"Leading" by Alex Ferguson and Michael Moritz. Small review

What do we have in common between football club and IT company? Someone says nothing, someone says a lot. I support second opinion and share with you following conclusions that I got from excellent "Leading" book from Sir Alex Ferguson:

• Good leader should listen and observe much more than speak and present
• You should prefer hard working people that have goals over talented but lazy or not manageable people
• Legendary clubs as Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester United, etc. don't buy (hire) most of their people, they rely more on their academies and self-growing talents. Isn't it good idea for IT companies?
• Football team is a puzzle that consist from different players and you can't build strong club from 11 forwards or goalkeepers. You need to have balance of edge, experience, leadership, physical power, etc. This is for sure can and should be derived by IT company that should consist from multi skilled and multi talented people. In other case your organization will not survive in dynamically changing world and technologies.
• Interview (hiring) and firing in football is quite similar to IT or any other business. Alex Ferguson stated that he fired only few people during his long and successful career. This is amazing fact and something that I really like and wish to derive from Sir Alex. It means that most of his hiring were successful.
• Never critic specific people, better do improvements and positive motivation only. Instead of telling to someone tired "You look tired" Sir Alex will say "You look really strong and can do it". As for me such a positive motivation is much-much better
• According to Alex Ferguson in football club business owner role is the main one. In IT company it is the same. You may not feel it while you work not in top positions, but then you realize that in IT company this role is the main one as well. Owner or owners play significant role in company life as well as in football club and Sir Alex recommends to find a common language with them. Otherwise you never succeed.
• The main wisdom I got from the book and Sir Alex Ferguson is: "One of the main leader's characteristics is readiness to share information with others". Indeed true leaders don't have secrets. Of course they are not open book, but they don't behave as a spy and if some information can be shared it will be shared by them. Think carefully about it and remind your managers that inspired you. I'm sure they were ready to share almost everything they knew and didn't have too much secrets. This transparency and openness is very important for big leaders. Sir Alex showed to other coaches the way he train his team and he didn't afraid. He believes in his talent and his team and that's why he is most successful football manager in the world

Great book, great inspiration! Recommend it to everyone and thanks Sir Alex for your great book!