What Makes FC Barcelona Such a Successful Business

“Blue and claret blowing in the wind. One valiant cry. We’ve got a name that everyone knows: Barça, Barça, Baaarça!” So runs the battle hymn of FC Barcelona (aka Barça), the Catalan soccer club that won the UEFA Champions League — the world’s most prestigious inter-club soccer championship — earlier this month, defeating Italy’s Juventus 3-1.

With 23 Spanish League championships, 27 Copa Del Rey titles, and, after this last victory, as many as five Champions League trophies under its belt, Barca has earned a unique place in the annals of soccer. It’s also a successful business: the team’s net worth, according to Forbes, was $3.16 billion, making it the world’s second most valuable sports team, while its revenues touched $657 million, the fourth highest among soccer clubs (after Real Madrid, Manchester United, and Bayern Munich) in 2014.

There are many reasons for Barça’s sustained excellence: great players such as Lionel Messi, Neymar Santos, and Luis Suarez; terrific managers like Johan Cruyff, Luis Enrique, and Josep “Pep” Guardiola; and state-of-the art facilities. However, our research suggests that Barça’s organizational identity — the collective sense of “who we are” that players, managers, and employees share — lies at the core of its success. Such is the power of its identity that fans often say that Barça is més que un club (more than a club).

Identity is different from culture, the values, beliefs, and assumptions that establish behavior. While culture tells us how to behave, identity tells us who we are. That serves two purposes. By serving as a lens, identity helps make sense of the environment. It also informs action by guiding employees’ responses. Together, these dimensions allow organizations to maintain a sense of balance between “who we are” and “what we do.”

While most organizations have some understanding of their identity, few think of it as a way of driving performance. For many, identity is too abstract a concept to link to measurable objectives; for others, it is too long-term an ideal to translate into current goals. Yet, identity has the potential to infuse objectives with meaning and to deliver great results — as Barça has demonstrated.

Coaches and players may come and go, but the cornerstone of Barça’s identity is La Masía (The Farmhouse), the club’s youth academy located inside Joan Gamper Sports City on Barcelona’s outskirts. Since its creation in 1979, the school has educated over 500 aspiring players including stars such as Messi, Xavi Hernández, and Andrés Iniesta. Around 85 players, between the ages of 12 and 18 years, either live in or visit the school every day for education and training.

La Masía helps create Barça’s identity by playing four roles:

As the guardian of the organization’s ideals. One of Barça’s ideals is that soccer must be played skillfully and in an artistic fashion rather than relying on sheer strength and size. According to the club’s stakeholders, that belief lies at the heart of the club’s identity. La Masía, where the club grows its players, is responsible for imprinting that ideal in the youngsters that join its ranks every year.

Training at the school has a moral edge, agrees Albert Capellas, Barça’s former senior youth coordinator: “First, we must be the more sporting team, committing fewer fouls [than opponents]. Then we must try to win by playing more creatively than the opposition. Finally, we must win. But we don’t want to win without adhering to the other two ideals.”

As the source of the organization’s distinctiveness. Barça’s ideals translate into a distinctive kind of playing style known as tiki taka soccer, which relies on quick, short passes among players who advance in concert. (See, for instance, “Learning Collaboration from Tika Taka Soccer“) Passing is more important than shooting; smarts are more relevant than strength. It takes a special kind of player to thrive while using this style. Therefore, La Masía’s recruiters often take chances on kids who defy stereotypes.

They try to find children who make quick decisions in counterintuitive ways. For example, when Barca’s scouts found Messi in Argentina, he was smart but short and thin; he suffered from acute growth hormone deficiency. Other clubs thought he was too risky an investment, but Barca wooed the young Messi, paid for his treatment, and then, coached him into one of soccer’s all-time greats.

As the glue which imparts cohesiveness. Another characteristic of Barca’s identity is collaboration and teamwork. Because tiki taka soccer requires the team to move in unison, it calls for every player to be aware of his peers’ positions on the field and passing opportunities. There’s no room for lone stars; the team must act as a cohesive constellation in order to win.

While players who have grown up at La Masía understand this, those who join from other clubs have a tough time adjusting to it. For example, two of Barca’s current forwards, Neymar, who came from Brazil’s Santos, and Suárez, who transferred from England’s Liverpool, have spoken freely about the change in mentality they had to undergo after joining Barça. They started playing well – and enjoying the game — only when they let go of their personal aspirations and concentrated on supporting their colleagues on the field.

As the compass that points to the organization’s future. Like most organizations, Barça operates in a fast-paced environment with ambitious short-term goals. Its focus is on winning this week’s match and this season’s tournament; it’s easy to forget about the long term. In contrast, it takes around 10 years of coaching for a player to make the grade from La Masía to Barça’s first team.

The pressure to perform can be staggering, but trainers understand that rushing the development process compromises quality. “If you are forced to show immediate results, you are doomed. We need to be humble enough to understand that the fruits of the seeds we are planting may not be enjoyed by us, but by future generations,” points out Jordi Mestre, Barça’s board member in charge of youth soccer.

Interestingly, La Masía trains youngsters in soccer for only 90 minutes a day, during which the coaches focus on mastering ball control and tactics. The rest of the time is devoted to educating young minds and developing good attitudes around principles such as respect, responsibility, commitment, discipline, and humility.

In addition, cultural activities help expand the young players’ horizons and foster their curiosity. For instance, La Masía regularly invites guests — cardiologist Valentin Fuster, rock rumba music group Estopa, master chef Ferran Adrià, Albert Bosch, the first Catalonian to reach the South Pole etc. — to inspire its residents.

The ways in which La Masía nurtures Barça’s identity results in one key capability: talent development. While most soccer clubs rely on acquiring star players to win, Barça is able to grow its key players at home. When Barça won the 2011 UEFA Champions League, seven of its starters were La Masia products as were eight members of the Spanish team that won the FIFA World Cup in 2010 – unprecedented in the soccer world.

At the same time, Barca can maintain its identity only if players don’t leave. Says La Masia’s director Carlos Folguera: “Every player must think that ‘I will not let go of this for anything; I am part of something historic.’ That’s why we foster our identity like a protective shield.” The philosophy has worked, judging by Barca’s continued success.

Like Barça, corporations can benefit from creating stronger identities. In hyper-competitive markets, instead of focusing on what they’re good, most companies tend to react to rivals’ strategies. A clearer definition of “who we are” that speaks to what is core, distinctive, and enduring about the organization acts as a powerful tool for strategic adaptation. It also helps answer key issues such as: Should we acquire that company? Should we enter that market? Should we develop such a product?

Executives can also shape the organization’s identity over time by sharpening and growing the meanings associated with it, so the organization isn’t trapped by inertia. After all, every identity evolves over time.

(*) Professor of management and organization at the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella’s Business School in Buenos Aires.

Luciana Silvestri is a doctoral candidate in management at Harvard Business School in Boston