Toronto FC execs bring 'winning mentality' to class

What does it take to build a winning team? For the Toronto FC, it’s all about that winning mentality. On April 5, Cheri Bradish’s third-year International Marketing class (Business of Soccer) welcomed Toronto FC president Bill Manning and general manager Tim Bezbatchenko to share their insights into success. Whether it’s on the field or in the office, the answers are the same: goals, culture and mindset.

For Bezbatchenko, a turning point in Toronto FC history came in 2015, when the team lost a playoff game to Montreal. It was the first time the Toronto FC had ever made the playoffs and “I think a lot of people felt like there was a weight off our shoulders,” said Bezbatchenko.

“Now, were we satisfied? No—but I don’t think we had written our goals down, and they weren’t visible on the walls for everyone to see. It’s not just, ‘Hey, let’s make the playoffs’—that’s everyone’s goal.”

Next year, the team got together in the pre-season and came up with a list of goals. “That’s something very common at a lot of businesses, but a lot of businesses don’t do it,” said Bezbatchenko, “and I’d say a lot of the ones that have the most success are the ones that do do it. And you’d think a lot of teams would do it, but they don’t. You get caught up in the daily grind and you don’t sit down and actually hash through your personal goals and your team goals.”

Bill Manning spoke to the importance of cultivating an atmosphere for success. “Before I arrived, our slogan was ‘All For One,’ which I absolutely love,” he said. “It’s going to live with our team for as long as I’m here, because what that means is: we’re in it together.”

Noting that he tends to “dive into the little details,” Manning remembered that at BMO Field and the training grounds, most of the pictures on the walls were of single players. “My thinking was, we need to show a lot of group images where there are five, six, seven players together, or images where we’re celebrating. … When you walk through those halls, you see pictures that immediately bring you to success. We had success here, and then you think about what it took to get that success.”

In recent years, the Toronto FC’s fortunes have risen: in 2017, they won the MLS Cup, Supporter’s Shield, and Canadian Championship, and set a regular-season MLS point record. Bezbatchenko attributes the team’s success to its “winning mentality,” and told students to carry this attitude.

“Understand that you expect to win on a daily basis—not just in games, but during practice. I know some of that is a little bit cliché, but I really think it translates to other environments. It’s not just about your work product—it’s about how you approach class or your job. It’s about this winning mentality you need.”

The Q&A was an example of Ryerson’s mandate to reach out to the Toronto community, bringing first-hand insights from real-world professionals to the classroom. Following the event, student Jalen Simms, a member of the Ryerson women’s soccer team, spoke to how their insights rang true.

“They mentioned that the team had a meeting in 2016 where they sat down and set out goals, wrote it on paper, and looked back on it during the season,” said Simms. “That’s something that we do here at Ryerson with our team. When we do that, we sometimes say, ‘Uh, our coach is making us do this again,’ right? But to see that professionals actually do this, and the culture we’re building here is the same as the culture being built in the professional world, is really good to see.”