Wall Street rainmaker Michael Aiello found himself in Italy in late October, making an unlikely pitch. The chairman of the corporate department at law firm Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP, whose day job involves steering Fortune 500 companies through multibillion-dollar mergers and acquisitions, was in Cesena, a city close to the Adriatic coast, trying to help lift the local football team out of a mini rut. 

Discouraged by back-to-back defeats, Cesena FC’s players were eager to start building some season momentum in Serie B — the second tier of men’s professional football in Italy. “You need to understand how good you are, you are among the elite in the world,” Aiello told the squad at lunch after a training session on Oct. 24. “Next time you go out on the pitch, don’t play for me or anyone other than yourself and your teammates.”