Leadership lessons from Southgate: Why every business owner should read "Dear England"

Low maintenance, high performance: A coach’s view

It's disappointing that Sir Gareth Southgate's new book "Dear England : Lessons in Leadership" was absolutely slated by a reviewer in The Guardian's "Bookmarks" yesterday (a weekly review of new publications).

I'm two-thirds of the way through (it arrived on Thursday) and loving it - in fact, I can feel a workshop coming on already.

Sadly, I think the title may put off non-English readers and those who are not fans of football, that's a shame because the very practical ideas on how to be an effective leader, interspersed with excerpts and fascinating anecdotes from Southgate's career, make for an easy way of absorbing some important lessons.

This morning I smiled as a I read this quote from Southgate's assistant coach Steve Holland:

"We love low maintenance, high performance. We'll accept high maintenance, high performance. But high maintenance, low performance? That's for no-one."

Sound familiar?

My review?

A good read, great chapter summaries and some very simple, yet very useful reminders on how leaders should show up every day.