Now into his second month as Chelsea head coach, Thomas Tuchel has expanded further on some of his management philosophy, and how he seeks inspiration from walks of life far removed from the football training pitch.
Changing how you are as a coach is key to his role believes the German, as is maintaining a good connection with all the players, and in order to do that he makes sure he listens when there is the chance to discuss leadership with others.
‘Sometimes it was intuition and sometimes it was planned but I don’t follow a guidance, I don’t follow a leadership book or something else,’ Tuchel said of his management decisions.
‘When there is time I talk a lot to people who are in leadership roles and in different roles, and I try to learn every day.
‘I talk to unknown persons, teachers of classes, the person who runs the school of my daughters, people who sell stuff. This can be a half-an-hour talk.
‘It is not important that you only talk to the biggest names out there in the world. It is about leadership from people and that can include teachers and anybody else who is in responsibility for people and for groups, and there you can get inspired.
‘I also talk to leaders in sports and the leaders out there of different organisations and sometimes when there is a time, you speak to them and you get influenced. You have your notes and years later you go through your notes and you find some stuff where you feel more comfortable now, because leadership in my experience is a constant change.
‘It is also the need to constantly adapt your style to what is needed and to your group, and to change yourself and to develop and to grow.’
Tuchel goes on to explain it is clear goal for him that he is no longer the same coach he was when he was in charge of Mainz or Borussia Dortmund in Germany, or even how he was in his previous job in Paris.
‘Some values stay with me, and in some methods you constantly change and adapt because that is how I feel my role and I want to be a part of this whole group, and I want to be a part of Chelsea. I want to play my role and I want to lead by example. I feel very good at the moment and hope that we can stay like this.’
Our boss highlighted the connection between the coach and the players in the modern era as one of the most important factors.
‘That can mean that you have to be critical and it is also that we keep a trust of each other that keeps us going’ he explains. ‘Hopefully we can do this together and I feel the same involvement as I do now. This is clearly the challenge and you need also a little bit of luck with your decisions and with the results because that makes things more easy.’
