What makes a person successful and good at work can often be traced back to childhood experiences. National coach Hansi Flick explains in an interview how the actually difficult relationship with his father produced what many praise: his leadership qualities.
In an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung before the Nations League international matches against Hungary and England, national soccer coach Hansi Flick gave a comprehensive insight into his leadership philosophy, which has been seen as the secret of his success since the treble win with FC Bayern at the latest. “I’m not the boss who says: Here, do some nice work for me and in the end I’ll take all the praise. That would be too cheap for me and that wouldn’t be my way,” says Flick. According to his own statement, the key to understanding his work lies in his childhood and in the quite complicated relationship with his father. “I’m very grateful to my father for everything he made possible for me, and I know how that was meant. But it wasn’t always easy back then.”
Because he could never be sure as a child how his father would react to the next disappointment, he “learned early on to pay attention to moods. Maybe it’s really because I can perceive changes very precisely”. Flick believes “that this feeling also helps me in a player’s cabin. I try to identify and eliminate areas of conflict early on”. That’s also why he’s not a friend of criticizing players first: “First I show a player what he’s done great. It’s better to build up self-confidence first – then you can always go into the details to do things to enhance.”
Flick also talks about the controversial World Cup in Qatar. The question about the legitimacy of this tournament “should have been answered much earlier. And with a no!”, explains the national coach. “It’s obvious that a lot is wrong in Qatar when it comes to human rights and sustainability.” The topic of human rights will also be “on the agenda again at the current meeting of the national players. We want to get broad information, but we don’t want to give our players any answers”.
As far as the current international matches in the Nations League are concerned, Flick demands that his team win the group, “that’s clearly our goal”. Before the last two games, the DFB-Elf is behind Hungary in second place in the table.
