The inner drive – and people who believe in us lead to top performance

I talk to Robert Almer, goalkeeper for the Austrian national team at the 2016 European Championships and goalkeeping coach for the Austrian Football Association until 2023, about what we can learn from top-class sport for everyday business life.

Mr. Almer is currently training to become a physiotherapist.

He is a family man with 2 children, and consciously accompanying his children as they grow up is a high priority in his life, as we return to several times in conversation.

“Without performance and pressure – no way to the top,” Mr. Almer begins our conversation.

His central idea behind this: Without a certain amount of pressure and commitment, sustainable development – both individually and socially – is hardly possible. Without passion, clear rules and the constant struggle for improvement, you won’t get to the top.

In sport, it becomes clear early on that real success is only possible with discipline, determination and sacrifice. Performance is not achieved in a vacuum, but in an environment of clear rules, feedback mechanisms and constant reflection. This applies to sport just as much as it does to business: anyone who is not a team player or does not take responsibility has a hard time – in professional sport as well as in business. Mr. Almer voluntarily went to a boarding school at the age of 14 – with the clear focus of being successful in professional soccer. There, he experienced how much training and sacrifice is necessary to achieve this worthwhile goal. “A career only works if you’re prepared to give more than others,” he says.

Reflection, pressure and trust – what elite sport teaches us about healthy growth

Mr. Almer describes his own professional sports career as a school of life: goals were set early on, successes were pursued, setbacks (including injuries or pressure crises) were dealt with – also with the help of professional psychological support. These experiences show how important it is to develop a sense of one’s own limits early on – so as not to become overwhelmed or burn out later on. The ability to listen to yourself in good time and set clear boundaries is essential – both for your physical and mental health.

In competitive sport, self-reflection is part of everyday life – in the truest sense of the word. Training, video analysis, daily feedback: as a professional footballer, you learn early on to question yourself – what was good, what wasn’t so good, where can I improve? “This culture of constant feedback not only creates clarity, but also gives you energy,” says Mr. Almer. This is often lacking in business. Feedback rarely happens, often under pressure, rarely constructive. And yet this is exactly what would be so important – not only for performance, but also for health and team cohesion.

The experience with a team psychologist who initiated an exercise in a unit is particularly impressive: each player drew the name of a colleague they knew little about – and named three positive qualities that they bring to the team. The effect was astonishing: appreciation from an unexpected direction not only triggers motivation – it strengthens cooperation and has a lasting effect.

But reflection also needs room for honesty. Mr. Almer talks openly about moments when the pressure became too much – injuries, setbacks, doubts about performance. It was professional help that helped him regain control. But it was also crucial to have the trust of a coach. Someone who believes in you, even when others doubt you. Who says: “You are my number 1.” It was this trust that made performance possible in the first place – even under media and internal pressure.

This support was extremely important for my own development. The willingness to persevere, even when the going gets tough, is just as crucial. Because if you want to achieve goals – whether in sport or in business – you have to invest: Time, energy, sometimes even personal sacrifice. What professional soccer teaches us here is universally transferable: Clarity, feedback, trust – and the will to keep at it. Because in the end, it’s not about always getting everything done. It’s about being able to say: “I gave it my all.”

What has helped you in particular to keep going?

Trust instead of pressure: personal belief achieves more than any announcement

“What really helped me in difficult moments? Trust – and people who believe in you,” reflects Mr. Almer in our interview. This experience has been a recurring theme throughout Mr. Almer’s entire career. It was not control or daily conversations that were decisive, but the tangible feeling: “You are good – I trust you,” says Mr. Almer. Such trust, for example from a coach, can provide enormous stability – especially when external doubts and setbacks predominate.

Mr. Almer identifies the problem that there are often people “who belittle you for years, and at some point you adopt this attitude yourself”. This makes it all the more valuable to have people who remind you of what you are really made of – even with few words but a clear attitude. This experience can also be transferred to other areas of life.

