The Rule That Changes How You Earn and Lead.
3 Min Read
The Rule That Changes How You Earn and Lead.
You don’t get paid for effort, you get paid for the problems you solve. Learn the law that separates the busy from the truly valuable.
In the fast-paced world of global sports, effort alone doesn’t pay the bills impact does.
Discover the law that connects value, money, and leadership and how understanding it can transform your influence, your income, and the future of the sports industry.
A Lesson I’ll Never Forget
When I was 29, I was working for a communications company in London.
One evening, after hearing me complain about long hours and constant pressure, my father said something that stuck with me for years.
He told me:
“You work too many hours. You’re working too hard, and you don’t have time to make money…”
At the time, I didn’t really understand what he meant.
But as the years went by, the meaning of that sentence began to reveal itself and I realized he was pointing to a fundamental law of life and business.
A law that explains why some people spend their lives running in circles, while others seem to create impact and wealth with focus and clarity.
And now, all the threads connect.
The Law You Can’t Afford to Ignore
Let’s talk about money.
About your position, your influence and yes, the number that shows up in your bank account at the end of the month.
Because whether you’re leading a league, managing a sports brand, or building a startup, your income, your growth, and your opportunities are all directly linked to one simple truth:
The quality of the problems you solve.
Now picture this: a player walks onto the pitch without knowing the rules.
He grabs the ball with his hands, the referee blows the whistle, flashes a red card and the crowd bursts into laughter.
He ran, sweated, gave it everything but it doesn’t matter.
If you don’t know the rules, there will be no results.
No goals. No bonuses. No wins.
And that’s the law most people ignore in business, in sports, and in life:
You don’t get paid for your effort. You get paid for your impact.
For the size and quality of the problems you solve, and how deeply you understand the real need behind them.
The Deeper Law: Be Obsessed With the Real Need
There’s a deeper layer to this rule and it’s where true value is created.
To be a real problem-solver, you must be obsessive about understanding the true need or pain of the person or organization in front of you.
Not just what’s said in a meeting.
Not just the metrics in a report.
But what’s beneath it the emotional, strategic, or financial pressure that drives every decision.
That’s the obsession that separates the average from the elite.
And it applies to every corner of the sports world from the locker room to the boardroom.
Why This Law Applies to Everyone in Sports
It doesn’t matter if you’re a league executive, a federation director, a startup founder, or a coach managing a professional team.
The same rule applies everywhere.
- In a job interview: It’s not about how impressive your CV looks. It’s about whether you truly understand what the CEO needs tomorrow morning and how you can deliver it.
- In a pitch to a brand: It’s not about how exciting your product sounds. It’s about whether it solves a pressing pain often one they haven’t even articulated yet.
- In an internal meeting: The winning idea isn’t the flashiest one. It’s the one that targets the biggest unspoken challenge the organization is facing right now.
The rule is simple: the deeper and more obsessively you understand the need or pain, the more valuable you become.
Examples From Our World
Let’s take a look at an example from the sports industry itself:
• Liverpool FC: They talk about digital fan engagement, but the real need is building loyalty among Gen Z a generation that doesn’t stay for legacy, but for meaning and connection.
And that same principle applies across all sports from franchises to federations, from athletes to sponsors.
Innovation that starts from real need, not trends, is what drives long-term loyalty, growth, and revenue.
Quality of Solution = Size of Impact = Level of Reward
Here’s the unshakable formula:
The better your solution, and the more people it impacts, the greater the reward.
Money isn’t the goal.
It’s simply the energy that measures how much value you’ve delivered to the world.
Take Elon Musk. Love him or hate him, the principle stands: he doesn’t solve small problems for one client. He tackles planetary-scale challenges energy, transport, space.
The result? Immense financial returns, directly proportional to the scale of his impact.
The same law applies across every level of sports and business:
• Solve your CEO’s biggest headache, and your internal value skyrockets.
• Solve a challenge that touches millions of fans, and the rewards come back as brand power, loyalty, and measurable financial success.
Four Questions to Upgrade Your Value
Next time you step into a meeting, an interview, or a pitch pause and ask yourself:
- What is the real need or pain here?
- As a true problem-solver, what solution can I bring that genuinely changes their reality?
- How can I upgrade my solution one step further?
- What pain is not being said out loud and what deeper motivation drives the people in the room?
These four questions can redefine your entire approach to leadership, teamwork, and innovation in sports and beyond.
The X Factor
There’s one final ingredient the X factor that separates good from unforgettable.
Leadership.
Leadership is like beauty: you can’t always explain it, but you know it when you see it.
It’s the energy that turns ideas into action, projects into movements, and moments into turning points.
You can have data, innovation, and brilliant strategy but when you add leadership, everything multiplies.
So before your next big decision, ask yourself: “How would a leader act right now?”
How would leadership change the way I speak, decide, or move this project forward?
Because when you mix obsessive understanding of real needs with true leadership
you don’t just solve problems. You inspire people to follow your vision.
And that’s when real impact financial, emotional, and organizational begins to happen.
Final Whistle
At the end of the day, and that’s what I believe my father wanted to tell me, the rules are simple:
Your value isn’t measured by hours worked, but by the quality of your solutions and by the leadership and obsession you bring into every challenge.
Those who master these two elements don’t just win the game.
They redefine it.
For themselves, for their teams, and for the entire world of sports.
With love for sports and innovation
AR
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