This is a wonderful book on leadership seen through the profile of a Football Manager.

1. The Manager
Mike Carson

2. Club football is about creating
winning environments , delivering
on enormous expectations,
overcoming significant challenges,
handling pressure and staying
centered throughout.

3. The quality of a football manager
is determined by the quality of his
control

4. The familiar lesson of putting
people first translates directly to
success. The leader who focusses
on his people even in the
whirlwind of wider change is set
up for success.

5. Leadership is rarely about one
heroic message, it is more about
inspiring all round.

6. Competence, diligence,
communication are three things a
leader needs.

7. There are two types of football
players, those who bring what
they have to the team for the
team to win and those that use
the team to make themselves look
good.

8. A big trap of leadership is to
believe that you are the center of
the universe. Leaders need
humility and pragmatism

9. The leader at the center
• Relish your role at the center
• Get your priorities right
• Establish and communicate a shared vision
• Accept readily that other parties are involved
• Focus on each relationship in turn

10. Leaders the world over find their
greatest challenges in
relationships- building them,
maintaining them, nurturing
them, growing them, saving them.

11. By showing character, a leader
builds trust. Steel, comes from
professional knowledge, decision
making ability and self belief. It is
hugely important in a leader.

12. The work of a football manager –
as with most leaders is to balance
the needs of the task, the team
and the individual.

13. A leader needs to address his
team’s behaviors since the right
behaviors will carry the team on
the journey.

14. Tough conversations are part of
the leader’s job. When things are
left unsaid , resentment builds. It
is an act of leadership to address
the root cause of the problem.

15. The key to tough conversations
lies in preparation

16. Feedback helps to build a strong
dressing room in football.

17. Leadership is a lonely task unless
you are surrounded by people
whose character, opinion and
expertise you trust.

18. There are two dimensions in
people- skill and will, if the person
doesn’t have the will for
whatever, collaboration, hard
work, positiveness, stretch etc., its
better to let that person go.

19. Another component of delegation
is what not to delegate.

20. A captain in any area is someone
who thinks of the team and
creates a team spirit.

21. A leadership team adds value
when it handles complexity,
technology change and people
well.

22. A leader who gets the team
environment right can provide an
excellent platform on which to
build success.

23. If a leadership team wants to
inspire the company, then they
must display the behaviors and set
the standards they seek.

24. Leaders impart some of their DNA
/their character to the
organization they lead.

25. Mourinho is convinced that great
leadership is founded first on
great knowledge. A leader has to
know a lot about a lot of things.

26. Finding talent that is unselfish and
motivated for the team is the
challenge. Most good talent is
unselfish. Insecure talent is selfish.

27. There is a compelling humility
about a leader who serves his
people and inspiration he does
with confidence.

28. Leaders are human beings too, the
further they progress, the more
pressure they face. How a leader
responds to pressure is important
to his team.

29. Self awareness and self belief are
excellent weapons against the
inner voice of self doubt.

30. Leaders who stay true to
philosophy, true to themselves are
inspirational. They are
unshakeable, which is an
inspiration in itself.

31. The final component of a leaders
story is a mindset for continued
growth and learning. This drives
them throughout their career,
they remain committed to growth.

32. The message of hard work and
determination is the common
thread to high achieving
managers.

33. A danger a leader can face is the
danger of frustration and wanting
to seize the reins too early- that’s
a big mistake.

34. The authentic leader
• Identify and rely on the source of your
inspiration
• Turn experience into wisdom
• Keep your purpose in mind
• Stay true to your philosophy
• Be a serial learner.

35. Leaders need to be excited about
their subject and committed to
their cause. Without this, they will
not inspire.

36. The motivating force for leaders
under pressure can often be fear,
the fear of failure. Fear can distort
reality.

37. Almost all the challenges a leader
faces are a threat to the balance
that he tries to give his team and
company.

38. Positivity is valuable. Strong
leaders are optimists.

39. Building the long term
• Make strong and rapid decisions
• Build a store of knowledge and share it
• Focus on people but avoid sentimentality
• The future will be different, not what you have
today
• Invest in the next generation