There are an increasing number of pressures on managers. Many of these are financial. After all, business is concerned with maximising profits and ensuring that the shareholders can see the results of this in their dividends. However this can be short sighted. The most expensive item on most businesses’ profit and loss accounts is staff costs. It is vital therefore to invest in the personal development and soft skill training for these individuals.

If you follow football, you will know that the most highly praised managers are the ones who develop home grown talent and bring them to the forefront of the game. Most premiership teams recognise this and have state of the art training facilities and networks of scouts looking for raw talent. This is not done out of altruism. It is an economic necessity in the long term. By bringing on young players, a fortune is saved in transfer fees further down the line.

If we take the most successful and profitable football club in the country, we can see how true this is. Alex Ferguson has guided Manchester United to a dominant position. Whilst this is in part achieved by dipping into the club’s large coffers and buying players like Ronaldo and Tevez, his most notable successes is bringing on players like Beckham, Giggs, the Neville brothers and Scholes.