Leadership lessons from Leicester City

This article is part of the Contemporary leadership series

As a new football season approaches it seems likely that the normal rules of sporting leadership will reassert themselves. Surely the events of last season that saw Leicester City win the premiership cannot be repeated?

After all, an unprecedented line up of top managers will pit their wits against each other this season. Former Chelsea and Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho, recast in red rather than the more familiar blue or white, is breaking transfer records at Manchester United. He will be resuming his rivalry with Pep Guardiola, the ex-Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss, now installed on the other side of Manchester at Manchester City.

Des Dearlove and Stuart Crainer are the founders of the Thinkers50, which curates the very best ideas in management, and produces the highly influential global ranking of management gurus. Stuart and Des are the co-editors of the bestselling Financial Times Handbook of Management. Their work in business thought leadership led Management Today to describe them as “market makers par excellence.”