Every leader eventually makes a bad pass. The real question is whether they recover… or score an own goal.
For those unfamiliar with the term, an own goal happens when a player accidentally scores against their own team. The other side gets the point, but nobody on the opposing team actually had to earn it. This week, FIFA gave leaders everywhere a textbook example of the organizational version.
On Tuesday, Gianni Infantino unveiled a plan to sell a stake in FIFA’s commercial rights. By Friday, after an explosive backlash from football associations around the world, the proposal was gone. Three days. That’s barely enough time for the ink on the proposal to dry.
The interesting part isn’t that the proposal failed. Good ideas fail. Bad ideas fail. That’s leadership. The interesting part is how quickly the resistance surfaced.
Whenever a major announcement detonates the moment it reaches the public, it’s often a sign that the important conversations never happened beforehand. Whether the story reached reporters through a leak, a trial balloon, or an official announcement is almost beside the point. If your most important stakeholders are learning about a major decision at the same time as everyone else, you’ve skipped one of leadership’s most important responsibilities: building alignment before making commitments.
A proposal can unravel in 72 hours. Rebuilding the credibility that unraveled with it can take years.
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