ISSUE 024: Leading through uncertain times

Soccer Thought Leader: Cameron Knowles of Minnesota United FC

IN THIS ISSUE

  • 👋 Introduction: Leading through uncertain times

  • 👨‍🎓 Soccer Thought Leader: Cameron Knowles of Minnesota United FC

  • 👥 Mentorship Opportunity: 1-on-1 with Cameron Knowles

  • ⚽️ Soccer Jobs: A few sweeeeet jobs in soccer

  • 🫵 Do This Now: Define your leadership style

INTRODUCTION

It can (and often does) happen unexpectedly.

Your manager comes to you and says “are you ready to step up?”

Suddenly, you’re thrust into a new role, leading a group of people who are looking to you for direction. Are you ready for that moment? How can you prepare for that possibility?

Today, we’re tackling the topic of leadership - especially in uncertain and challenge times - with our Soccer Thought Leader who faced that very question when he was asked to become Interim Head Coach of Minnesota United FC… 10 days before preseason started.

We’re extending the topic to today’s Do This Now feature with an exercise that will help you begin to frame up your leadership style and approach. Scroll on down to check out the free resource we’ve linked for your use.

-Nolan Sheldon, Co-Founder & CXO

Did you spot a job that we need to include or have feedback on the newsletter? Drop us an email!

SOCCER THOUGHT LEADER: CAMERON KNOWLES, MINNESOTA UNITED FC ASSISTANT COACH

“…the immediate thought for me was one, a tremendous responsibility to be entrusted with, and two, the obligation to the players who had been navigating this uncertainty for so long.”

Cameron Knowles has been around the game of soccer the better part of his entire life - he grew up in New Zealand, competed at the youth national team level for his home country, embarked on a playing career in the United States that began at the University of Akron, and concluded after competing professionally for seven years with Real Salt Lake, Portland Timbers, and Montreal Impact.

Upon retirement as a player, Cameron immediately transitioned into coaching at the highest of levels - first as an assistant coach for Portland Timbers, then as the Timber’s 2nd team head coach, before serving in the same role for Minnesota United FC - it was these experiences that prepared him for his most recent challenge.

In January 2024, Cameron was asked to lead the Minnesota United first team on an interim basis, 10 days before the start of pre-season. Without an exact timeline set for a new Head Coach being named, Cameron and the team had to begin a new season knowing that a major change within the sporting leadership team would take place. Cameron experienced success in the role, leading the team to a 2-0-1 record while at the helm and receiving high praise within MLS circles.

In our interview, we spoke to Cameron about his transition from a player to a coach, his pathway and development as a coach, serving as Interim Head Coach, and what he learned about leadership.

Whether you lead a team on the field or a team within a business department, I believe you will benefit from Cameron’s perspective and the wisdom he gained from his experience.

Nolan Sheldon, Co-Founder & CXO

Questions and answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity (and any emphasis below is ours).

PATHWAY: After four years at Akron and playing professionally for a number of years, you made a quick transition from player to coach. How did you approach this transition and what were some of the challenges that you had to overcome?

CAMERON: The transition was really difficult. I had an injury, tried to come back and play. I went on a few trials, but in my head I'd made up my mind that it was done. I'd done my B license while I was still playing, I'd been coaching young kids a long time, working with the youth club when I was in Portland, and doing individual coaching as well. 

I came into the stadium at Portland, maybe a week or so before they were due to start preseason [in 2012], to try and meet with people and say, ‘hey, listen, I'm not playing anymore, if you can help me with the next step, whatever that might be, just some guidance or just to know that I'm here and looking to figure out how to navigate this next chapter of my life.’ And John Spencer was in the building with Gavin Wilkinson - they saw me, they invited me into the office after a quick chat and said, “listen, we start preseason in a week - the guy that was supposed to be here as the assistant isn't coming. Can you help us out for the first two weeks of preseason and we'll see what happens?”

That was sort of how I got my start. And I was showing up on day one, asking - How do you be a coach? John Spencer was really good at just throwing me into the deep end with it. Having me take a couple guys [for individual training], having me go set up the field and just feeling like I had ownership over some sort of task. I had no idea how much work went into it behind the scenes in terms of preparing for a training session, preparing for a game and all of that. So, it was a real trial by fire. 

PATHWAY: As you think back on your career up to this point, what are one or two specific moments or instances that you felt as though accelerated your development as a coach? 

CAMERON: I might have to answer with two and a half because of that initial one with John really just putting me into the deep end. That was a big one.

Another one was when Sean McCauley joined our staff in Portland. One of the things that really stuck with me and changed really how I was as a coach was being really excited about the failures in a training session and sort of planning for where the session is going to fail. 

