“Making something beautiful out of the simple.”

Where the path seemed unclear to others to Johnathan McKinstry it seemed plain and obvious. Being a youth football coach in Northern Ireland, role models were few and far between so John became his own. Turning a perceived disadvantage into an advantage, combined with an insatiable desire to learn has led to John scaling the highest mountains of the professional game. In 2013 he became the then youngest manager in International football coaching Sierra Leone at just 27, bringing them to the top 50 of the FIFA World Rankings. Since then John has continued to work at the top echelons of the game spanning four continents. Now as John comes back to base for a brief sojourn he he has some reflections which he would like to share.

What we discussed included ;

- John's onboarding process upon taking a new job in a new culture.

- Identifying and developing skillsets that are crucial to staying in the game.

- Why starting as an international coach can be a better introduction to senior management rather than the club game?

- Managing emotions in the high pressure cooker of professional football.

- Constantly reassessing the mountains you can climb and further insights into John's goal setting process.

- Why learning how to network effectively is a key pillar to any coaching success?

Timestamps;

00:00 - 09:05 - Intro

09:06 - 14:22 - The Path

14:23 - 17:36 - Adaptation

17:37 - 24:50 - Sierra Leone

24:51 - 31:58 - Management

31:59 - 35:56 - Goal Setting

35:57 - 42:12 - Coaching

42:13 - 49:47 - Advice

John's Twitter; https://twitter.com/johnnymckinstry?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

John's Website; http://www.johnnymckinstry.com/