I was watching the Jose Mourinho documentary last night and was struck by the courage of the man in pursuing his passion to be a football manager.
His management pedigree was not fashioned out of a brilliant playing career but in fact a desire to study and learn the game he loved.
It is inevitable, in hindsight, that his personality assisted him to reach expert status , but as someone said to me years ago in a business context, drive plus detail equals success.
I was pleased to hear the contributors to the Mourinho story express both surprise and admiration for the journey and , without question his success.
As a consultant, so called , to the SME community in East Anglia , I find it difficult on occasion to convince some life style business owners that vision and the grind of developing a business go hand in glove.
The other thing , as naturally with a huge degree of humility, I remind them that I started business life with jet black hair , but I was determined to be a General Manager , in other words a student and practitioner of a whole business , and all that entails.
My wife was speaking to a former employee of mine the other day and he said to her , the difference between the current management and when your husband Hugh was running the business is that " he cared" for the people in the business.
I believe, despite his apparent tough management style, Jose also demonstrated a connection with the people he managed.
I loved football also.....perhaps I should have done my coaching badges !!!!
