Once upon a time, Nottingham Forest had a manager called Sean O’Driscoll.
He was an excellent manager. Someone who understood the game and got his teams to play attractive football.
Everything was going well until our then owner – the insane Fawaz – decided to fire him, despite us being at the top end of the table and having just beaten Leeds 4-2.
The reason I mention this is that I recently read an interview with him about how Forest are playing now and in it, he says something that really impacted me.
This is the piece:
The bit that really hit me was when he said:
“Bournemouth expect to win, Forest hope to win”
He’s right. But his point is far bigger than being just about football teams.
A lot of people mistake confidence with arrogance.
I get it’s a fine line, but there is a big difference between the two.
One of the things I found really interesting when I was at Wieden was how many people viewed us as arrogant.
People who often had no experience of working with us in any way.
OK, so there was the odd one or two like that – probably me [hahahaha] – but the reality is/was, it’s a pretty humble place … filled with good, talented humans who love creativity.
But here’s the thing.
When we went into meetings, we generally expected to win.
Not because we thought we were better than everyone else, but because the work we put forward was always what we truly believed was the right thing to do.
We didn’t let politics get in the way.
We didn’t let egos get in the way.
We didn’t weigh the work down with things that sounded good but ultimately just got in the way.
The only thing that mattered was allowing creativity to solve the problem in the most interesting, intriguing and culturally provocative way possible.
Some people found that hard to deal with.
They found our confidence in the work confronting.
But the thing was, it wasn’t because we were big heads, it was because everything we presented was something we had sweated and pushed. Every detail was in there for a reason. That didn’t mean we weren’t open to discussion. Or opinion. It’s just we wanted it to be a discussion, not a dictation … because to throw something out just because someone didn’t like it or misunderstood it meant we were dealing in politics not creativity and that’s not something we subscribed to.
Some misunderstood this.
They interpreted the belief we had in what we were presenting as arrogance.
But arrogance is when you expect to win without putting in the effort.
And that was never the case with Wieden – or countless other places of repute.
The reason I like that O’Driscoll quote so much is he shone a light on the difference between belief and hope.
Hope is when you have worked hard.
Belief is when you have worked hard based on a philosophy.
Not a purpose, a philosophy.
Something that is more than effort or direction, but a distinctive way to play. A style you believes gets better results. A philosophy everyone believes in and is committed to. A standard you all want to reach to show respect to where you are.
If some people mistake that for arrogance, then so be it.
Because the work born from those who play a certain way to win, is far better than those who hope they don’t lose.
Thanks Mr O’Driscoll.