On the perils of... greatness?

In 2017 - 2018, FCBarcelona became the first club in any sport to surpass $1 billion in revenue. Now its gross debt is about $1.4bn, much of it short-term. It will have to let Lionel Messi go on a free transfer. Most of its other players are up for sale. How could this happen?

Barça's recent tribulations offer some lessons for even the non-football fans amongst us:

a) Few organisations can survive dysfunctional decision-making. In Barça, rival currents (Barça presidency candidates, the current sporting director, Messi) push for different signings, and Barça ends up wasting time and paying over the odds. Ask yourself how your organisation makes decisions, and whether intra-organisation debates lead to more accountability in decision-making (good) or political in-fighting (bad).

b) Play to your commercial strengths. Barça shopped at the top of the market, expected to sign specific players, and often had no alternative in mind. It was therefore used to overpaying. The irony is that one would expect Barça to pay less for players enamoured by the thought of playing at Camp Nou, and who were prepared to down tools at their current club to force a move through. If you have a strong negotiating position, use it.

c) No individual is bigger than the organisation. One wonders whether the individual brilliance of Messi ended up obscuring the recent failings of the fabled La Masia (Barça's youth academy).¹ According to a senior Barça official, Messi's salary tripled between 2014 and 2020, and every time he got a raise, his teammates wanted one too. Without Messi, would Barça have been forced to focus more on its talent pipeline, and instead of having to bear the financial burden of such massive salaries? Should Barça have drawn the line on salary increases at some point, and be prepared to deal with the possibility of Messi leaving?² Similarly, consider whether your organisation is prepared to cultivate the next generation, even if it is at the expense of existing senior management.

I am no expert in Barça³ or organisational management. But perhaps some of the experts in our midst (like Francis Goh, CCXP, Digital Innovation. Delivered. or GuiDeng Say) would like to weigh in?