Over the last couple of weeks I have been reading Alex Ferguson’s latest book ‘Leading’
Looking past the abundance of anecdotal stories and incessant name dropping I found this book both inspirational and insightful.
There is no denying Ferguson has been a hugely successful and leading figure, firstly within English football and more widely within European football and this account of some of the lessons and strategies he learnt and adopted along the way is not only fascinating but profoundly helpful for those of us who want to learn and improve the way we lead and develop businesses or organisations.
I particularly identified with his experience of the transient nature of football teams and found his thoughts on team dynamics and developing young talent really relevant to our context with the Pais Movement in Northern Ireland. .
Overall although a little long winded (which I actually didn’t mind to much because I did find the back drop of Manchester United stories either pleasantly nostalgic or interestingly informative) I did really enjoy reading this book. I found it brilliantly comprehensive of the wide variety of experiences, challenges and skills leading takes. Written in ordinary language it was also nicely accessible unlike some of the books about leadership that should be sold along with a dictionary.
To cut a long review short, in my opinion ‘Leading’ is for sure worth the read.