The idea that business has a lot to learn from football isn’t new. Businesses, like football teams, have to manage their employees, get the best out of them, and succeed in a very competitive marketplace. In Edge: Leadership Secrets from Football’s Top Thinkers author Ben Lyttleton provides surprising insights into the minds of successful football managers and their teams that hold out valuable lessons for the corporate world.The author begins with a football team that epitomises local identity – Spain’s Athletic Bilbao. Steeped in the Basque identity of the region where it comes from, the club enjoys an unbreakable bond with the local community. The club takes it as its moral duty to invest in local youth, where football is seen not just as a sport, but a system to develop and prepare youngsters for life. And the result of this investment? Athletic Bilbao is one among the only three teams never to have been relegated from the Spanish top division – the other two being Real Madrid and Barcelona.Putting players first, giving them the right environment to develop as human beings, and building social capital are themes that keep popping up throughout the book. Per the author’s interviews with managers and trainers, these are also the key ingredients for companies to build successful and resilient businesses and brands.Specifically, social connectedness emerges as a crucial metric of performance. Swedish club Ostersunds FK worked this out through art, culture, and theatre. The whole club, including players, support staff, junior team etc, were engaged in cultural projects such as performing a modern dance interpretation of Swan Lake at the local theatre. This not only created harmony among players, but also built team spirit and eliminated blame culture. The club’s performance dramatically improved, and it was promoted to the Swedish first division.Businesses are taking note. For example, Idexx, an American company, created an environment that allowed people from different areas of the business to regularly meet each other, fostering connectedness and cohesion, leading to higher productivity.Thomas Tuchel – current England head coach – has long been rated as a top manager. He worked miracles at German club Mainz, and took Borussia Dortmund to a new level, managing gifted players like Ousmane Dembele. His secret to success: extreme adaptability and habitual rule-breaking. Tuchel is willing to try anything – even changing his team’s formation six times during a game. His philosophy: if you don’t adapt and break rules, someone else will break them for you, which will be much more painful.The author sees this attitude as congruent with Netflix, which broke the rule of late fees for video rentals, by creating a subscription-only model.France’s just-retired and much-celebrated head coach Didier Deschamps, embodies a leadership model companies would do well to follow. His mantra: listen like a true leader. “Being a leader is about having time for others,” says Deschamps. People are the most valuable resource football clubs and companies have. People give them the winning edge. So to sum up: companies, like good football clubs, should invest in people, help them find their true potential, and train them early to cope with stress. Question is: how many companies do that?