CIES Conference on the “Developing a Winning Strategy for Sports Organizations” by Mr. Steve Aeschlimann
Mr. Steve Aeschlimann was the speaker at the online CIES conference held on 2nd November, 2025 for the 7th edition participants of the PILLAI/FIFA/CIES International Programme in Sports Management. Steve began the conference by giving a brief insight into his journey and varied experiences of delivering lectures on the topic of Strategy. He explained that Strategy is the path you choose to reach an objective with available resources. He shared many successful stories, a vivid example being of an athlete from Kenya who learned javelin techniques by watching YouTube videos. In 2015, he threw 92.72m and won the World Championship. He used whatever resources were available and made consistent efforts with a clear strategy. This shows that strategy is not a wish list or just motivation. Choosing the right path is important. There will be many options in the journey, and a winning strategy is based on key principles of choosing and renouncing. Sometimes we must make difficult choices and stick to the plan until it is achieved.
Mr. Aeschlimann explained the clear direction of vision, mission, objectives, strategy, and tactics. Vision is the dream-where we want to be in the coming years. Mission is the purpose, which connects to objectives that should be measurable and achievable. Strategy is about choices and trade-offs, and tactics are about day-to-day functional and operational actions. He highlighted the importance of checking timelines, analysing risks, and executing on time. Simple and perfect execution is better than complex and poor execution. He explained how to create momentum and adjust tactics on the chosen path, giving an example of how Arsenal switched to buying young players. He also noted that if one strategy does not work, we should go back and recheck our direction.
His key message was that winning strategies are never perfect at the start-we begin with only about 70% clarity. Courage to make difficult choices makes the difference. Passion alone is not enough: passion combined with strategy leads to long-term success. Moreover, we should not depend too much on theories. Sometimes, talking to the organization, spending time with them, and evaluating their direction helps in creating a better strategy. The participants were highly enthused by the takeaways from this engaging and insightful conference.
