Lynn Berling-Manuel On Being CEO of the NSCAA and What She Looks To Achieve
SoccerToday Interview Series with NSCAA’s CEO Lynn Berling-Manuel – Part 2
Named CEO of the world’s largest soccer coach’s organization last May, Lynn Berling-Manuel is the first female to lead the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) in its storied 75-year history.
Related Article: Women In Soccer: Lynn Berling-Manuel
Berling-Manuel served as American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) chief marketing officer for nearly 8 years before being selected for the NSCAA top job. What is so intriguing about Berling-Manuel is that she has never coached soccer, ever. Her rise to the top started as editor-in-chief, then publisher, then CEO of Soccer America, the iconic soccer media company that started as a weekly magazine 44 years ago.
SoccerToday interviewed Berling-Manuel to learn more about her first year as CEO of the NSCAA.
Diane Scavuzzo: Running the world’s largest coaching organization and never having coached — does this seem odd to you?
Lynn Berling-Manuel: I’m a soccer business person. As we look to the future, the business of the NSCAA is to educate coaches, but also to represent the voices of soccer coaches. It’s to be an advocate for soccer coaches as respected professionals and help with career development. It’s also to help the novice coach to learn, enjoy their experience and realize what an impact they can have on players, parents and the game.
I’ve worked in soccer my entire career and the NSCAA has been an important part of it. I’m just honored to get to serve in this new way.
Today the NSCAA has 30,000 member coaches and it’s a multi-million dollar non-profit organization. To best serve our members we have to run it as the business it is. NSCAA provides a wide range of services to members with hundreds of coaching courses, the largest coaches convention in the world — which has also become a unique meeting place for all of soccer, insurance and medical programs that protect our members, awards and recognitions such as the Coaches of the Year and All Americans and an advocacy role that increasingly makes sure that soccer coaches are at the table for major decisions in our sport.
Diane Scavuzzo: What excites you the most about being CEO of NSCAA?
Lynn Berling-Manuel: Leading the organization into a new era of advocacy for soccer coaches. This is an incredible community of coaches. I want to celebrate and honor those soccer coaches.
Diane Scavuzzo: In your mind, what is the role of the NSCAA? When coaches hear the acronym NSCAA, what do you what them to think?
Lynn Berling-Manuel: It’s evolving. We’ve led with coaching education and awards and recognition. They’ll always be the backbone of what the NSCAA delivers. We’ve also stood for collegiality and bringing coaches together as a community. Going into the future, however, I want coaches to consider this community representing their voice on the decisions that impact our game. I want to serve them by keeping them informed and involved. Plus deliver services and benefits that make their jobs easier, safer and more successful.
Diane Scavuzzo: What makes a CEO successful?
Lynn Berling-Manuel: I think it’s about asking hard questions. What business are we in? What do our customers — or in the case of the NSCAA, members — need and want? How can we provide value? How do we create a big vision? What do we want to be when we grow up? I believe in hiring great people and I’ve been very lucky in my career to work with some of the best. I want to always be surrounded by the smartest people I can find. If I’m really smart…then I make sure that they’re all the smartest people in the room!
Diane Scavuzzo: What is that special difference a CEO can bring to the table?
Lynn Berling-Manuel: Different skill sets are needed for different times and situations. My strength is that I’m a strategic thinker. I like to imagine a big picture then figure out how we bring it to life. It takes a team of people to do that, but the CEO is the coach that paints the vision then leads the entire team to make it happen.
Diane Scavuzzo: Following in the footsteps of Joe Cummings, Do you see the NSCAA differently?
Lynn Berling-Manuel: Joe is my friend and mentor and my respect for him is huge. He was CEO for six years, but we have very different styles. I’ve said it’s the difference between Boston (his hometown) and Berkeley (my hometown). In his six years as CEO, he was able to turn the organization around from a financial perspective and really bring a new sophistication to our business. But because of circumstances, it had to be very authoritative and tactical. I tend to have a very collaborative style — some would say annoyingly so — and I push authority down. I want my team to be able to feel empowered to make decisions. But I also can get granular and want to know how things really work. Joe created the platform that will let me really take the NSCAA to that next level of engagement and respect in American and world soccer.
Diane Scavuzzo: What do you consider is your biggest strength or talent?
Lynn Berling-Manuel: My biggest strengths are: I’m strategic, I love innovation and trying something new, I always try to surround myself with great people and empower them and I can be almost crazy persistent.
Diane Scavuzzo: Your biggest weakness? What was your biggest failure?
Lynn Berling-Manuel: I wish I was more detail oriented. Everybody says they are, but the truly detailed people shine. I like the big picture. And always try to have folks better than me to make sure every detail is executed excellently. In terms of failures, I’ve lost count! The price of taking risks and trying new things is lots of stuff just doesn’t work. But it is how you figure out what DOES work. Failures rarely throw me. Disappointing? Sure. Devastating? No.
Diane Scavuzzo: Do you view being a CEO as a mentor?
Lynn Berling-Manuel: I’ve always liked to serve as a mentor. But the challenge of moving up the ladder in any organization is time. I hate being that person that’s always saying, “Sorry, I’m just too busy”. But the reality is that I’m busier than I’ve ever been. I hope that I include some mentoring with each of our staff. I’m a big believer in ‘teachable moments’.
Diane Scavuzzo: What do you want to achieve in the next 12 months at NSCAA? The next 24 months?
Lynn Berling-Manuel: Enterprise-level technology across all of what we do. We will be unveiling a new business system and website in late spring. Building our brand is critical to me and you’ll see us telling our story in a new way. And certainly LA17, the first time the NSCAA has held its annual convention on the west coast in 22 years, is going to be very important. Building our brand and membership in the Western states is a very high priority from me. Hey, I’m from California and I want to see every coach be an NSCAA member.
Paul Caligiuri, one of the most significant players in American soccer history, interviewed Berling-Manuel at the 2016 NSCAA Convention.
