Get in his head

Where does Leading rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Best book about What? How? & Why? did he do the things that he did.

What did you like best about this story?

He explains the What? How? & Why?

What does James Macpherson and Simon Slater bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Seems like Sir Alex is reading it.

What did you learn from Leading that you would use in your daily life?

Have a clear objective and tough decisions will be tough but they will be clear.

Any additional comments?

A must read

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2 people found this helpful

Take a glimpse of the greatest sporting team on earth through the boss himself

This autobiography hits the ground running. The Scottsman reading through the chapters adds the finesse to an outstandingly well written book. When you get to look at how United have functioned under Sir Alex Ferguson for over two decades you really begin to ask yourself if you've even remotely pushed yourself to your abilities. The success Sir Alex has received is clearly not by luck. Every move, every instruction, every thought is blended with emotion, desire, courage and patience. I finished the ten hour long audio book in a day. It's been fantastic. What a man... what a manager! Glory Glory Man United!

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1 person found this helpful

Some nuggets, but still too football focused

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Somewhat. There are useful tips, but it was heavily focused on football detail.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I expected this book would be different to Ferguson's autobiography in that he would keep it more generic. But he still dives into too much football detail and discusses scorelines and games etc.

The content doesn't seem to align with the chapters of the books don't. I tried to the best of my abilities to find how the content in each chapter matched the theme of it's title, but it just seems to be an endless discussion of football moments, without being tied back to the focus of each chapter.

I found myself half way through each chapter thinking to myself "this is a great story, but what is he talking about here again? Whats the "take away"?", I had to keep referring to the chapter title to remind myself which chapter I'm currently on. That to me is a tell tale sign of a book that hasn't been thought-out well in terms of categorization. As a whole, however, it is not a bad anecdotal story of Ferguson's time at United.

Don't expect it to "teach" you his principles or methods in structured or applicable way.

Was Leading worth the listening time?

Maybe if it was abridged

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Very interesting if you are interested in The Gaffer

I hoped that this book would be about leadership and not as much about Fergie's story as a manager. I listened to his autobiography and honestly, despite enjoying this book, didn't see much difference between this book and it.
If you have read or listened to the autobiography, you won't miss much in skipping this one. It is a good listen but you won't get much out of it if you've already gotten his autobiography. He does make some comparisons to business leadership and football management but they are more like "by the way" types of comparisons.
I am not disappointed by this book though. I am a huge admirer of Sir Alex Ferguson and am always interested in learning about him and Manchester United. I just wish there had been more to learn.
The narration is great except for the epilogue. I gave up listening to it after about 30 minutes, especially since it seemed to only be summarizing what was mentioned in the book. That narrator had a very dry way of speaking.
All in all, not disappointed but not raving about it either.

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A superb read of relentless pursuit of excellence

Just an incredible book of a titan in management, folklore. Sir Alex Ferguson retains a no nonsense, outlook to management, and what was fascinating for me was actually not reliving the stories that I grew up with. Those on their own were fantastic. But instead, it was theEpilogue at the end. How Manchester United was compared to Silicon Valley companies, and the similarities of how the most successful companies were to Manchester United.

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For United Fans

I really enjoy author-narrated books, but if you've heard interviews with Sir Alex, you'll know why another Scot was chosen to read. While it seems like maybe the publisher pushed for a more inclusive look at leadership as it relates to a more corporate context, I'd say this really is a reflection on Ferguson's time as manager of Manchester United and prior clubs. There are interesting anecdotes and behind-the-scenes insights into decisions that were made, and why. Above all, it really gives you a sense of what made SAF so special, and why United has struggled ever since he retired--now lacking SAF's comprehensive leadership.

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A book that should have been a magazine article

I am a long time United fan and loved watching SAF back in the day. But this book drones on with football specific examples that are hard to see how they could apply to business. The author attempts to speculate how these lessons might apply but it seems to be a half-hearted sidebar.

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Great read and an insight into leading players

my first read of any Alex Ferguson book, it was enjoyable and am looking forward to reading his other book Managing My Life.

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Wow

Wow. Great book. Wow. Just. Wow.. wow, wow, wow, wow wow wow. Oh my wow. Crazy.

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Just So So

Don’t know how to describe but I was hoping for a little more of leadership principles I’d not heard before. Seems one minute Sir Alex promotes one type of style but then later tells how he handled a situation much different. It’s an amazing story what Alex accomplished no doubt.

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