Winners: And How They Succeed

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I was hungry to talk to some other great winners. In football, there are few managers whose team has so consistently underperformed in the Champions League than Arsène Wenger, so I was keen to get his views. “Er ... the referee missed some key decisions ... er ... we should definitely have been awarded a penalty ... we were definitely the better side,” he told me. “Now why don’t you ferk erff and talk to José Mourinho. “Tactics and strategy mean nothing,” José said. “All you need to win the Premier League is a Russian oligarch to bankroll the club and a manager of my brilliance.”

As befits an extremely successful journalist, speech-writer and spin doctor, Campbell writes clearly and forcefully. His examples and case-studies, gathered from sport, politics and personal experience, are well-chosen, memorable and sometimes surprising, e.g. a life-long republican's encomium to HM the Queen. If some of his basic points are rather simple, isn't this generally true of helpful advice? The book is split into sections, with each section starting off discussing different parts of the skills Alastair sees as essential to any sort of success, which then proceeds into a case study of an individual who Campbell feels shows the perfect example of the winning trait in action. For example, the first section of the book focuses on the holy grail of “Objective, Strategy, Tactics”, followed by chapters on how effective leadership and teamship is essential to carrying out a winning OST blueprint. After this, characters from the world of business, sport, and politics are given as examples to study, from Ana Wintour of Vogue fame to Jose Mourinho, possibly the most infamous non-player figure in the world of professional football right now. My mantra is Objective, Strategy, Tactics. OST. Far too many people fail to understand the difference between S and T. To find out how crucial this is, I communicated with Steve Jobs via a Ouija board. “What is the secret of your strategy?” I asked him. “Hi Al,” he replied. “It’s so great to be talking to a winner like you. My strategy was always just one word. Simplification.” “Genius, Steve,” I replied. “That’s just what I intend to do in this book with a reductive analysis of people who have succeeded at something.” Alastair Campbell's foray into motivational writing is good enough to leave all such self-limiting prejudices floundering in its wake. This is an excellent book. I suspect that Campbell has had to have a tough word with himself from time to time, has learned lessons from the success of others as means of personal survival, and that 'Winners' is in fact the fruit of that very extended, hard-won and probably rather painful harvest.Alastair Campbell knows all about winning. As Tony Blair’s chief spokesman and strategist he helped guide the Labour Party to victory in three successive general elections, and he’s fascinated by what it takes to win. Alastair Campbell was born in Keighley, Yorkshire in 1957, the son of a vet. Having graduated from Cambridge University in modern languages, he went into journalism, principally with the Mirror Group. When Tony Blair became leader of the Labour Party, Campbell worked for him first as press secretary, then as official spokesman and director of communications and strategy from 1994 to 2003. He continued to act as an advisor to Mr Blair and the Labour Party, including during subsequent election campaigns. He now splits his time between writing, speaking, politics in Britain and overseas, consultancy and charity, as chairman of fundraising for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research, and a leading ambassador for the mental health campaign Time to Change. Even into the later chapters, the book still proves to be a consistently well written and occasionally very touching read. The discussion of the early life of Australian surfing champion Layne Beachley and how a challenging upbringing can develop characteristics essential to success certainly resonates with my personal challenging childhood, and yet when you see Beachley’s reaction when she finally reaches the top, you can’t help but feel a little underwhelmed at her reaction. But winners are never satisfied. For cost savings, you can change your plan at any time online in the “Settings & Account” section. If you’d like to retain your premium access and save 20%, you can opt to pay annually at the end of the trial.

You may also opt to downgrade to Standard Digital, a robust journalistic offering that fulfils many user’s needs. Compare Standard and Premium Digital here. Not a fan of New Labour, competitive sport, self-help books or indeed people who describe themselves as 'winners'? It really doesn't matter. Winning is about not being satisfied with anything less than winning. A winner is happy under pressure and doesn’t fall into a comfort zone. In any team, there can only be one leader. Tony Blair understood that perfectly which is why he appointed John Prescott, someone with no leadership qualities, to be his deputy. Winners also need to be resilient, have a good command of the facts and be good in a crisis. Who’d have thought it? I have been involved in a few political crises in my time and have always come out on top by bullying people, shouting a lot and being entirely economical with the truth. A winner always remembers that his own survival is more important than maintaining the integrity of the democratic process.Change the plan you will roll onto at any time during your trial by visiting the “Settings & Account” section. What happens at the end of my trial?