Video-Editorial for international media and FIFA:Angel María Villar: The most successful sporting leader on the planet and perhaps in the entire galaxy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCkEdNFHXnk

Former Spain and Athletic Bilbao´s  midfielder Angel Maria Villar has been re-elected yet again and unopposed for a seventh term as president of the Spanish football federation. However it was Michel Platini himself who provided an elementary leadership lesson.  It is not how you see things internally but how external people see you.

"He is the most successful sporting leader on the planet and perhaps in the entire galaxy," said UEFA president Michel Platini who attended the general assembly of the RFEF.

Platini and Villar are both vice-presidents of world federation while Villar is also a vice-president of UEFA and has been talked of as possibly the next president if the Frenchman takes over the leadership of FIFA from Sepp Blatter in 2015.

"I'm very happy and proud to be again in  country which breathes football, which lives for football," added Platini. "Angel Maria Villar has been president for almost a quarter of a century which has seen work, battles, courage but, above all else, success without end.

"All this success creates envy and, sometimes, criticism but that's just a fact of life."

Critics of Villar, usually the ineducated Spanish media, had failed in attempts to prevent the election going ahead. Here the Dale Carnegie leadership principle of Do Not Criticise, Condemn or Complaint fully applies to the Spanish media who have always attacked Angel María Villar simply because he is a Basque. These ignorants do not understand that in the first world interpersonal skills are a must to succeed.  Personal criticism is rated as unprofessional

The 61-year-old was elected first in 1988 when he scored a clear 34-vote win over Eduardo Herrera. This means he has been in command for 24 years, since before some of the new members of the world and European title-winning national team were born. As stated in the video from Liga BBVA youtube´s channel the likes of Sergio Busquets, Juan Mata or Javi Martinez had not been born when Angel María took over.  The leadership message is clear: You cannot replace experience. One of the key ingredients of Spain´s current success is the tangible and solid management exercised by Angel María over the years.

Villar is often underrated by Spanish media outsiders despite having astutely balanced between the different centres of power within the Spanish game represented by Barcelona, by Real Madrid and by the rest. Within FIFA, he has proved a loyal supporter of Sepp Blatter. At FIFA Congress in Zurich last June Villar made a characteristically personal, if rambling, speech in support of the world federation's controversial and under-fire president. Once again these are first class leadership traits in as much loyalty is paramount if you are to succeed in any management endeavour.

Born on January 21, 1950, Villar scored three goals in 22 appearances for Spain in the 1970s. He also scored 11 goals in 361 games for Athletic Bilbao, his only senior club, with whom he won the Spanish cup in 1973 and was UEFA runner-up in 1977.

In 1978 he was one of the founders of the Spanish players' union. Three years later he retired and rose swiftly up the administrative and political ladder. He was elected president of the Vizcaya football association and then of the Spanish federation a mere seven years after having retired from playing. Villar has been a vice-president of UEFA since 1992 and of FIFA since 2000.

By any standards Angel María Villar Llona is a top to bottom leader because he has:

a) grass root experience as a player in a club oriented to the Academy which per se is grass roots

b) international experience playing for the national team

c) regional experience on managing football associations

d) national experience on leading national football associations

e) international experience on leading international football associations and

f) humility

Without the shadow of a doubt, Angel María Villar Llona is the World´s most successful sporting leader on the planet and perhaps in the entire galaxy

Thanks Angel Maria on behalf of Spanish Leadership. We kindly ask FIFA members to circulate this note internally to reflect such an achievement as well as to keep an eye on future developments. It was Sepp Blatter´s wise decision of putting pressure on Jaime Lissavetzky (i.e. if you interfere on Spanish affairs Spain will not play the Euro 2008) which gave Spain the fresh air (i.e. free from political pollution) to create the perfect atmosphere to clinch a historic double.  Yet, with the arrival of a new government, Madrid based clans have, once again, attempted to dethrone Angel María via political means which is an unacceptable interference.  FIFA should keep an eye on this.  Spain has no exemplary business culture. It is a culture of back door deals which will surely come back.  We need Angel María until the World Cup of 2022 at least.  He is our true leader.

 Most Spanish people would wrongly say that leadership is vision, courage, credibility, determination or even militarism or politics. At Spanish Leadership we however sincerely believe that leadership is first and foremost about people. It is about leaders releasing people to do what they need to do in the most productive and beneficial way. You cannot call yourself a leader and not have followers.

A leader´s greatest compliment and achievement is his or her followers, and followers will reflect a leader´s positive value and missions. Logically the opposite is also true. Flawed leadership – for example, the lack of integrity that, sadly, we so often associate with today´s Spain based politicians- will also reproduce itself in followers.

That is why Spanish Leadership´s motto is TEAM which stands for Together Everybody Achieves More. That is why we feature only our sportsmen above. We are proud of them.Spanish Leadership is an English speaking treble iii (Internet Ideas Incubator). It has to be in English because sadly most of our countrymen and women think that being fluent in English is not a must. They wrongly believe that someone will come to put them a red carpet to become proficient in English. All the members of Spanish leadership are native Spanish speakers. However, as a team, we bring to the table over a century of international experience in Europe, US, Asia Pacific, Africa and South America. We are all proficient in English. Cleary this is a differentiation factor between us and our ineducated Spanish Media

Leadership is just about taking action and motivating others to do the same. Contrary to widespread belief in Spain, leadership is not just about holding a position or spouting what you believe. Most of Spain´s based people do not understand (or do not want to understand) that positions and job titles come and go. Actions and relationships are the marks of true leadership, and they last forever.

Without people there can never be leadership. People are the heart, soul and spirit of any organization. Without them there is no need for leaders. Leaders are therefore responsible to see people use their assets. They are the ones responsible for the next generation of leadership. They need to focus on what people can become, not on what they are at present. The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.

Success is a decision. You can become the leaders´ leader if you adhere to the principle that the growth and development of people is the highest skill of leadership. We support native Spanish leaders to surge in the World arena. In the fields of business, sports, research, innovation, entrepreneurialism, and charity amongst many others.

Therefore we praised Angel María Villar Llona at the very top of our leadership value scale