The Germans were undoubtedly the best side in the World Cup and were deserving World cup winners. But many football fans myself included bemoaned the loss of Argentina. We bemoaned the defeat of sublime class of Messi against German machines, the defeat of artistic genius against disciplined execution . Which begs the question – which is superior ? Sublime skills or results driven accuracy, winning or playing artistically, disciplined execution of artistic genius ?
Art tends to be equated to creativity, genius and class; not so much with discipline, rigor and precision. The Argentina team possessed the former and the Germans epitomized the latter. They are often considered mutually exclusive. But counter intuitive as it may sound, for true greatness to emerge, art and discipline need to coexist. Genius is often considered as a burst of creativity, which by its very definition seems erratic. But, it doesn’t have to be that way ; true genius combines creativity with consistency. Art and precision are not mutually exclusive ; Art and Market savvy are not mutually exclusive ; Art and success are not mutually successful. Apple is the most artistic technology company. Their products display the essence of art and technology coming together. And they are the most successful technology company. Roger Federer is known for his sublime tennis skills. He dominated the tennis scene for an entire generation. Spain’s tiki-taka style dominated the world football scene for six long .years which is like an eternity in football world. How did they achieve it? They married Art with discipline and achieved magical results.
In fact, artistic products have a better chance of success the market as it appeals to the emotion of the audience. Even without winning the world cup, artistic Argentina has won the hearts of millions of fans. But in order to succeed, Art has to be combined with discipline and rigor. Ask any creative writer how he practices his craft. He has the discipline to writing every single day and not just when he gets his creative juices flowing. Apple did not start churning out successful products through sheer genius. Apple’s first major product Macintosh way back in 1984 was a design marvel . But it was not a huge success commercially. It took Steve Jobs almost two decades to perfect the combination of art , technology and market savvy to come up with blockbuster successes – iPod, iPhone and iPad. Steve Jobs was persistent , determined and maniacal until he succeeded.
Magic happens at the intersections of art and technology, genius and sport, creativity and engineering ; provided art, genius and creativity are combined with discipline, rigor and execution.
Apple’s products are magical. Magic happens at the intersection of Art and Technology. Federer’s tennis is sublime. Magic happens at the intersection of sublime genius and sport. Spanish tika-taka was magical. Magic happens at the intersection of wizardry and Football. But, magic happened because in all the above cases, Art, genius and creativity are complemented with rigor, discipline and market savvy.
I would love to see Messi’s magic succeed in 2018 World cup. But, I hope they use the intervening years to get the magic right by combining artistic football with disciplined execution.
