Personal branding traits
Jose Mourinho’s brand is so powerful that it even outshines that of his club or his star players. So it would be worth spending time and efforts to look into his personal branding traits.
However, we need to take a careful approach, as Mourinho is not right about everything, and there are definitely some points that he should have done differently.
Strong points
➢He is a charismatic
He is a charismatic leader. For example, he invites every player to an“interview”when he first joins a club. It is to understand his players, their character and motivation–and see how they react to being quizzed by him. During the interview, his messages are unequivocal. Mourinho promises to be direct and say what he means to their faces; he tells them he will not tolerate gossip and, even less so, leaks from the dressing room - which can become a damaging obsession for him, as witnessed at Real Madrid and Chelsea; that the door to his office is always open; and that it is compulsory to wear shin guards during training because they will be working hard.
Being a charismatic leader and winning respect from players is however not easy to Mourinho as well. In order to gain‘charismatic authority’from players, he approaches emotionally as well as technically. Especially, when it comes to his training tactics, he once said“It is not easy to put this theory into practice, especially with top players who are not prepared to accept everything they are told just because it comes from you, the authority…”. Mourinho’s solution is to persuade players by example of the efficacy of the Mourinho model until they instinctively reach for a Mourinho solution, so that they are made to feel they own the conclusions Mourinho wants them to reach. In other words, his charisma is what he created by himself based on his own philosophy and tactics.
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Meanwhile, he is charismatic to the press as well, which directly affects the public forming opinions about Mourinho. There are so many outspoken comments of him targeting the press such as:“I have a lot of respect for Liverpool fans and what I did, the sign of silence–‘shut your mouth’–was not for them, it was for the English press.”
➢He is detail-oriented
Mourinho is renowned for his detailed research on his opponents.Mourinho’s match preparation is legendary. While he learned from Van Gaal the importance of analyzing the opposite side, he is far more aggressive than his mentor.
He has also learnt to cut down on the information given to the players. There will be detailed analysis, video clips, emails and even text messages to individual players but they are much shorter and sharper. At Real Madrid Mourinho began to boil it down to two or three key video clips about the team they would next face and play them in a loop in the dressing room, medical room, gym and canteen during the week before the match.
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➢He is passionate about his works
He is hungry for success and this led him to the current position.
He is passionate about what he does and his quick reaction to game’s events has earned him a lot of praises. As a great manager, he takes a lot of time in establishing the possible events of the next game.
➢He does not stand back
Mourinho is well-known for taking a firm stance on what he believes in, and refusing to stand back and compromise.
Even when it comes to tactics and methodologies of training players, he has his own‘bible’based on his ideas and experiences he has complied ever since he was coaching the juniors at Vitoria de Setubal back in Portugal. Working as a club manager, it is sometimes required to harmonize the club’s identity and the manager’s individual philosophy. However, it seems that such thing is not written in Mourinho’s‘bible’. He is said to have brought on a transformation of the Real Madrid’s brand identity while he was working as a manager of the team, which has drawn many criticisms especially from old Real Madrid fans that the club’s identity was diluted by the individual. Similar issues occurred while he was coaching the Manchester United team before he has given the sack.
There is a famous saying that Mourinho uses when he first addresses the players after he takes over at a football club.“In the boat or off it”, which literally means if players buy in Mourinho’s style, they will be in, but otherwise they will be out.
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