In 1999, Manchester United won what is known as “The Treble.” It is the triple crown of Premier League soccer. This historic team won the Premier League, FA Cup, and League Cup.
An Unusual Request
As the following season approached, striker Dwight Yorke approached the team’s legendary manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, with an unusual request.
As reported in an article from The Athletic, he asked, “Gaffer. What are we doing? After you win the treble, there is nothing else to do. Can I have a year off from football, with pay, and then I’ll come back next year and rejoin the team?”
Here was his logic behind this shocking request, “What else is there after winning the treble? I was on such a high. I remember going to New York on Concorde that summer and thinking, ‘What more is there to achieve after this?’.”
The Dwight Yorke Effect is something all successful organizations and leaders must deal with. The principle is a reminder of the dangers of complacency. It is why the greatest enemy of future success is past success. And as leaders whose teams have hit or previously achieved their goals, we must diligently root out complacency like a cancer.
A Definitive Response
So what became of Yorke’s request for a year-long paid sabbatical?
The team’s star player at the time David Beckham remembered of Ferguson, “His leadership, and his mentality, wasn’t just to win it one year. We had a great night, but I remember, late on, he turned to us and said, ‘You can enjoy tonight, but then we go again.’ He never let us sit on the trophies we won.”
Rio Ferdinand joined the squad in 2002 and befriended Yorke. Ferdinand tells the story of Ferguson’s advice on befriending someone with blurred priorities. He said, “It was like the headteacher calling you at school on your first day, He went, ‘Do you want to be here a long time?’. I said, ‘Yeah, I want to win everything, and I want to do as well as I can, boss.’ He said, ‘Well, the first thing you should probably think about is not hanging around with him (Yorke) because he ain’t going to be here. He was unbelievable, he won everything, but he’s complacent now.”
A Clear Directive
So, if you have achieved success for a day, month, quarter, year, or even extended season of your life, do not fall victim to The Dwight Yorke Effect.
Babe Ruth said, “Yesterday’s home run does not win today’s game.” Do not read your newspaper clippings or get bored. Eradicate complacency from your organization. Change your process or people. Focus on personal growth and continual improvement. You can’t sit on your trophies.
This article originally appeared on briandoddonleadership.com and is reposted here by permission.