The Power of Kindness
First published: May, 21st 2024
or: Why Jürgen Klopp never stood a chance
I was brought up as a Liverpool Football Club supporter. As the daughter of someone who’s been a fan ever since before LFC´s Golden Years in the 70s & 80s, this should not come as a surprise. It might also not be the biggest shock if I told you that in my early 20s, I decided to move to Liverpool to study International Journalism. Could have been a free choice. Could have also been my father looking at the list of possible universities for me to attend and pointing at the one right at the bottom of said list. “That one is in Liverpool. That’s the one.” Done deal.
I liked Liverpool Football Club for their football and for the spell they seemed to have cast over my dad, ever since he was a little boy himself. I never expected to fall under an even bigger spell when I first arrived at John Lennon Liverpool Airport in 2007.
Over the last few days, there’s been a lot of chatter about how Liverpool and Jürgen Klopp was a match made in heaven, how Jürgen became and will most certainly always stay a “Red”, how he's helped not only the club to new heights but also the city itself.
Anyone who witnessed only a few moments of Klopp’s last dance at Anfield on Sunday could see that he was indeed one-half of a union the world of football has rarely seen. For me following the relationship of Kloppo and the Reds, and watching it blossom and grow over the last 9 years, it was absolutely no surprise that Jürgen fell in love with not only the club but the city as much as he obviously did.
There might never be the perfect words to describe what makes the Liverpudlians and their hometown so special, but for me personally, I put it down to something that should be pretty basic and easy, yet is often way too rare to be found in our world today. It's kindness. The kindness Liverpool welcomes strangers with. The kindness they show each other, may you be a Red or even a Blue. The kindness they sometimes don’t show themselves enough of, because they’re busy caring way too much about others. It's that Liverpool kindness.
I moved to Liverpool not knowing anyone. And to be fair - not understanding a whole lot either since “Scouse” is definitely not part of the German curriculum. But it turned out that I didn't have to. People were welcoming and forthcoming from the very start, and fairly soon I'd found spaces I fit into. One of the earliest places that truly showed me the kindness of Liverpool was the Liverpool Football Club fan shop right in the middle of the city center. My place of work all through my years at university. If you thought fan shops at the arena on a matchday resemble somewhat the eye of a tornado, you’ve never been to the one in the city center, with the masses shuffling in and out all through the week, doubling and tripling the closer the actual matchday came. The staff worked hard, feet hurt, days seemed endless at times and yet they never lost their wit nor twinkle. And yes, that’s how retail should be, right? True. But the LFC staff had that little something about them you rarely see in other places than the North. It's the smile, that's actually genuine. It's the patience. It's the banter. It's the love and support they give without expecting anything in return. For me, it was the open arms. The welcoming manners they directed at me when I joined their crew, just as they do at so many customers that flood the store regularly from all over the globe.
A year later I had the chance to start an internship as part of my studies at Radio City Liverpool (now Hits Radio Liverpool). And boy, did I love that place. Have you ever seen a radio station at 138 meters high? I hadn’t. I also hadn’t met anyone quite like the editorial team I met at Radio City Liverpool. But I soon started to see a pattern. A stressful work environment with deadlines to be met, people to be kept entertained. And again, people were hard-working, smart, funny and, you guessed it, oh so kind.
A little tip on the side - don’t mistake their kindness for being boring! Liverpool and its people are a lot. Boring they most definitely are not. They’re cheeky and clever, energetic and entertaining, playful and persistent, they sing, they drink, they dance, they feel everything, and give back even more.
As a young intern with Madonna bows in my hair and not yet a lot of clever things to say underneath it, it might have been understandable if the Radio City staff didn’t take me very seriously or met me with condescension and ignorance. It's the way things were in a lot of places of work. And in some, even today, these are still the existing patterns. It wasn’t the way up on top of St. John Beacon, at least not in my experience. I was put to work, I was given a chance to learn, I met people I'll never forget. Peter McDowall was one of them. If you watched Jürgen Klopp's farewell at Anfield on Sunday, you saw (and heard) him on the pitch after the final whistle, hosting the goodbyes for the players and staff who are leaving the club. If you’re a LFC supporter you already know Pete anyway, as he's been the lead presenter for 10 years now. To me, he is still that guy from Radio City “Sports Talk”, with the biggest smile and an even bigger brain, who made me feel welcome from the very first moment I met him in the studio. He's Pete, who still checks in. Pete, that Liverpool kindness personified.
The hug Jürgen and Pete shared shortly before Kloppo ran to the Kop for the very last time says it all. You could see all the experiences and emotions these two had shared over the years right there in front of 60.000 people. Jürgen Klopp had no chance from the very beginning. The people of Liverpool were always going to steal his heart. So the headlines should not only be “What Jürgen has done for Liverpool” but also “What Liverpool has done for Jürgen”. And for so many other strangers stranded in this city of wonders. If you ever get the chance to meet a Liverpudlian, work with them, or live amongst them, savor every minute of it. And learn from it.
Almost two decades later I’m now someone who had their own interns, who had younger colleagues and helped them find their way, and who still experiences condescension in the workplace but vows to break that cycle. It's not always easy, that's a given, but I know it works - because 17 years ago I saw how a workplace led with kindness can still function on the highest level, may it be on a shop floor on the most hectic day of the season or between studio sessions in the hubbub of a busy radio station. Liverpool showed me kindness and it's what I strive to do as well to this very day - may it be on a frantic movie set with some of the biggest actors or in concept meetings with some of the most brilliant creative minds in the world. There are moments when I doubt myself. Thinking I should be more stern, more serious, smile less, seem more professional. But why? Kindness doesn't mean being soft. Or weak. Or inexperienced. It doesn’t make you vulnerable. Even though it might feel like it. Quite the opposite. It takes strength and patience to be kind, it takes work and practice. It means learning to trust and trusting in growth.
Kindness can have incredible effects on how you and your team work, deliver and grow together. And isn’t Jürgen Klopp a prime example of how successful a kind leadership can be?
There were many reasons, why Jürgen Klopp stayed for as long as he did - but I'm convinced that Liverpool's kindness was one of the biggest ones. It's that Liverpool kindness that surely rubbed off and made “the Normal One” the “You`ll never walk alone again - One”. It's that Liverpool kindness that fills the Liverpool fan shops with an air of warmth on any given day. It’s that Liverpool kindness that seems to be ingrained in the very soul of the club itself. It’s that Liverpool kindness that Pete and his colleagues showed me so many years ago and it’s that Liverpool kindness that shaped me and made me the professional I am today.
Thank you, Liverpool. Your spell continues.