Jon Stojan
Life is unpredictable, with a fair share of highs and lows, and no one knows what tomorrow holds. While this may be overwhelming to deal with, there are ways to quell that anxiety and have some control over the flow of one’s life.
Introducing: Kaizen. This concept is all about purposefully making minor improvements every single day. These improvements must be positive and be used as stepping stones to a long-term goal. Richard Lee, an English goalkeeper, and Refuel Performance Management’s director, aligns with this concept so strongly that he got it tattooed on himself.
On a personal level, living a Kaizen life is admirable. At a professional level, this approach elevates a company’s status from being good to achieving greatness. Toyota, a trailblazer in implementing this method, stands as one of the leading car manufacturers globally.
Lee observed the success that discipline brought him during his 15-year-long career as a professional footballer and wanted to carry that into his retirement. When he established Refuel Performance Management (RPM) in collaboration with his former teammate Scott Barron, he knew that Kaizen had to be a core value of the company.
Though Scott and Richard focus on different aspects of football, they knew that maintaining consistency across their business would push them toward success. The people doing the work are the ones who know best what improvements can be made – one of the fundamental concepts of Kaizen – Scott and Richard’s base business philosophy is by footballers, for footballers.
Who would know better what support football players need than retired players themselves? As mentioned earlier, the people doing the work will be the ones to see the issues and know how to improve them best. Scott and Richard understood the nuances of contracts, the difficulty of adapting to a new club culture, and the lack of support that is unfortunately typical of many clubs.
Both were highly unsatisfied with the work done by many of the agents they observed during their careers. That’s when they laid the foundation of RPM in 2012, creating a team and company culture without egos and all working toward similar objectives.
Since football training and games happen all year round, that gives plenty of opportunity to implement Kaizen. However, Kaizen is not the only core value contributing to RPM’s continuous success. The other pillars of the company are “Unity, Agility, and Credibility.”
Unity because everyone is working together towards a common goal of supporting football players. Agility because of their creative thinking, adaptability to whatever situation may arise, and thorough investigations of options for players. Credibility because of their extraordinary client retention rate.
These pillars are essential for RPM’s success and bright future. It boosts them above other football agencies because they are doing things other agencies are not.
Richard Lee updates often on The Goalkeepers’ Union podcast with weekly episodes. Learn more about Richard Lee and Refuel Performance Management on Instagram.