Back Where We Belong

Leeds United - It's a great day in the parish for us long-suffering Leeds United fans. After 16 years of heartbreak, we are finally back in the Premiership where we belong. Hopefully, we can now stay there for a while.

In the main, winning promotion can be put down to the appointment of Marcelo Bielsa, an "eccentric" Argentinian, but widely regarded by his peers as one of the best coaches in the world.

Bielsa took a mid-table team of average footballers, and over a two-season period, turned them into a very good attractive, and winning outfit. He did this, not by spending huge amounts of money on new recruits, but by simply taking the existing players at his disposal and coaching them to become better footballers.

And herein lies an important lesson for all businesses/firms. You do not necessarily have to go out and pay huge wages to recruit high-fliers for your company, the staff may already be there right under your very nose. All they need is the right coaching and encouragement.

In my thirty years working in stockbroking, it always struck me how few of the bond/equity/private client dealers were women. Of course, there were a few exceptions, but in the main, the women always seem to be employed in the "back-office". There was also young male staff, who may have come to the business straight from school, and without a third-level education, who ended up with the "secondary" jobs. However, I always found these people to be very intelligent, and who would have jumped at the chance to work on the trading desks, if they had been offered a position. But it never seemed to happen. In my mind, they would have been more than capable, with the right coaching to succeed.

So maybe the real lesson of Bielsa's success at Leeds is that the people you require to lift your firm to the next level could be already there at your disposal. They just need to be nurtured and encouraged. Marching on together. #LeedsUnited #EqualOpportunities