The Invincibles shirt he hasn’t worn since 15th May 2004.

Syed Rashid brought an Arsenal shirt to the table. The O2 home kit from the 2003-04 Invincibles season – the last time Arsenal were champions of England. He hasn’t worn it since 15th May 2004.

Syed is Vice President of Worldwide Market Access and Government Affairs at Samsara Vision, working to bring a groundbreaking implantable telescope to patients with late stage age-related macular degeneration. His job is to convince health authorities around the world to fund technology that gives blind people their sight back. Faces. Words. Hobbies they gave up years ago. The world, coming back into focus.

He credits a lot of it to football.

In episode four of Football for Breakfast, Jim Johnson sits down with Syed in the greasy spoon café to talk about Arsenal, leadership and what the game teaches you about bringing people with you.

Where it started

Syed grew up two miles from Wembley in Harrow, watching the 1979 FA Cup final on a black and white TV. Alan Sunderland scores in the fifth minute of injury time and a guy with a big afro becomes the reason Syed follows Arsenal for the next 45 years. From the North Bank at Highbury to the Emirates bond scheme, from the George Graham drinking culture to the nutrition revolution Wenger brought from Japan – Syed has watched Arsenal change, and seen every one of those changes reflected in his own career.

Influencing without authority

He talks about getting people to cross the line of their own free will when you’re not their line manager. About leading global teams through mergers at Sanofi, Abbott and Johnson and Johnson. About what Wenger’s transformation of Arsenal tells you about building culture, and what Arteta’s journey tells you about backing a vision when everyone is losing patience.

The shirt

Jim reveals he owns a Freddie Ljungberg away shirt from the same season, signed by the entire squad, that he wore under his jacket to feel invincible in meetings. They might be the only two people on the planet who understand exactly what the other means.

Syed has an idea about when he might put the Invincibles shirt back on. The result neither of them will ever get over? Barcelona 2006. Champions League final. Turns out it’s Jim’s too.

Watch on YouTube →

Also available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Football for Breakfast is presented by OSS Security. New episode every Tuesday morning.