There was not always a role model in my life, a figure that dominated the aspirations of what I wanted to become and how I would get there. That changed quickly for me during my senior year in high school, a year that I became obsessed with soccer and the culture that surrounded it. Arsene Wenger manages my favorite team located in North London, Arsenal FC. The club is known for its class, both on and off the pitch, as well as its highly effective and efficient way of managing players during their development. Wenger embodies this philosophy and more, but he is not just great at what he does professionally; he is a revolutionary in a business that does not always accept change kindly.
Arsene Wenger is quietly brilliant, never arrogant about his success both on and off the pitch. He understands people; he has a degree in economics (not coincidentally my major study in college) and has the insatiable desire for success that is found only in the most successful of men. What is most incredible about the Frenchman is his willingness to embrace new ideas and use his desire to transform ideas into accomplishments. My personality has always been the opposite of the success of Wenger, shy and not bold enough to make a major impact in anything I did. My schooling career was always the dim example of how little I did when I could have done more. High school was only moderately successful for me, I did enough to pass and that was simply all I did. Never was I courageous enough to take on big projects or ideas with the passionate vigor that was able to meet my high standards of what I thought success was. I was never satisfied with my efforts, and throughout life I have always sought a figure that could inspire me to reach beyond what I thought was good enough. Wenger has become that for me, by simply personifying excellence through his body of work in soccer. Wenger is more than a businessman, more than a visionary; he possesses a kind spirit and gentle way of dealing with people that causes so many of players past and present to label him a father figure. I always wondered when I was growing up if my kindness was a weakness, if my willingness to always look for the good in others would hold me back from attainting a prominent position in a business or maybe even a law firm. The caring for others often ran so deep in me I would be willing to over work myself in order to help others become successful, this kind of ethic did not seem to have any kind of correlation to what I saw as triumph.
When I needed someone to inspire me, Arsene Wenger provided me a perfect lesson in something I could relate to.
Arsene Wenger is the only manager to successfully manage an English League team through an entire season without losing a game. In simple terms, Wenger is the only manager to create a team good enough to be called perfect. With a standard that high, losing has never been an option. Even though Wenger refuses to let himself, or his team lose he does not motivate through anger or fear tactics. That is not his personality and that is the way I find myself most inspired my Wenger. Wenger has achieved perfection, and he achieved that perfection without having to step on and over others to get there. I have and never will be ruthless in that sense, but Wenger’s perfection allows me to believe that I can reach any goal I set for myself, regardless of whether I possess that “killer instinct.”
Arsene Wenger’s theory’s dealing with football: that youth should be raised believing in a team with a core philosophy of playing the game correctly and that there should not be an over reliance on star power deemed important by the tabloids, allowed me to be more free with my personality. Wenger did not believe that cut throat tactics was the only way to succeed, even when the media deemed his ideas over philosophical. Success is not a destination reached only by the most vicious or arrogant, often times one is able to achieve victory through a humble and determined desire coupled with an appreciation for others. Time after time my friends would say I am to nice, that I should toughen up in order to make getting what I want easier. I was never comfortable with that, I experimented with being rude and obnoxious; it just did not fit with the most core beliefs of my person. Wenger provides a hero for me to look up to in my time of need. When I am lost, wondering if my caring does not allow me to attain goals I set, I just take time to look at what he has done. Not just what he has done either, but how he has done it.
