Dear Sepp Blatter
A letter on values for your 5th term
(First published in May 2015)
Dear Mr Blatter
It looked for a minute there like times were tough at the top. I guess sometimes power can be a slippery thing, no matter how firm your death grip from hell is on it.
Anyways, I wanted to congratulate you on your fifth term. Who could say you don’t deserve it!
As a fan and occasional player of ‘the beautiful game’ (admittedly, it doesn’t always look beautiful when I play it — or you for that matter), I thought I’d lend you my opinion for this next stay in office.
You know full well that as President of Fifa, you’re first up a leader. But I think you might have become a bit confused by leadership. To be clear, it doesn’t give you dominion over others (that’s dictatorship), but rather responsibility for them. So it was odd when, in your big conference opener yesterday morning, you shrugged that responsibility off yourself like a old coat, and attempted to hang it on anyone and anything around you.
Leading gets easier when you have a clear purpose. Serving your purpose gives you an unequivocal direction to calibrate your leadership compass with. And, luckily, Fifa has one. You exist to ensure the constant improvement of football. For the game, for the world. I’m not sure how you interpret that, but having half your senior team dragged off by the FBI doesn’t strike me as what the founders had in mind.
In short, losing sight of that purpose is not going to go well for you. Fortunately for you, it shouldn’t be too hard to make up lost ground. After all, you have one of the best loved products in the world. Literally billions of people use it everyday. Selling football must be a bit like cooking a great piece of steak — all you really need to do is not screw it up.
But like you said in your speech — there are all these thousands of annoying people in your organisation, who aren’t you, out there doing their own bloody thing. How are you supposed to keep tabs on all of them? There’s only one of you, right? Little wonder the creepier among them are scuttling about places that aren’t Fifa HQ in Zurich, playing fast and loose with laws and morals. Presumably these are the nutcases who thought a World Cup in a desert (in terms of both sand dunes and human rights) was a good idea. Thank heavens you’re not responsible for those guys too.
And all this despite your Code of Ethics! You neatly signposted us to sixty juicy pages jam-packed with do’s and don’ts (mostly don’ts), in 10pt Arial that among other things tell you not to take bribes so you don’t get carted off by the FBI. And if that ain’t enough rules and regs for you, there’s always the Disciplinary Code, and the Laws of the Game to curl up with on a rainy Sunday.
I think you’re right, Sepp — it’s like these people hadn’t even read them!
Thing is, I’m not convinced you have either. This is way back on page two of the Disciplinary Code: Unless otherwise specified, infringements are punishable regardless of whether they have been committed deliberately or negligently.
You say, quite clearly, that you’re not to blame here. But as Fifa’s grand fromage I’d say your negligence stinks like a forgotten camembert. You see, as President, you are responsible. And get this — not just for your own crumby behaviour, but for everyone who writes Fifa in the ‘occupation’ box.
So here’s what I’d suggest for keeping the rabble in line.
There’s one critical thing that I can’t find in your extensive ethical architecture: your values. The shared set of behaviours that guide how you operate in all that you do. Your values light the pathway to delivering your purpose. They’re reinforced through everyday actions, not enforced by policemen or lawyers. Values bridge cultures and geographies and unite people under one way of working. And best of all, they’re memorable, so you don’t need to read your weight in paper to get the gist.
So given that, somehow, you find yourself as President again, I’d go ahead and get you some values. And I’d use them, quick smart, to get yourself, and your cronies facing in the direction of your purpose again, rather than squarely into your own navels.
You hold the ability to unleash the gigantic positive power that football has to offer the world. You just need to not keep f-ing it up.
All the best,
Laurie
