Carlo Ancelotti is considered one of the most successful football managers of all time. He won the UEFA Champion’s League a record five times, twice as a player and three times as a manager. He has coached some of Europe’s top clubs, including Juventus, AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid and Chelsea and is now in charge of one of the strongest German teams, Bayern Munich. In “Quiet Leadership: Winning Hearts, Minds and Matches,” Ancelotti reveals how to handle superstar players, difficult club presidents and demanding media outlets.
Chris Brady, a professor of management studies, and Mike Forde, a former director of football operations and executive board member at Chelsea FC, interviewed Ancelotti around the world for more than fifty hours. The co-authors have also included interviews with those who have played for him such as Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham and Zlatan Ibrahimović.
“The ‘quiet way’ has been with me from my childhood with my father and in football ever since I became captain of Roma as a player, continuing when I joined Milan, where the players looked to me as one of the leaders in the dressing room, and then throughout my time managing not only that club but also teams including Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid,” Ancelotti says in the book.
He has been nicknamed the “diva whisperer” because of his unique ability to nurture deep relationships with his players and has been described as the ultimate diplomat because of the way he handles authoritarian club presidents such as Silvio Berlusconi at AC Milan and Roman Abramovich at Chelsea FC.
“The average tenure of a FTSE 100 CEO is 5.18 years; for English Premier League managers it’s just 2.36 years (if Arsene Wenger is excluded from that equation, the average drops to 1.7 years) ,” writes Chris Brady. During the 2014-2015 season of the English professional leagues, 47 managers lost their jobs. The lifespan of a football coach is compressed into a single season and it is related to the results of that season. Ancelotti describes this process as the leadership arc.
“First comes the courtship, when the club identifies you and tries to acquire your services. Then comes the honeymoon period, when everyone — the players, the staff, the fans — give you the time to establish yourself, but which unfortunately, as always in life, never lasts long. Next comes success and stability, should you be able to achieve it… Eventually, this stability plateaus and then the… cracks in the relationship… Finally comes the breakup, the inevitable parting of ways.”
Pep Guardiola and Hungarian coach Bela Guttmann have said that three years is the natural cycle for managers and Ancelotti agrees. However, some managers, like Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United and Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, have stayed much longer.
Carlo Ancelotti spent the longest period of his career as a coach with AC Milan. When he arrived at the club in November 2001, he faced problems with the composition of the team. The transfer of Alessandro Nesta, the 27-year-old who was in his prime, was going to cost 30 million euros ($35 million) but Ancelotti was convinced that his presence on the team was a necessity. He decided to speak directly to Berlusconi and told him: “President, everyone wants to win the Champions League, but if you don’t buy Nesta, we won’t win it. Give me Nesta, and I will give you the Champion’s League.” Berlusconi bought Nesta and AC Milan won the UEFA Champion’s League in 2002-2003 and did so again in 2006-2007.
The AC Milan team had fantastic players like Kaká, Rui Costa, Andrea Pirlo, Gennaro Gattuso, Filippo Inzaghi and Rivaldo but players did not always get to play.
When Rivaldo was asked to go on the bench, he reportedly said “no, no, Rivaldo doesn’t go on the bench,” got up and went home. After the club and his agent spoke with him, he came back and stayed on the bench during a small game. This is when Ancelotti decided to speak to Rivaldo, saying: “Listen, it’s for you, not for us. You don’t have to be worried because it can happen today, it can happen in the next game and it can happen to any player. We have a lot of games and it means you can be more fresh when you play in the next match.”
AC Milan went on to win the Champion’s League. The players were united in the belief that they were a great team and understood that there would be times when they would play and times when they would not.
Nurturing relationships
Ancelotti is reputed for his unique ability to build strong relationships with his players. One player, Zlatan Ibrahimović, is particularly grateful. He acknowledged that if he had met Ancelotti before he wrote his memoir, he would have written a whole chapter on him. He played under Ancelotti when he and Thiago Silva joined the Paris Saint-Germain in 2012. Zlatan, with his talent, experience and unique personality, became the star of the team.
“He is one of the most unselfish players I have ever met which is of massive value to the team,” Ancelotti said of Ibrahimović.
Ibrahimović is grateful that Ancelotti helped him mature as a player and as a man.
