the best world cup teams don't rely on star players—and neither should your brand

As we tune into the world’s most-viewed sporting event (sorry American football fans, it’s not the Super Bowl!), placing our hopes on our favorite teams to make it all the way, we’re also looking back at past games to find out what they might show us about the types of teams that succeed.

And as it turns out, the findings are applicable for more than just soccer, and product brands should take note.  

Fans and media often give a disproportionate amount of attention to star players. They matter, but over-reliance on a star player can lead to an imbalanced team, and even disastrous results if those players get hurt or benched. 

The same is true in business—especially manufacturing. What happens when a star sales leader moves on, or your most important institutional expert starts thinking about retirement?

Great teams have two things in common: a common goal and consistency.  High-performing manufacturing, sales, operations and marketing teams all have members that perform at a consistently high level across the lineup. Strong leadership is important, but many of the best teams don’t just rely on a couple of star players to deliver results.

In soccer, a team’s star players are not only in the action; they’re constantly watching and assessing the field. They’re passing the ball, elevating their fellow teammates and putting themselves wherever they need to be to run the play and make the goal—even if they’re not always the ones scoring.

Let’s look at an example where putting too much focus a star player strategy cost a great team a win: the 2022 World Cup finals.

While watching that game, it became obvious that the teams approached it with very different strategies. France put an extreme emphasis on Kylian Mbappé, an undeniable powerhouse player, while Argentina focused on what seems an obvious strategy. It’s the trap of the star player: if you count too much on one person, the other team just needs to strongly defend the star, forcing the other players on his team to secure the win.   

The game’s stats show the true power of Argentina’s plan. They made twice as many total shots on goal as France did and led them on possession nearly the entire game. Two different Argentine players scored, while a single player on France’s side scored three times. Argentina’s balance of defense, offense and unbeatable coordination, not to mention all-star keeper Emilio Martínez, made the resulting win feel almost inevitable.

The same pattern holds with companies putting teams together. It starts with defining what success looks like and having a plan for the team to execute on. Next comes the team needed to execute it. It’s easy to rely on recruiting a handful of key performers to drive results. But having teams that work in harmony towards that common goal often delivers better outcomes.

In the same way that soccer managers carefully craft a roster of high-performing players, companies should look at their teams holistically. This includes looking at both hiring practices and the systems and processes those teams follow.

On one hand, star players can help challenge those around them, elevating the productivity or thinking of the entire team. But they can also be counterproductive if others come to rely on them at the cost of their own development.

Imagine a marketing leader at your company. They are a high performer, with high energy. They not only managing their direct team, but they also coordinate and sometimes lead across product, sales, and operations simultaneously, ensuring strategies are set, expectations are aligned, and ensuring information the team needs to make sure that the organization is running in sync. While that manager may be extraordinary, they are functioning as the primary funnel of execution. And many funnels can potentially become bottlenecks.

A strong leader with a strong POV in decision-making processes helps teams move faster. However, other team members may hesitate to make calls for themselves. As organizations scale, needs increase but that individual performer’s bandwidth stays the same. Companies need to ensure that numerous team members are empowered to make decisions. It builds broad skills, more sustainable results, and stronger morale when more people feel like they have a real voice and ownership of outcomes.

Finally, organizations can accidentally end up building around the skills of certain persons on the team instead of developing effective processes that work for everyone. A good rule is to never build an organizational chart and put actual names in it. Instead, build the organization and skills you need to hit your business goals – that will help you define the skills and experience you need to hire or promote for. Never build around your current team, build for the skills you need to achieve the success you want to have.

Brands that have numerous high-performing team members with very specific accountabilities -- aligned with the common company goals -- are less vulnerable to the problems of turnover and are more adaptable in unpredictable times than those that rely heavily on star players.

Here’s how the most successful brands approach team management:

Set a clear strategy and business goals: Structure always follows strategy, build the team needed to achieve the strategy.

Hire for expertise AND cultural fit: You need to hire for the right skills. But equally important is culture fit. Teams that work in harmony tend to be higher performing than teams made up of rockstars that don’t play well with others.   

Look for talent in unexpected places: Great talent can come from everywhere, even outside your industry. Knowledge can be trained, but personality cannot.  

Prioritize collaboration: Teams that collaborate have a higher average output than teams that work in siloes. 

Don’t limit decision-making to leaders: Enable on-the-ground teams to make decisions and own the processes they’re in charge of.  

Create accountability, not blame: Teams that are fully accountable for their outcomes are often more driven to results.  

At the end of the day, successful brands invest in teams that work well together to drive results and carefully avoid the trap of chasing star players.