Quality without results is pointless. Results without quality is boring.
Interpretation
Quality and results must coexist for true success.
This quote emphasizes the importance of balancing quality and results in any endeavor. Pursuing high-quality work is essential, but if it does not lead to tangible results, then it lacks purpose. Conversely, achieving results without maintaining quality can lead to mediocrity, making any success unremarkable. Thus, both elements must be integrated to achieve excellence.
In practice
During a team meeting, I mentioned Cruyff's insight to stress the importance of merging quality and measurable achievements.
Ajax is a multicultural club, and we have found that many talented immigrant players quit when they reach puberty. So we wanted to tackle this problem with someone from the same background who had come through it. And that was Edgar Davids. During one of our fights, I pointed that out to him. But it had nothing to do with his skin colour.
It's disappointing to see how football, the world's No. 1 sport, is not No. 1 when it comes to development. It seems to me that a wealth of practical football knowledge is being squandered.
Football is not about suffering. It's about enjoyment. Control the ball, be friendly with it, try to attack, try to score goals. Of course defending is part of it, but you can defend in a lot of ways.
If you look at other countries, you see they have different values: defend more, pass the ball out more, winning is holy. In England, you could say that sport itself is holy. They say, 'Look, guys, it's about more than just winning.'
If you take golf, you have a teacher for the drive, a teacher for the approach play, and a teacher for the putt. That's three specialist coaches for one player. In football, one coach looks after 25 players.
The most important part are the fans, that people going home are happy. It's their time off, and you should give them something to enjoy.
Success lies in a masterful consistency around a few fundamentals. It really is simple. Not easy. But simple.
Failure, failure is so important, it doesn’t get spoken about enough, we speak about success all the time.
When I played cricket for the West Indies, I never worried. I never really watched anyone else. I had a job to do, and I tried to do it to the best of my ability.
Even at the height of my fame, 50 per cent of the people who saw me wanted a fight; it’s the downside of being a star player.
If you only do what you know and do it very, very well, chances are that you won't fail. You'll just stagnate, and your work will get less and less interesting, and that's failure by erosion
If you don't plan to dive in and dedicate all of your time to your startup, you probably shouldn't be looking for funding. It's hard enough asking for money when you believe in an idea; asking for money to fund something you're iffy about is ten times more strenuous.
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