Former Manchester United CEO says workers could learn something about feedback from pro athletes
Former Manchester United CEO Peter Kenyon argues that corporate environments can improve by adopting the immediate feedback loops used in professional sports. He emphasizes that constant, non-hierarchical communication helps teams solve problems quickly rather than waiting for annual reviews.
Why it matters
This perspective challenges traditional corporate management structures, suggesting that agility and real-time feedback are essential for high-performance cultures.
Peter Kenyon has been working in sports for 30 years. F1 Peter Kenyon, former CEO of Manchester United and Chelsea, said that feedback is constant and immediate in sports. Kenyon, now a board advisor for Atlassian Williams' F1 team, said companies can learn from this approach. He also said that feedback isn't always top-down in sports, which is important. Athletes don’t have the luxury of waiting for an annual review to hear how they performed — and that may be a good thing. The suspense that comes with anticipating a laundry list of critiques can sometimes be worse than the feedback itself . Plus, the older the feedback, the less relevant it may be.
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