Opinion | Manchester United legend Alex Ferguson's lessons in leadership are fascinating - and daunting

It's doubtful that many aspiring middle managers will have the unrelenting, obsessive determination and desire for victory that the former manager reveals in his new book

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Ferguson's obssessive zeal meant umpteen trophies, but there wasn't much time to relax with the family. Photo: AP

Published: 9:00am, 27 Sep 2015

The release of Leading by Alex Ferguson and Michael Moritz, begs two questions: can leadership be taught? And do we need another book by the ex-Manchester United manager? The answer to both is ‘er … maybe.’

Ferguson's new book is co-written with tech billionaire Michael Moritz

Since Ferguson’s latest autobiography came out less than two years ago, you’d wonder if we need to hear more from the most successful football manager of all time. Then again, he is the most successful football manager of all time.

I never tire of a good Fergie anecdote, and judging by the various minor furores in the media last week sparked by excerpts from Leading, it seems most fans are the same.

His latest tome benefits from a fresh approach: Moritz is a former journalist who made billions investing in the likes of Apple, Google, PayPal, WhatsApp, etc.

Rather than another ‘Chapter 1 - my life on the mean streets of Glasgow … Chapter 29 – that night in Barcelona’, Moritz organises the book as a management theory guide, under headings such as ‘Excellence / Inspiring / Complacency; Owners / Control / Delegation / Decision-making’ and so on. The Seven Habits of Highly Intimidating People.

“I was curious first for our own business, and all the companies we became early investors in … of the characteristic distinguishing hallmarks of organisations that excel and stay at that top,” Moritz tells me over the phone from Claridges, the day after he and his co-author had dazzled a packed crowd at the Royal Festival Hall in London.