The crucial question is: how do we deal with weaknesses? Instead of reflexively staring at mistakes or assessments, it is about enabling real learning. Not through external pressure, but through inner motivation and supportive framework conditions. Development requires trust, genuine feedback and a culture in which mistakes can also be valuable learning steps. This is the only way to create an environment that is empowering – and in which potential can truly unfold.

The inner drive is stronger than any regulation

Mr. Almer adds another important insight: “The most important motor for performance is not external control – but inner drive”. Regardless of the environment: only those who want to do things themselves will achieve lasting performance. Mr. Almer impressively describes how, even as a teenager, he voluntarily subjected himself to a daily routine full of discipline, training and sacrifice – not because someone demanded it, but because the goal carried him.

It is precisely this intrinsic drive that is lacking in many places today. Presenteeism, working to rule, little personal responsibility. There is a lack of people who empower others to want to do things. And that would be the key. People who believe in others. Teachers, managers, trainers who give confidence and thereby awaken potential.

Systems must create incentives to encourage performance without merely demanding it. And they must open up spaces in which motivation can arise – through meaning, through participation, through perspectives. Because real development does not start with the rules, but with the question: Why do I actually want to do this? And who will show me that it is worthwhile?

New paths, new roles: Why performance and development don’t end at the career terminus

Mr. Almer’s career in professional soccer did not end there – new doors opened up: as a sports director, goalkeeping coach and later as a TV pundit. Each stage brought new opportunities, but also new decisions – especially when priorities shifted with the family. Switching to these new roles also meant dealing with performance and pressure in a new way – less intensively than in professional sport, but more reflectively, more consciously.

Today, Mr. Almer experiences how differently people deal with pressure during his training at university. “Where daily feedback and performance orientation are a matter of course in sport, many students lack this approach,” says Mr. Almer, summarizing his own observations. An education system without real consequences conveys Pressure is avoidable. But this does not do justice to reality – neither in professional life nor in life itself.

He is convinced that if you want to achieve something, you have to invest – in time, in energy, in yourself. Not at any price, but with clarity. And: young people need more mentors who challenge and encourage, who provide support – as is often still the case in sports clubs.

There are clear rules in sport. Integration and cooperation only work if there is commitment, consistency and mutual responsibility. Sport in particular shows how people from different cultural backgrounds can come together through common rules and goals.

Sport not only forges talent, but also values such as cohesion, discipline and responsibility. Not everyone has to become a professional – but everyone needs a supportive environment. Because development happens where performance is valued – and trust is given.

From my work as a trainer: What we don’t give children, they rarely pick up later

Education is not a question of technique, but of attitude. If no one teaches children how to figure things out for themselves, how to persevere or how to deal with criticism, they will lack these skills later in life. What is taken for granted in sport – a constant balance between performance, feedback and development – is missing in many areas of society.

It starts early, says Mr. Almer and gives a few examples:
– Children who never learn to tie their shoes are given Velcro fasteners.
– Those who avoid conflicts never learn to resolve them.
– And those who make mistakes are criticized, but not taught how to do it better.

There is a lack of role models who are honest, demanding and supportive at the same time. Children experience fewer incentives to perform, they are kept out of conflicts at an early age and are often not confronted with consequences. But life – especially professional life – does not work without responsibility, reliability and resilience. If young people do not gain these experiences early on, they will lack the tools to deal with professional pressure in a healthy way later on.

This is particularly evident in sport. What counts here is not what you promise, but what you do. Success rarely comes out of nowhere – but through many small decisions, through discipline and through people who believe in you. The best coaches, teachers and managers know this: It’s not about making someone perfect – but strong, independent and capable of learning.

Mr. Almer sums up what we should give our children: “the courage to take responsibility and the value of effort!” If we as a society want young people to be responsible, motivated and able to work in a team, we need to expect them to do so – through clear boundaries, real challenges and regular feedback. Not to overtax them, but to strengthen them.