Quality without results is pointless. Results without quality is boring.
Interpretation
Quality and results must coexist for true success.
This quote emphasizes the importance of balancing quality and results in any endeavor. Pursuing high-quality work is essential, but if it does not lead to tangible results, then it lacks purpose. Conversely, achieving results without maintaining quality can lead to mediocrity, making any success unremarkable. Thus, both elements must be integrated to achieve excellence.
In practice
During a team meeting, I mentioned Cruyff's insight to stress the importance of merging quality and measurable achievements.
Ajax is a multicultural club, and we have found that many talented immigrant players quit when they reach puberty. So we wanted to tackle this problem with someone from the same background who had come through it. And that was Edgar Davids. During one of our fights, I pointed that out to him. But it had nothing to do with his skin colour.
It's disappointing to see how football, the world's No. 1 sport, is not No. 1 when it comes to development. It seems to me that a wealth of practical football knowledge is being squandered.
Football is not about suffering. It's about enjoyment. Control the ball, be friendly with it, try to attack, try to score goals. Of course defending is part of it, but you can defend in a lot of ways.
If you look at other countries, you see they have different values: defend more, pass the ball out more, winning is holy. In England, you could say that sport itself is holy. They say, 'Look, guys, it's about more than just winning.'
If you take golf, you have a teacher for the drive, a teacher for the approach play, and a teacher for the putt. That's three specialist coaches for one player. In football, one coach looks after 25 players.
The most important part are the fans, that people going home are happy. It's their time off, and you should give them something to enjoy.
Work hard, have fun and make history.
The two most important words I ever wrote were on that first Wal-Mart sign, ‘Satisfaction Guaranteed’. They're still up there, and they have made all the difference.
Nobody ever thinks that the work they're going to do could ever be bigger than the one they do before, especially if you're lucky enough like I had to have such a huge thing as 'Phantom' was.
The path from dreams to success does exist. May you have the vision to find it, the courage to get on to it, and the perseverance to follow it.
I do know there are a lot of people who seem to be in my corner, and that's, of course, wonderful. I'm really more interested in the nomination than in the award, because I think the nomination just puts you within a group of outstanding actors.
The point is that it doesn't matter if you look like a beast before or after the hit, as long as you look like a beauty at the moment of impact.
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