Nigeria-born cybersecurity architect and strategist, Ismail Sogbade has officially launched his debut book, The Set-Piece Strategy: How to Win in Life and Business Using Prepared Moments.
The book, now available on Amazon, positions preparation, structure, and disciplined execution as the foundations of success in both business and life.
Describing the writing process as a “set-piece in itself”, Sogbade said the journey required structure, rehearsal, and persistence through multiple drafts before reaching completion.
“Writing a book is a set piece in itself. It required preparation. Clear structure. Rehearsal. Persistence when the first draft felt like it would never become a final one. And the discipline to keep going when nobody was watching,” he noted on LinkedIn.
He added that the project demanded sustained discipline, particularly during periods when progress was slow and recognition was absent. The book is published on Amazon, with a public link expected to go live in the coming days.
Citing Arsenal’s Premier League Title Win
A central narrative in Sogbade’s thinking is the role of structured preparation in decisive moments, illustrated through English football club Arsenal’s Premier League triumph.
Arsenal secured the title on 19 May 2026 after Manchester City’s draw to Bournemouth, ending a 22-year wait for the league crown.
The club’s last league title came in 04 season, when the “Invincibles” completed an unbeaten campaign.
However, beyond the headline achievement, Sogbade highlights the tactical foundation behind the success, particularly Arsenal’s dominance in set-piece situations.
The Science of Set-Pieces and Marginal Gains
Throughout the season, Arsenal’s strength from corners, free-kicks, and throw-ins became a defining feature of their gameplay.
Each set-piece was treated as a structured system rather than a reactive moment, with rehearsed movements, assigned roles, and coordinated second-ball strategies.
In the book, Sogbade argues that corners, free kicks, negotiations, product launches, and crisis responses all function as structured moments where preparation outweighs improvisation.
Each requires defined roles, rehearsed execution, and clarity under pressure, principles that mirror cybersecurity incident response and enterprise risk management frameworks.
Set-pieces, he explains, are “compressed versions of decision-making moments”, where clarity, preparation, and execution must align under time pressure.
From Football Tactics to Business Systems
The book extends the analogy beyond sport into professional life, positioning meetings, product launches, negotiations, and hiring processes as modern-day set-pieces.
According to Sogbade, most individuals underperform in these moments not due to lack of ability, but due to lack of preparation and system design. He argues that organisations often overlook the importance of structured processes, instead relying on improvisation in high-stakes situations.
“The Set-Piece Strategy was written because the same principle applies off the pitch. Careers and companies are not built only on the big, visible plays. They are built on the repeatable systems that run when pressure is high and time is short,” he wrote on Facebook.
The core thesis of The Set-Piece Strategy is that consistent success is driven by repeatable systems rather than isolated moments of brilliance.
Sogbade suggests that businesses that formalise internal processes, such as decision tracking, follow-ups, and stakeholder alignment create compounding advantages over time.
While such systems may appear routine or unremarkable externally, he argues they create internal efficiency that allows leaders to focus on high-impact decisions.
Preparation Over Improvisation
At the core of The Set-Piece Strategy is a critique of reactive decision-making in both business and life.
Sogbade argues that many organisations operate without structured systems for critical moments, relying instead on instinct during high-pressure scenarios.
Sogbade’s argument is rooted in his experience across regulated industries, where failures often stem from weak governance structures rather than technical deficiencies.
Having worked across sectors including financial services and critical infrastructure, he highlights a consistent pattern, that organisations that survive crises are those that design for them in advance.
This perspective informs the book’s broader message, that security thinking is ultimately strategic thinking.
Rather than treating cybersecurity as a technical function, Sogbade positions it as a framework for decision-making under uncertainty.
A Cybersecurity Mindset Behind the Book
Unlike conventional business or self-development literature, Sogbade’s work is grounded in cybersecurity thinking, where outcomes are rarely determined by isolated brilliance, but by systems designed to withstand pressure.
With over nine years of experience in enterprise security architecture, governance, and risk management, Sogbade argues that organisations fail not because they lack capability, but because they lack preparation before critical moments.
His professional background includes work in ISO 27001, ISO 22301, ISO 21434, ISO/IEC 62443, NIS 2, and EU AI Act compliance, alongside security architecture design, identity and access management, and enterprise risk assessments.
Sogbade is a First-Class graduate in Computer Engineering from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology and holds a Master’s degree in Cybersecurity from University West.
He currently works as a Senior Cybersecurity Architect at Cyber Instincts AB, where he leads enterprise security architecture design, compliance frameworks, and secure-by-design implementation across complex systems.
Previously, he has also held roles at organisations such as KPMG, where he contributed to cyber risk advisory, incident response, digital forensics, and enterprise security transformation programmes.
A Framework for Leaders, Professionals and Organisations
According to Sogbade, the Set-Piece Strategy is aimed at professionals, entrepreneurs, and organisational leaders seeking a structured approach to performance.
It encourages readers to identify their own “set-pieces”, critical recurring moments that shape outcomes and build systems to execute them effectively.
Rather than focusing on motivation or abstract theory, the book emphasises structure, discipline, and repeatability as drivers of success.
While the book draws inspiration from football, its foundation remains deeply rooted in cybersecurity principles, including risk anticipation, structured response, and controlled execution.
Sogbade’s central message is that excellence is not accidental, it is designed.
And whether in cybersecurity, business, or sport, those who prepare for the moment before it arrives are the ones most likely to control its outcome.
The Set-Piece Strategy: How to Win in Life and Business Using Prepared Moments is now available on Amazon.
Talking Points
At Techparley, we see Ismail Sogbade’s The Set-Piece Strategy as a timely reminder that success in both business and life is increasingly defined by preparation rather than spontaneity, especially in environments where outcomes are shaped by repeated high-pressure moments.
It is particularly interesting how the book draws from Arsenal’s set-piece dominance to explain performance in non-sporting contexts, reinforcing the idea that structured systems can turn predictable moments into competitive advantages.
This framing resonates strongly in today’s business environment, where product launches, negotiations, hiring cycles, and stakeholder meetings function as “set-pieces” that often determine long-term outcomes more than isolated moments of innovation.
The emphasis on repetition, rehearsal, and role clarity also highlights an important lesson for startups and professionals: excellence is often built in preparation, not improvisation.
As more professionals seek structured approaches to productivity and performance, we see The Set-Piece Strategy contributing to a growing conversation around discipline, process design, and marginal gains in both sport and business.
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