Joey Barton is a strongly-opinionated English footballer. He is also (in)famous for certain reasons – most recently for getting sent off in the last game of the season between Manchester City and Queens Park Rangers. And it wasn’t just the sending off – before leaving the field of play he “embellished” things by kicking a player in the back of the leg and then attempted to head-butt another. He would have been advised to keep his head down for a while. But no – yesterday Joey once again took to twitter to pronounce on his own quality and the England squad for the Euros. My favourite tweet is this gem : “I am over qualified to pass judgement on this. Not only have a played in the Prem for 10yrs but I’ve played with and against most of them”.
So – what has this got to do with business? Simple : Joey Barton has a higher opinion of himself than others do. And the same occurs in business too. One American study from some years ago found that “80% of senior managers believe their company is doing an excellent job of serving its customers” whereas “only 8% of their customers agree”.
Joey also wondered on twitter yesterday why “people giving me loads about England saying “cant get in squad etc”. On ability I walk in the squad, on behaviour i don’t”. Ability is one thing. Personal behaviour is another. Maybe he should add performance into that mix!
Are you among the 72% of delusional managers? There is only one way to find out – listen to the voice of your customer! Get in touch if you want some guidance or help with this.
