superstar employee, or the best tools in the market to achieve your goals. Assemble a team that believes in the mission and the work you are doing, create the culture that revolves around them, and the results will come. It may take time, but with persistence, hard work, and faith you will achieve them!
What other life/business lessons can we add to this list?