Sir Alex Ferguson has just celebrated his 1000 game in charge of Manchester United, probably the world's most successful soccer team. I have a great deal of respect for Sir Alex as a man manager. However, I always feel that he's misrepresented in the media. The press portrays him as this big, bad, angry guy who manages his team by aggression, bullying, shouting and throwing teacups and football boots around the room. I don't think there's any doubt that he does get angry when his team aren't performing but there's another side to his personality that people don't see or don't want to see. As Peter Schmeichel the ex Man United goalkeeper said in a recent newspaper article - "The kind and understanding side to his personality is something people outside United don't see. Fergie can be explosive, yet once he'd got a problem out into the open and dealt with it, it was gone. He never bore grudges. One minute he'd be furious, the next he'd ask - How's your family." I've spent many years studying successful managers whether they're in business or in sport, trying to establish what makes the good guys so good. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that these managers and coaches know: 1 - How to do all the business parts of the job 2 - How to do all the human parts of the job Successful managers and business owners know that to get the best out of their people they need to concentrate on the human interactions and make that emotional connection. They've discovered that you must be "tough enough to care." |
