Book: Leading 

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Author: Sir Alex Ferguson with Sir Michael Moritz

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton 

Pages: 406 

Rs 799

For football crazy fans like me, Sir Alex Ferguson (SAF) is a name synonymous with adjectives like success, longevity, leadership and, not to forget, Manchester United. If numbers do the talking, then figures like 38 trophies in 27 years with a single club is not something one hears of in today's hire and fire world. For those who love the beautiful game, Leading is an inspirational guide to great leadership from the most successful football manager of all time.The book is a delight for those who follow the beautiful game. What Leading manages to do brilliantly is being able to talk about topics in modern life that can be applied by anyone. The individual stories may concern themselves with football, but the manner in which Ferguson conveys the message allows us to apply his learnings in any walk of life.Whether you're a student, a business, a teacher, or part of a small startup, Leading, written by Alex Ferguson and Sir Michael Moritz, former chairman of the venture capitalists Sequoia Capital and one of Silicon Valley's most distinguished investors, will help you become a better person if not a better leader.Over the course of the book, we come across subjects that we immediately associate to his no-nonsense managerial style: Discipline, Control, Teamwork and Motivation. One example that stands out is the ability of a leader to delegate his work. " [It was] the best thing I did, because when you're in the middle of a training session, you're only focused on where the ball is. When I stepped out?.?.?.?bigger picture. It's not so much what you see all the time, sometimes it's what you miss by doing that."Having seen the match on a weekly basis every Saturday-Sunday (sometimes twice a week), there were two areas that I hoped for to read in the book. Actually three. One was that there will always be books written about successful people in life. What Leading does is that it tells you about the man's ability to deal with failure. Alex Ferguson didn't win a league title in every year after all. So what were the things he did to cope with failure?"I found it healthy to approach disappointments in that manner because it meant we were in control and could improve. I was always a better manager after a loss. For whatever reason, it made me sharper. I suppose sometimes I wanted to prove I was not a loser, and at other times I wanted to avenge a defeat. At some point in my life, the desire and need to win outstripped my fear of failure. Winning was a matter of pride," he writes.The result? On all the five occasions when Manchester United finished runners-up during Ferguson's tenure, they ended up winners the following season. That's how badly Alex Ferguson wanted to win. Finishing second was just not an option. Manchester United had won seven league titles before his arrival. By the time he left, Manchester United boasted of 20 league titles, the most in England.For 27 years, Alex Ferguson was married to one thing and one thing alone: Manchester United. The Scot is honest enough to admit that he was a largely-absent father and husband. "My wife was prepared to accept that sacrifice, she was great. I know not every wife would do that, obviously, but she understood my obsession, she understood why I had to do it, because it was in me, it was in my blood and I was hooked on the whole thing — I couldn't get out of it."That all changed in the summer of 2013 when the 71-year-old (he's 73 now) called time on his managerial career. "For the first time in 40 years I had breakfast with my wife, and that was amazing."For someone who has winning in his blood and feels he can go on forever, Ferguson does talk about the moment where he felt it was time to hang up his boots. Saving the best for the last in a chapter called Leaving, Ferguson speaks about how sometimes, family does come first."I always said to the press I wouldn't retire: as long as my health was good, I would carry on. [But] when Cathy's sister died it changed the whole thing because she was isolated, she was missing her and I think the sacrifice she had made all her life for me, I was doing something back."It's not every day that the prestigious Harvard Business School asks you to be a lecturer for their executive education courses. That's Alex Ferguson for you. Structuring his words in an easily read format is the latest managerial masterstroke from a man who made a career out of regularly producing them. For those interested in the subject of leadership, be it managing people effectively and getting the best out of them or learning which qualities and traits separate those who manage and those who inspire, Leading is a worthwhile read.