“At the beginning, I was a lion, on and off the pitch. I would throw things when we were losing. Paris Saint-Germain was too relaxed for me but Carlo used this. If the game had gone maybe ten minutes with nothing happening, he would call to me on the pitch… ‘Ibra time to wake up the team’.”
Cristiano Ronaldo trained with Ancelotti when he coached Real Madrid. He played in the Champions League final in 2014 despite being injured a month before the game. Ancelotti told Cristiano: “If you don’t feel good, just let me know. It will be tough on me because even if you are only fifty percent you’re still our most important player.”
Ronaldo decided to take part in the game. He did not play shockingly well but was able to score a penalty.
It was “my seventeenth goal in the Champion’s League that season, a record, and we won the competition. I wasn’t fully fit, but I made the sacrifice for Carlo,” he said in the book.
“Even when you maybe feel that you haven’t got the strength to last the whole 90 minutes, or you feel that you can’t run any more, then you need to do it for the coach. I will do for him, because he deserves it as he has always taken care of me. Most of my teammates feel the same — players admire him and will hurt for him,” Ronaldo added.
Ancelotti wants his star footballers to give their utmost and play with the same passion that fired up his ambitions as a player and as a coach.
“Football is my life, my passion, my hobby and I never really ‘leave’ football. As the Eagles say about ‘Hotel California,’ you might be able to check out, but leaving isn’t an option. Switching off is my checkout time from football, but I’ll never leave,” Ancelotti said in the book.
In this great read, Ancelotti gives rare insight into his unique quiet style of management. He is probably the only top manager who has forged lifelong friendships with the players he has coached. This touching memoir reveals the inside workings of the beautiful game and offers readers a chance to get to know world-famous players.
Book review: Get to know football’s ‘diva whisperer’ Carlo Ancelotti
Book review: Get to know football’s ‘diva whisperer’ Carlo Ancelotti
What We Are Reading Today: ‘Habitats of North America’
Authors: PHIL CHAON AND IAIN CAMPBELL
Whether you’re a birder, naturalist, outdoor enthusiast, or ecologist, knowing the surrounding habitat is essential to getting the most out of your experiences in the field.
This compact, easy-to-use guide provides an unparalleled treatment of the wonderfully diverse habitats of North America. Incisive and up-to-date descriptions cover the unique features of each habitat, from geology and climate to soil and hydrology.
Requiring no scientific background, “Habitats of North America” offers quick and reliable information for anyone who wants a deeper understanding and appreciation of the habitats around them.
What We Are Reading Today: ‘On the Freedom of the Will’
- Schopenhauer distinguishes between different types of freedom, including physical, intellectual and moral
Author: Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer’s “On the Freedom of the Will” is a landmark philosophical work that explores one of humanity’s most debated questions: Do we have free will?
Published in 1839 as part of a prize competition held by the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences, this essay won first prize for the author and remains one of his most influential works.
In it, Schopenhauer rigorously examines the concept of free will, combining insights from metaphysics, psychology and science.
He argues for a deterministic view of human action, asserting that while humans may feel free in their decisions, their choices are ultimately determined by external circumstances and internal motivations beyond their control.
Schopenhauer distinguishes between different types of freedom, including physical, intellectual and moral.
While he concedes that humans have physical freedom (freedom from external coercion), he rejects the notion of metaphysical freedom — the idea individuals can act independently of causality.
One of the essay’s key contributions is Schopenhauer’s clear articulation of the relationship between will and action. He asserts that our actions are a direct expression of our unchanging character, which itself is shaped by factors outside our control.
This perspective challenges traditional notions of moral responsibility, as it questions whether individuals can be truly “free” in a moral sense.
The essay also explores the implications of determinism for ethics and human behavior.
Schopenhauer’s arguments are deeply rooted in his broader philosophical system, particularly his concept of the “will” as the driving force behind all existence.
He blends philosophical reasoning with practical examples, making his work both intellectually rigorous and accessible to readers.
Schopenhauer’s writing style is notable for its clarity and precision, though it carries his characteristic pessimism and sharp critiques of opposing views. His dismissal of metaphysical freedom as an illusion is provocative and has sparked debate among philosophers for centuries.
“On the Freedom of the Will” is a profound, thought-provoking work that challenges readers to reconsider their assumptions about free will, causality and moral responsibility.
