Sean Dyche

The Great Coaches: Leadership & Life

Our Great Coach on this episode is Sean Dyche.

Sean is a former player who most recently managed Premier League club Burnley.

Sean made his professional debut in 1990 and played for 6 different clubs until he retired in 2007. He transitioned immediately into coaching eventually becoming the Burnley head coach, or as they say in soccer, their manager in 2012.

During his time there Sean guided the club to two promotions to the Premier League in three seasons, and the 2016 Championship League title. As well as their first European qualification in 51 years.

In early 2022 Sean left Burnley and at the time was the longest serving manager in the Premier League.

Sean is the type of resourceful leader who can find a way to organize and motivate his tribe nomatter what the challenge. He does this by marrying tried and tested values like work ethic and respect, with a communication style that is disarmingly honest and cuts right to the heart of the matter.

In this terrific interview some of the key highlights were:

• His view that leadership is about knowing what to do, when you don’t know what to do.
• The fascinating difference he describes between winning as a manager versus as a player.
• And How he used what he referred to as positive realities to help motivate his team to compete with bigger and more resourced competitors, and how this mindset led Pep Guadiola to describe playing Burnley like having to go to the dentist.

We were very lucky to get this interview with Sean, and I hope you enjoy it as much as Jim and I did.

If you would like to send us any feedback or if you know a great coach, who has a unique story to share, then we would love to hear from you, please contact us at [e-mail] or contact us through our website thegreatcoachespodcast.com

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