Ask James Caan: Take a leaf out of Sir Alex Ferguson’s book to reach your goal

 
James Caan
20 May 2013

Small business agony uncle James Caan offers his advise on leadership.

Dear James:

How can I be a better and more successful leader in my business? - Kevin

James says:

Some leaders provide a great example, and the recently retired Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was one of them.

I always admired his ability to evolve. His principles and values stayed the same, but he made sure he was not left behind as football changed.

Business managers do not always look at the external environment, and fail to notice the changing landscape. If you are not flexible, you will find it difficult to survive.

It doesn’t matter how successful a company is, there will always be new trends emerging that will affect them, so managers should be open to change.

As well as staying up to speed with the market, you should listen to your employees. One of Sir Alex’s great strengths was to surround himself with experts, be it coaches, nutritionists or sports scientists. I have always been a firm believer in speaking to the people on the ground who are experts in their field.

Sir Alex had his fair share of losses and setbacks but he took it on the chin and learned from his mistakes.

Much like football, the world of business has seen rapid changes over the years, and this is sure to continue.

Those who are brave enough to embrace change are far more likely to be successful than those who rest on their laurels.

James Caan's book Start Your Own Business in 7 Days is out now.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in