In the end it was the disallowed “goal” by England’s Frank Lampard that forced FIFA to change tack. Instant, incessant replays showing the ball 80cm over the goal line prompted FIFA to capitulate to growing pressure and re address use of goal-line technology.



After years of resistance, including ruling out use of video replays just one month before the World Cup started, FIFA’s chief executive Sepp Blatter needed only hours of global pressure to change his mind.

Few of us, thankfully, face international media scrutiny for our failure to wholeheartedly embrace the latest technology. Or the feet-dragging that accompanies pretty much any change, even those proven to raise our professional game.
This is especially the case for successful business leaders who feel they have something of a monopoly position. Note how long it took many of the world’s most prominent business leaders to wholeheartedly embrace the internet.

What’s behind the resistance?

The rational view is that a leader’s job is, in part, to spot the game-changing ideas from the myriad business fads and fashions that are marketed to them. This being an art rather than a science, it’s not surprising that a few excellent ideas are neglected in favour of a tried-and-tested approach.

But there’s a real risk that many of us use this as an excuse to ignore innovation and resist change, leading to organisational complacency.

After all, the personal and collective effort required to make any significant change is time-consuming and exhausting.

One misplaced notion that an organisation’s irrational quirks and even shortcomings are a key component of its success. Our processes might be inefficient and client relationship building may be a bit of an afterthought, but that’s just the way things work around here. Blatter often defended his resistance by arguing that human error was part of football.

Leadership coach and author Marshall Goldsmith says that companies and their leaders often succeed despite, rather than because of their idiosyncracies. A failure to distinguish between the two can lead to an almost superstitious wish to cling on to outdated technology or approaches, the boardroom equivalent of a student’s lucky exam pen.

Then there’s what Goldsmith describes as an “irresistible need to be me.” If you spend many years at the top of organisations, your personal preferences and even vanities can seem empirically valid, reinforced as they are by a legion of corporate followers.

Making the right call on innovation requires a combination of compelling evidence, business experience and entrepreneurial instinct.

Complacency, superstition and personal preferences shouldn’t come into it. After years of resistance to the type of technology used in rugby, cricket and tennis, football could be finally ready to recognise this.