As a young coach, you often think the session needs to be clean. It needs to go right, and you want everything to go well. And you'd go through a session that had no conflict and think, man, great training session. And Sean’s philosophy was almost the other side of you want that failure because that gives you the moment to teach, to coach, to correct. And so don't be worried about where the session might fail, but instead, as you design it, figure out what those moments are, figure out where the coaching point might come. And that was really transformative in the way I thought about a training session and not really worrying about trying something new for fear that it might not go well, more being excited about trying something new and seeing what we were going to get out of it and how we were then going to be able to coach the guys and teach them a little bit. 

I think too that just doing the coaching courses - the pro license was certainly transformative and just having someone ask, ‘why are you doing this? Why do you do that?’ And having to justify your beliefs, your ideas about the game, and then to organize your thoughts in a really coherent way. If you can sit there and organize your thoughts and really examine why you're doing things in a training session or during the week or how you coach and how you speak to players, that becomes really, really insightful.

PATHWAY: You were 2nd team Head Coach in both Portland and Minnesota - is that a career path that you would recommend for an aspiring coach?

CAMERON: The thing that I gained that I would recommend for any coach is the experience. You get to lead a staff, so you're having to collaborate with people within the medical side, the sports science, assistant coaches, the goalkeeper coach - you have a lot of broader responsibilities than you have as just an assistant coach on a first team staff. 

And with that role, you've got to be so flexible all the time. At the last minute, you might get players taken for a training session or given to you for a game. And sometimes you're finding out your team for the next day at 10 o 'clock at night once the first team games finished. It gives you this real flexibility in the way that you think about your training sessions, that you're able to be quite nimble when things happen. I think that's really served me well as I continue to go on and coach.

It's like being a youth coach. You don't know how many kids are going to show up to training on any given night, and you've just got to figure out how you're getting the same quality into that training session with different numbers and different resources.

PATHWAY: Think about a young coach - if they were to dedicate two hours per week in a really intentional way in order to develop as a coach, how would you encourage them to spend that time?

CAMERON: I think one way is really think through your training sessions and how the constraints that you're going to put on the sessions might affect the outcomes. Think through, what does it do if I change this rule? What does it do if I change this size? And then try it and see what happens. If you can bounce those ideas off people, I think that's the best thing for a young coach.

And the other thing I would say is to gain a really broad knowledge base and skill base because you don't know what it is that's going to maybe crack the door open for you. It might be your proficiency with data or spreadsheets or video editing software or your tactical analysis. You might get hired as an individual development coach because someone sees the work that you're doing with one or two players on a weekly basis. So, I think having a broad skill base is really, really important.

PATHWAY: When does more specific expertise come into play?

CAMERON: I think the broader skillset is important because typically when you get your first job, you're going to be doing more than one job. It's not until you get into a really well-resourced environment that specialization becomes a thing. I think with time in a different environment, you get to say, hey, I really liked the analytics side and if I'm going to be an assistant coach at the next level, I want a role that lends itself to opposition analysis, or maybe I'm going to get into being a video analyst and I'm using my background in coaching to get into this video analysis a bit deeper. I think with time you sort of figure out where you want to be, whether it's behind a computer, on the grass, or whatever it might be.

PATHWAY: Let’s rewind to the moment you were asked to be interim head coach at Minnesota United FC, what was your immediate reaction and overarching perspective on what your job was?

CAMERON: I found out 10 days before preseason started with a phone call that I was going to be the next interim coach. And, to be honest, the immediate thought for me was one, a tremendous responsibility to be entrusted with, and two, the obligation to the players who had been navigating this uncertainty for so long. They finished the season under an interim head coach. Then they come into the season and they're about to start preseason with a thought of who's going to be leading the team and then it changes for them. And so one of the first things I did was just reach out to some of the senior players on the team, speak to them, and just be as transparent as I could with them about the situation, what my expectations were, and to see what their needs were as well.

PATHWAY: The first time you were in front of the team, what was your approach? What did you want to try to establish in that first team meeting?

CAMERON: It wasn't just that role of head coach of that team that had changed. We had a lot of change and turnover in that off-season. And so, the first thing I said to the players was you've got a lot of unfamiliar faces that are in familiar roles. You've got some familiar faces that are in unfamiliar roles. And then you've got some brand new people and brand new roles that have just been created. 

What we all had to realize is that the season doesn't wait so we focused on the first game of the season. I think we had at that time maybe 40 days or something until the start of the season. And we just put the number up on the board and just said, listen, that's what we've got to work with. We cannot waste a day. Our plan is not to wait for a coach to arrive, or wait for the new staff, or wait for a decision to be made, we're attacking the season and we're attacking the preseason day one, and let's just get through the first day and then the first week and then we just keep going from there, biting it off in little chunks.

And we were lucky that we had a group of really experienced players. In talking to them and hearing from them, that really made me go down that road - they're telling me we don't have time for a rebuilding year. We've got a decent team. Let's just get on with it.

PATHWAY: What were the lessons that you learned while you were leading through unpredictable times?