Schopenhauer’s arguments remain relevant today, influencing contemporary discussions in philosophy, neuroscience, and psychology.
What We Are Reading Today: Burkina Faso
- The citizens’ struggle in this regard stands as one of the few instances of a popular democratic uprising succeeding in sub-Saharan Africa
Author: Ernest Harsch
In 2014, huge protests across Burkina Faso succeeded in overthrowing the long-entrenched regime of their authoritarian ruler, Blaise Compaore. Defying all expectations, this popular movement defeated an attempted coup by the old regime.
The citizens’ struggle in this regard stands as one of the few instances of a popular democratic uprising succeeding in sub-Saharan Africa.
In this book, Ernest Harsch provides a compelling history of this little-understood country, according to a review on goodreads.com.
Saudi author Samya Al-Harbi discusses new book ‘Not Like Other Women’
- The Saudi entrepreneur has compiled the inspirational stories of 12 Arab women
DUBAI: Dubai-based Saudi entrepreneur and author Samya Al-Harbi tells the stories of resilient Arab women, including herself, in her new book “Not Like Other Women.”
“The women around me have inspired me. Friends, colleagues, family, women I met in my work, in my troubles. I believe every woman has a story,” Al-Harbi tells Arab News.
“(My book) talks about women who have struggled in life and faced so many difficulties, and they overcome those struggles and difficulties, and they become wiser. These are women who have really challenged themselves to become stronger.”
“Not Like Other Women” features 12 stories of such women interspersed with Al-Harbi’s own experiences of balancing her personal and professional life. One of the most emotional and challenging chapters to write, she says, was “Munifa.”
“The story was very emotional for me because I always thought Munifa was my friend’s mother and never doubted it. But on the night of her funeral, I found out she wasn’t his real mother; she was actually his mother’s neighbor and best friend. What touched me the most was the strong friendship between the two women and the loyalty they showed to each other. It’s a bond that truly moved me.”
When asked if there was any pushback when it came to telling these personal stories, Al-Harbi is quick to point out that, in fact, the opposite happened.
“There are women who want to tell the world their story. Society doesn’t accept discussion of sensitive issues when it comes to women and their feelings, especially in the Arab world,” she says. “So, they always need women who have the ability to take their stories to an audience and tell them that there are women who face these problems, but fight to overcome them.
“As a woman, as a mother — as a grandmother now — I believe that, with the position I have now, it's my responsibility to talk about these issues.”
While putting the stories together for “Not Like Other Women,” Al-Harbi noticed a common thread. “I have traveled a lot, and I have seen so many women in different cultures and countries,” she says. “I noticed that we share most of these issues. If I'm talking about a lady in China, she has the same problems as a lady in Africa. We have certain problems in common, whether it is finance, respect, passion… These problems remain the same no matter where we are from.”
As an example, Al-Harbi pointed out Indian-American author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s “The Palace of Illusions,” a retelling of the Indian epic “Mahabharat,” from the point of view of Panchaali, the wife of the legendary Pandava brothers.
“The message I got from her book is that women are facing the same problems they did 3,000 years ago. Still. We are being treated the same way. So, will that change? I don't think so. Yes, it's not like before, and yes, it will take time. But still there are women afraid to come out and express their feelings or talk about their issues. In fact, when I gave these stories to the publisher, there were three that they deleted. They said, ‘No, you cannot publish these stories because they’re very sensitive, and society will not accept this kind of story yet.’”
The Makkah-born businesswoman, who also acts as a mentor to up-and-coming entrepreneurs, said she has one piece of advice for all the young women she speaks to, including her daughters.
“They have to keep on dreaming, but, at the same time, they have to work on their dreams,” she says. “They should not listen to anyone if they believe that what they are doing is right for them and for other people — without crossing the line, especially here in the Arab world.”
What We Are Reading Today: Calculus Reordered by David Bressoud
“Calculus Reordered” tells the remarkable story of how calculus grew over centuries into the subject we know today. David Bressoud explains why calculus is credited to 17-century figures Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz, how it was shaped by Italian philosophers such as Galileo Galilei, and how its current structure sprang from developments in the 19th century. Bressoud reveals problems with the standard ordering of its curriculum—limits, differentiation, integration, and series—and he argues that a pedagogy informed by the historical evolution of calculus represents a sounder way for students to learn this fascinating area of mathematics.
