If you had asked me at the beginning of the year that Jose Mourhinho will be sacked this year, I would absolutely have said a big NO. However, this is the definition of life. A journey of unpredictable circumstances.
But to me, Jose Mourinho is a great Manager. To be honest, I admire his passion and desire to succeed. He knows what he wants, he is courageous to say and act on what he feels is right and has self belief. He has great attributes of a great leader and it has worked well for him over the years.
One of his greatest formulas is to inspire players to give their all in every single match. I don’t know how he does it, but the trick always works for him and that is the pivot of his success over the years.
What are the reasons for his failure this time around? A champion last season, but fighting a relegation battle this season is the true definition of a fall from grace to grass. Hence there are great lessons to be learnt from his sacking. These include;
■ Mourinho has enjoyed success through his career. He has won trophies with different clubs and his career has always been on the ascendancy. From the start of his career before his sacking has been full of career progress and success stories. A typical scenario that fits into Mourinho’s current situation is for example, those that have really enjoyed a career progress since graduation from college or university. Lesson learnt here is that, you need to understand from the case study of Mourinho that, life is not about always been at the top but to understand that you can fall as well. Your attitude when you fall is what will determine your rise. So have humility whilst you are enjoying a consistent progress in life and treat people with respect at all times as life can turn without notice.
■ You have to understand that your team is powerful than you as a single person. Though you can be the manager, but the voice of your team have a powerful effect on the stands you take. Respect your team members and all your staff, because they are the foundation of your success. Remember the foundation was built by them and they have the materials in the form of character and attitude to break it down.
■ If you are used to success all your life means the experience of failure is not an asset that you can rely on. How you handle failure is the platform to breed success. So is a caution to those with a silver spoon of success in their mouth, you can fail irrespective of your success, so be careful how you are using your success to create failure for others.
■ Don’t be afraid or be too egoistic to apologise to your team members when you fail or make a mistake. Blame game has never solved a problem but taking responsibility as a leader and going to the drawing board to define and identify your success factors is the key to success in life.
■ Learn to talk less during challenging periods of your life. Emotions during turbulent times can lead to making wrong decisions at all times. Hence talk less and control your emotions during challenging moments of your life.
Life is like a sinusoidal curve. You cannot stay at the top all the time as at a point in time, life can bring you down. Don’t be swollen headed and treat people anyhow just because you are at the top of the sinusoidal curve. Take a cue from Mourinho’s case study of grace to grass and learn from it.
I will end by saying, life can be full of ups and downs but your attitude is what will bridge the gap between any experienced success or failures.
Mourinho, I wish you all the best in your next step.
But always remember it is possible if only you believe.
Author : Oscar Bimpong
CEO of Train2inspire Consultancy
