Unpopular Managers

The job of a soccer manager often times highlight what every organizational leader goes through. Decision making, power control, man management, motivation, playing the right cards at the right time, handling media pressure, public relation skills.... these are all the crucial elements that make up a good manager. Truth be told, these are the same for every other leader in his/her organization.

The most crucial thing about a manager's job is this... he leads and he makes decisons. He cannot and will never be liked by everybody whether directly or indirectly involved in his work. Why? Because a manager makes hard decisions, and like it or not, any decision he makes is going to be unpopular with somebody.

What do you think the pressure was on Alex Ferguson when he chose to sell the star of Man Utd, David Beckham? Probably excruciating pressure from the whole club plus the fans plus the media and maybe even his own wife. Everyone will have questioned Sir Alex for selling Brand Beckham who was the most profitable sports figure and the future captain of England at that time. But I don't see Sir Alex flinching; he probably wasn't a 100% sure at that time that it was going to be the right choice but he made the decision for the benefit of the club and based it on his vision of a winning team... and that quite frankly was that. Nobody was going to change his mind once he made it up. Today, no one can question his decision, because more than being European and English champions... Man Utd remains the richest club in world football. Sir Alex is not the most popular man in football but who can question his success?

The job of a soccer manager is for a certain type of people. And you will agree with me that every one of them had made and will continue to make unpopular decisions. If there ever is a Mr Nice Guy and Mr Everybody Loves Him among football managers, please point him out because I will like to prove you otherwise.

If you wish to be liked by everyone, then you probably cannot consider "soccer manager" as a profession. May I even boldly suggest this... if you wish to be liked by everyone, you probably won't make the most effective leader in your organization because the truth is... a leader in a team/organization is placed there to make decisions for the benefit of the team and if his unpopularity with his opposers is something he must pay, then he will gladly pay it. Managers and leaders who have earned their success this way... by earning the highest level of respect for sticking to a mantra few will find it a tad too much to take... you are a rare breed.