Leading: Lessons in leadership from the legendary Manchester United manager

“The great captains lowered themselves in relation to the group whenever possible in order to earn the moral authority to drive them forward in tough moments. The person at the back, feeding the ball to others, may look like a servant—but that person is actually creating dependency. The easiest way to lead, it turns out, is to serve.”

The great leaders in sports, business, and life always have the most powerful and positive inner voice talking to them, which they, in turn, share with and teach to their organization. The specifics of that inner voice varies from leader to leader, but I believe all have these four messages in common: 1. We can win if we work smart enough and hard

To my surprise, every Manchester United player I’ve spoken to and interviewed said Sir Alex Ferguson didn’t care about tactics, strategies and formations. He cared primarily about getting the best out of each individual, the team’s culture and their attitude; he didn’t want them ever to become complacent.