… something on Glenn Hoddle syndrome

Obviously this is a dated reference, but bear with me.

I remember many years ago while Glen Hoddle was manager at Chelsea reading an article in The Guardian. Obviously, given the contents it must have been near the end of his time. Oh, and don’t think I’m a Chelsea fan, because I am not.

For those still needing clues, Glen Hoddle was one of the most naturally gifted technical players of his generation, playing for England and also going on to managing England. This didn’t end well after some unfortunate comments but that’s not what this is about.

The article (and I would love to be able to track it down, though I’ve tried over many years, and I think it was just too early for online content) described Glen Hoddle debriefing the players after a game on the training ground.

Hoddle was talking through what had gone on in the match, and giving his opinion on what the players should have done when x happened — “you should have done y” he said.

“We should have what?” the players said….

“Look, let me show you” Hoddle responded; grabbing a football he proceeded to demonstrate his sublime skills whilst the players jaws just dropped — watching a retired maestro at work performing unbelievable tricks with skills none of them possessed — and probably in his suit and smart shoes to boot (pun intended).

The article went on to describe how this gap in what the now retired manager Hoddle could do against what his players were capable of did for Hoddle.

He wasn’t able to ‘think down to their level’ and couldn’t understand why they weren’t able to do the things he took for granted.

I’ve seen this in teams I’ve worked in, especially being based around Cambridge; some absolute genius who builds an over-elaborate system that no one else can understand, or a manager who can’t understand why their team can’t do what they feel they could achieve.

If they do brute-force it and build a system but can’t explain it well enough this just turns in to key-person risk. When they leave, the organisation can’t maintain it.

Any genius (usually self-declared) can add complexity, and in spades; it takes a true genius to remove it and make it accessible to others.