Chapter 799 Elite Leadership Strategy
When Xiao Peng was in the hospital, Abby rarely let him touch the computer, so his biggest relaxation was watching TV. Although it was not football season, the various sports channels on TV were still dominated by football. After all, it was the number one sport in the United States and the sport with the highest ratings. The annual "Super Bowl" was also known as the "American Spring Festival Gala". No other program here could match the ratings of the "Super Bowl".
"There's a reason why the Americans consider football their 'number one sport.'" Xiao Peng said, "Basically, it's a reflection of the American social structure."
Pascal and Kashin were both bewildered. No matter how hard they thought, they couldn't understand what the connection was between football and the American social structure. Kashin asked, "Is it because football is violent and barbaric?"
"I'm talking about social structure. What does it have to do with violence and barbarism?" Xiao Peng asked in return. "Think about it, of all the sports in the world, doesn't rugby have the most people on the team?"
Pascal nodded without even thinking: "Indeed."
When Americans play football, the division of labor is absolutely clear. There are special offensive teams and special defensive teams. They are two completely different groups of people. Even kicking the ball and free throws are performed by special people. Just like the NFL team has 53 players on each team, and these teams also have subordinate development leagues. If the people in the development league are also counted, a team may be composed of hundreds of people.
Xiao Peng continued, "Why so many people? It's because of the 'clear division of labor.' Offense is responsible for offense, defense is responsible for defense, and runners are responsible for running. Even the kicker has someone holding the ball. Besides 'efficiency,' this also explains another point."
"What's the problem?" Pascal asked in confusion.
Xiao Peng laughed and said, "Have you seen 'Forrest Gump'? Why did Forrest Gump become a football star? Was it because he could run? No, there are many people who can run faster than him. This plot in the movie teaches people that as long as you do what you want to do, you can succeed. You don't need to use your brain. Who is the brain of a team? It's the coach. Who is the core of the players? It's the quarterback. These are the only two people on the team who need to use their brains."
"No way?" Pascal asked in confusion.
Xiao Peng gestured with his hands and said, "Every team has a 'playbook' that's nearly a thousand pages thick. Ordinary players only need to memorize their own sections. For example, if you're a running back, you only need to remember a few of your running routes. For example, if we're executing play A, you need to run in this direction with the ball. As for things like 'screens' and 'positioning', those are for others to do and have nothing to do with you. But what about the quarterback? He has to memorize the entire nearly a thousand-page playbook, and it's revised every year due to personnel adjustments and tactical changes. If he joins another team, he has to memorize the new team's playbook again. The first thing a quarterback should do when joining a new team is not to rush into training to integrate into the opposing team, but to make the most of his time memorizing the text."
Kassin whistled: "Isn't it true that quarterbacks must be both civil and military?"
Xiao Peng nodded and said, "That's basically it. Think about it, if you don't have a good brain, you can't remember the tactics, and if you're not in good health, you can't play on the field. Furthermore, a good quarterback must be familiar with the players' specialties and understand the coach's tactical intentions. Everyone knows that the bankruptcy rate of professional football players is the highest among all professional leagues in the world. Nearly 80% of NFL players go bankrupt after retirement. But how many quarterbacks have you heard of going bankrupt? It's not just because they make a lot of money. It's because brains really are a good thing!"
Cassin suddenly realized: "No wonder quarterbacks get paid so much. It turns out they have such a hard time! They must be the best players on the team, right?"
Xiao Peng shook his head again. "No, the coaching staff is even more impressive. A team's coaching staff may even have more people than players. They have scouts dedicated to identifying talent, defensive coaches dedicated to developing defensive strategies, and dedicated tactical coaches and statistical analysts. They observe the on-field situation and report it to the head coach immediately. The head coach then issues instructions to the quarterback."
"Then apply this personnel composition to the American social structure. You'll be surprised to find that it's a microcosm of how American society works! The coaching staff is the leadership, responsible for developing tactics and issuing instructions. The quarterbacks are the social elite, leading the team according to the leadership's instructions. Behind them is the team owner, the power of capital. The ordinary players are like 'Forrest Gumps' who don't need to think too much, just follow orders. A good team is a talented quarterback leading a group of players like 'Forrest Gumps' with strong execution to defeat the opponent. Isn't this the American social structure? Everyone performs their duties and uses their talents to form a machine. Which is easier, training one quarterback or training an entire team of quarterbacks?"
After hearing this, Kasin said, "Boss, isn't it the same here? You lead us forward!"
"You're a bunch of idiots, so why would I hire you?" Xiao Peng waved his hand. "Companies need more and more talent. Take you, for example. If you could only be my bodyguard, you would have gone home long ago, right? Chen Cheng may be only a captain, but he's the most responsible captain I've ever met, doing everything himself. Hua Chong was clearly hired as a winch operator, but do you think he's still in charge of the winch? The American system of 'elite talent leading the masses in hard labor' is very efficient for them. It invests very little social cost but yields very high returns. As I said, is it easier to cultivate a small number of elite and disciplined professionals, or to cultivate a vast number of talents? They don't need to invest in mass education this way. They educate the poor for happiness and the rich for the elite. Why cultivate so many elites? They only need one quarterback!"
"Let me give you a simple statistic that will best illustrate my point: the U.S. financial industry accounts for 6% of its total GDP. If you include financial derivatives like insurance and bonds, it accounts for 44% of GDP. This means that half of a country's GDP is related to finance. So, guess how many people are employed in the finance and insurance industries in the United States?"
Kasin thought for a moment and said, "The American population is almost 3.5 billion. At least 100 million of them work in the financial industry, right?"
Xiao Peng laughed. "It's 'one', of course, but it's only ten million. These people are the 'quarterbacks' of the Americans. It's these 'quarterbacks' who lead the Americans forward... But this system has been used for over two hundred years, and it's starting to wear thin!"
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