Sir Alex Ferguson. Reflections on the skin of a dead bear

Legendary Sir Alex Ferguson - Scottish soccer player and football coach.

From 1986 to 2013, he was the head coach of the English club Manchester United. He is the most award-winning coach in the history of British football. Recognized as one of the greatest coaches in the history of world football.

“If you want to succeed, you need to know what success means”

Against the background of multiple statements and transfusions from a sieve, about the installation of unrealistic and great goals, Sir Alex’s article on the counterproductiveness of such practices looks interesting. Given his merits, no one dares to accuse him of his short-sightedness and lack of practice.

In a recent essay, he cites an adapted version of a part of his new inspirational book on leadership, Leading , written in collaboration with one of the most famous venture entrepreneurs, Sir Michael Moritz of Sequoia Capital.
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A very important part of the realization of goals is caution in determining success. I have always been careful in setting specific long-term goals. I never said: "We expect victory in the League and two more trophies this season . "

1. Firstly, such a setting conveys a not entirely correct message, because it sounds arrogant and arrogant.
2. Secondly, it exerts excessive pressure on others without any real benefit.
3. Thirdly, it looks like a bet "on everything", which leads to frustration.

It was much easier to say, “MJ is counting on victory in every game,” because it has been like this since 1993 and, importantly, it conveyed the true spirit of the club. Persuasion in the general understanding of our expectations of victory in each game, set the necessary intentions and allowed me to regularly achieve success.

In any case, a clear balance of desires and real possibilities is needed. It is very easy to set unrealistic goals, and I learned about it at the dawn of my career as a coach. In one of the moments of the championship of my first season in St. Mirren, the team won eight games in a row and occupied a worthy place in the standings of the second division. I felt very cheerful and told the press that we would no longer lose a single game in the rest of the season.

As a result, we won only one match and the club finished the season in sixth place.

At press conferences at Manchester United, I was always asked at the beginning of the season what I hope to achieve. My conservative answer has always been the desire to win one trophy, without indicating its dignity. I was very careful not to create false expectations or put too much pressure on everyone. This is counterproductive. However, MJ has never been two seasons in a row without a major trophy in the time interval between my first place as coach of MJ and the end of my career for 23 years.

I was also lucky that with the exception of one case, the owner or director of the club did not demand first place from me. The only time this happened was the season before my dismissal from St. Mirren, when the director told me about his expected team victory in the League. It was the only time anyone ever told me: "We need you to win . " Despite the fact that he was not able to recognize that in order to achieve this goal we needed several new players whom the club refused to buy.

Winning in something always requires a number of steps. You can not win the League in one giant leap. So I always wanted to be more careful in order to divide the big score into “digestible” pieces. No one gathers a team to climb at the foot of Everest, pointing to the summit and saying, "Okay, guys, we go up there . "

At the beginning of the season, when dealing with players, I tried to avoid designating any particular goal. My comments to the press about the desire to win the trophy were fairly general, and in any case were expected by the team. I became more specific only in November, when our capabilities and capabilities of our rivals became clearer. At that moment I used to say to the players: “If we are first, second or third, or no more than three points from the championship leader on the first day of the New Year, we have a fantastic chance . ”