CAMERON: I think the big one was trying to have stability in what we did, having predictability with how the week was going to work and how the training sessions were going to work and get everyone on the same page. The other one was acting right away on things, because we didn't know if we had next week. We didn't know if we had two weeks. So, if we thought that something was important, it was just to do it and to continue to make decisions that we thought were to the benefit of the group. And I think with that uncertainty you have this sort of forecast about what if we are the staff that's in place for that first game, for the first two, or for the first three? What's important in the longer term if we're not the staff? Just having that perspective of the very immediate term, you know, this morning, this afternoon, tomorrow, and then also that longer term of, how can we get the players ready to start the season on the front foot?

PATHWAY: How did that experience change your perspective on leadership?

CAMERON: Part of it was it gave me this real sense of appreciation. You know, I think you get a little bit jaded and the grind sometimes of being in it catches up with you a little bit. The first thing my wife said to me was, listen, really enjoy it. Think about that first game, walk out into a stadium full of people in Austin, in an incredible atmosphere, come what may with the result, enjoy it. It might be the only chance you get. And understand that the opportunity that you have and the chance that you're getting, even for one game, is more than most people will get in a lifetime. And so that just gave me that real appreciation of each moment with the team and training and games, all of it, to where I felt like we were giving it our all for the players and the players were giving it back to us each day and each week.

My biggest reflection on my experience of sitting in that seat for whatever it was, six, eight, 10 weeks, is I probably should have delegated more, and I should have leaned on more people because your bandwidth is so limited. Now coming back in as an assistant, I know that I can take things off the head coach’s plate. We can manage that. You go focus on the main thing. Let us deal with that. Let us deal with this. And so being able to do that has been beneficial as well.

PATHWAY: Let’s discuss your role moving from interim head coach to assistant coach with a new staff. How did you make that transition for yourself, but also for the new head coach?

CAMERON: Eric Ramsay (Head Coach) and Dennis Lawrence (Assistant Coach), those guys have been fantastic. Once we knew Eric had accepted the role, even before he was here, we would talk regularly through the week, leading up to the games, feedback on the games, asking about the team, asking about players. So, we had a bit of a connection with him coming in. And Dennis, as soon as he hit the ground, was like, ‘listen, man, we're all in this together.’ It wasn't like they went off and did their thing and I was left in the corner. There was immediate acceptance and they've been really, really welcoming with that. 

And then obviously they've come into a league that is so unique. Player acquisition methods, competition, the difference geographically when you go from one place to another. Even coming into Minnesota and understanding why we can’t train outside at the end of March because the pitch is frozen. So, to be able to help them get up to speed with some of the intricacies of MLS, the nuance of that and really help them hit the ground running.

PATHWAY: Finally, what's your favorite thing about working in soccer?

CAMERON: The global community of soccer and the different cultures you get exposed to, the people you get to meet traveling the world - I mean, as a 5-year old, 15-year old, and even as a 20-year old, I couldn't have imagined the life that the game has given me. 

And I think a big one too, being in this professional environment, is you get measured. You have to compete, you have to have a plan, and you get that immediate feedback, whether it's on the day in the training session or a match day on the weekend - pass or fail, you know, heading in the right direction, heading in the wrong direction. I think a lot of people don't get the ability to put themselves in that position where they're that vulnerable to criticism and feedback. I try and tell the players too that we're so lucky you get to get tested, you get to get found out, you get to figure out where the weakness is and try and make it stronger. I think that for me is a really fun thing about being involved in the game.

Ed. note: You can connect with Cameron on LinkedIn.

PATHWAY MENTORSHIP OPPORTUNITY: 1-ON-1 WITH CAMERON KNOWLES

Cameron has kindly offered to conduct two (2) 1-on-1 mentorship sessions. If you’re interested in speaking with Cameron directly, click below to raise your hand for the opportunity. 🙋

  • PATHWAY MENTORSHIP APPLICATION: Cameron Knowles, Minnesota United FC [apply here!]

SOCCER JOBS: THE MOST INTERESTING NEW JOBS IN SOCCER

Here are few new jobs for your review and consideration! 🙂

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DO THIS NOW: DEFINE YOUR LEADERSHIP STYLE

Today, we want to work your imagination or ask you to reflect on a prior experience to further define your leadership style, specifically during an uncertain time.

We hope the below worksheet will provoke new ideas, challenge your thinking, better prepare you for dealing with future adversity, and allow you to further define your leadership style, so you’re not only better prepared to lead your team or organization through a challenging time, but feel confident that your leadership style aligns with your personality.

As a thought starter, we’ve pulled a few quotes from previous Soccer Thought Leaders, on their approach to leadership and management:

  • “Authentic leadership is not asking someone on the team to do something that you're not willing to do yourself.“ - Steven Birnbaum

  • “You need people who are willing and knowledgeable and confident and honest enough to give you their point of view, but can also take the feedback or take no as an answer” - Amanda Vandervort

  • “Be inspiring while also challenging, but be kind and help your people to grow - you do it because you love people. “ - Frédéric Lipka

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