Yesterday’s conference was an essay on Antonio Conte’s leadership

Yesterday’s conference was an essay on Antonio Conte’s leadership

The long-awaited day has arrived.

On Wednesday 26 June at 3pm, in the evocative location of Palazzo Reale, Antonio Conte began his Neapolitan experience, speaking with the press and, virtually, with the millions of fans connected from all over the world, including myself. With president De Laurentiis at his side, Conte clarified with concrete and simple words the fundamental values ​​that will characterize his mandate as coach in the shadow of Vesuvius: sacrifice, seriousness, commitment, dedication, ability to critically analyze situations on the pitch ( and those outside the field) but, above all, no fear of facing the complexity that awaits him.

Like many, I have been wondering in recent days what Conte’s leadership style will be at the helm of Napoli. In light of this first excellent performance as a Napoli player, I will try to analyze his leadership style, guided by scientific literature.

I’ll admit that I don’t know Antonio Conte personally but the press conference, his verbal (and above all non-verbal) communication convinced me, excited me and gave me new enthusiasm after a unsuccessful season that we are finally putting behind us. There is no doubt that Antonio is a charismatic and determined leader as well as being strongly oriented towards the result to be achieved (task-oriented leadersay the scholars at the University of Michigan who first coined this term), reminding those present that the beautiful game is only useful when it allows you to win by immediately clarifying your position on the topic.

In my opinion, two theories can help us understand his leadership well and get an idea of ​​his work in the coming months: i) the theory of authentic leadership and ii) the theory of transformational leadership.

Authentic leadership is based on the idea that the effectiveness of one’s actions as a leader depends largely on the coherence between one’s behaviors and one’s nature (a concept known as true self). Three principles characterize authentic leadership: knowledge of one’s nature, self-awareness and the ability to self-regulate. Conte reminded everyone present of his direct nature, the frankness of his communication and the awareness of asking a lot from his players. This emerged clearly when he reminded everyone that his arrival in Naples depended on a promise made to the president and conditioned by a diktat that must be respected in the coming weeks of the transfer market: «I choose who stays in Naples and who can look for other paths.” sending to the sender the controversies of recent days on the thorniest cases and on the dissatisfied players invited to find happiness independently or thanks to his help on the bench.

He also reeled off ideas, beliefs and values ​​that characterize his work, highlighting skills and professionalism when he cited, with extreme precision, the numbers on the defensive phase of last season (number of goals conceded at home and away and Napoli’s performance on base to this factor). This confirms how 100% focused he is on the Neapolitan adventure and how good he is at his job. Speaking of self-regulation, he reiterated the hardness of his training, highlighting however the ability to slow down when necessary and enter the hearts of the players as well as the fans (already done quickly when he stated that Naples must be a desired destination for many players and not a passing stage!).

Antonio Conte and transformational leadership

«Leadership is achieved by example» he responded to a journalist who asked him how to shake up the team after the disappointing last season, recalling that it must be canceled without forgetting the pain and humiliation suffered which can become a determining motivational factor. This sentence is an example of transformational leadership, a very widespread theory in the managerial field, which underlines how the true leader is the one capable of transforming his collaborators into new leaders. On this point, Conte was very clear, recalling that in his career he has always improved the performance and value of the players who were lucky enough to work with him.

A fundamental point of transformational leadership is called “individual consideration” and refers to the ability of a leader to listen to the needs of each individual collaborator and motivate him in relation to his objectives and specific characteristics, without forgetting the objectives of the team. Also on this point, Conte provided important evidence when he stated that he had personally contacted all the players, reaffirming his trust in them and immediately clarifying his expectations and the course that awaits them in the coming months. Finally, perhaps the crucial element of transformational leadership: having the ability to raise the bar and stimulate your collaborators to achieve ambitious goals never imagined before.

I hope that this is the goal that we can all achieve together in the next three years, together.

Welcome Mister Conte!

*Professor of Organisation, University of Bologna
Author of «In Equilibrio. A good work-life balance is possible.”