Winners: And How They Succeed

Description

Winning is not the important thing, it is the only thing. How people succeed - and how you can, too. ***Sunday Times no. 1 bestseller*** 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. How do sports stars excel, entrepreneurs thrive, or individuals achieve their ambition? Is their ability to win innate? Or is the winning mindset something we can all develop? Drawing on the wisdom of an astonishing array of talented people - from elite athletes to top managers, from rulers of countries to rulers of global business empires - Alastair Campbell uses his forensic skills, as well as his own experience of politics and sport, to get to the heart of success. He examines how winners tick. He considers how they build great teams. He analyses how they deal with unexpected setbacks and new challenges. He judges what the very different worlds of politics, business and sport can learn from one another. And he sets out a blueprint for winning that we can all follow.

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. He lives in North London with his partner of thirty-five years, Fiona Millar. They have three children. His interests include running, cycling, bagpipes and Burnley Football Club. He has published six volumes of diaries, including the number one Sunday Times bestseller, The Blair Years, a memoir on depression, The Happy Depressive, and three novels.

This book is a winning project in its own right... I was captivated with the simplicity of the messages and the rich illustrations learned from many lives . . . Alastair Campbell deserves congratulations on an engaging text that can help other talented and committed people with potential for success to become winners themselves. -- Aldwyn Cooper * Huffington Post * Law firm leaders preparing for 2016 should read Winners by Alastair Campbell...Campbell tells a fine political anecdote and reports perceptively on interviews with captains of industry, but is most inspiring on sport... Books on strategy and team-working can be heavy-going but he maintains a light touch; and in Adam Smith's words, gives us some of that "vicarious pleasure" derived from closely observing the "rich and great". -- Richard Sussking * The Times * Compelling * Guardian * You cannot read Alastair Campbell's Winners and How They Succeed without being impressed by how many high achievers he knows. This is a handbook for anyone who would like to be like them -- Andy McSmith * Independent, Books of the Year * One of the most interesting people in Britain and this book is one of the most interesting about winners. -- Gavin Esler