He was a sickly child and grew to be a physically small and slender adult. His mother died when he was seven and life must have been difficult for Nelson's father and the surviving siblings.

Nelson, through the offices of his uncle, went to sea at the age of twelve. This was a normal age in 1771. The armed services or church were often the career choice of people in such circumstances.

During 1777 in the West Indies, he enforced the Navigation Acts to stop smuggling to the Americas. He showed a fine regard for the rules with no thought for his own safety or self-enrichment.

While in the West Indies he met and married Fanny Nisbet but, sadly, the marriage was destined to be unhappy.

In 1779 after worldwide travels and adventures Nelson was promoted to Captain. He had the good fortune to be in a system which would bring time served promotion. All he had to do was avoid any sort of gross misconduct and he could look forward to a comfortable future. That wasn't Nelson's way though.

In those days the soldiers and sailors were sent home on half pay when not required. Shortly after their marriage the couple returned to Norfolk and spent the next five years living with Nelson's father. This put a great strain on the marriage as Fanny missed the West Indies weather and Nelson missed the action.

In 1793 Nelson was back at sea. He was kept busy in many waters fighting the French and Spanish. He was beginning to get a reputation as a good Captain among the crew.

He was successful in many daring actions. He took care that his crew were looked after, famously not sitting down to eat himself before ensuring his men were fed.

Neither was he shy of using his family connections to broadcast his successes. He realised the importance of appearing successful.

He seems to have had an appeal to his men, officers and other ranks alike. This slender, smallish man was usually in the heart of the fighting. He took his chances along with his men and won, more often than not. He didn't use his rank to claim special treatment and waited in line with the wounded for the surgeon's attention.

His bravery and success led to his promotion to Commodore and then early in 1797 to Rear Admiral.

Ship to ship communications at the end of the 18th century was fairly slow. The manoeuvrability of the fighting ships was restricted particularly when engaging the enemy. A sudden change in the wind could render a ship dreadfully exposed.

These difficulties led to the adoption of standard tactics when facing the enemy. Nelson was adept at finding the flaw in the enemy's plan and spent many hours talking with his Captains exploring his vision.

Countless TV docu-dramas about naval warfare set in this period give the impression that much of the time was spent in contact with the enemy. In fact it could not have been like that. The engagements were relatively short affairs with long periods of sailing in between. Statistics from that age show 50% of the fatalities were due to disease and 30% from accidents. A sailor's life was a long slow sail with boredom, disease and accidents for company. Certainly the management task must have been to keep the crew engaged in their work yet inspired to put their life in jeopardy when the enemy was met.

Nelson seemed to excel at this. Lots of gun practice was the order of the day as the British ships were liable to find themselves out-gunned by their opponents. The British ships achieved a rapid, accurate rate of fire which made up for this.

He seemed able to keep their interest in their work.

But nowhere did this all come together with more devastating effect than at the Battle of the Nile. The French fleet had been followed to and fro around the Mediterranean. Finally the British fleet came upon them at sunset at anchor in Abu Qir Bay. They had anchored so as to have the shallow water and shoals behind them, with shore batteries for support. In theory this meant the British fleet had to sail in line down the anchored French line. This would allow the French to bring several ships' guns to bear on each English warship.

He gave the order to attack, the first night attack of this scale to take place at sea. The French were not prepared and their ships were cluttered with stores that were being loaded.

Some of Nelson's Captains thought they could sail between the French rear and the shore: A dangerous manoeuvre, one ship being grounded. Five British warships slipped behind the French line. The first five French ships then had to face fire from both port and starboard simultaneously.

As the French line started to move apart under the onslaught the British ships were able to drop anchor in the French line allowing them to fire a broadside into the ships either side of them.

The fighting continued until the remaining four French ships escaped: the British ships being in no condition to chase them.

Out of the seventeen French and fourteen British warships some 3000 sailors were killed or injured. This battle put an end to Napoleon's dream of replacing the British empire in the Far East with a French one.

As I said Nelson had a way with tactics.

Nelson's genius was to attack at sunset instead of waiting - night-time sea warfare just wasn't done, to have given his Captains the belief that they could use their initiative and sail between the French and shore, to inspire his men to fight when casualties ran at 11% and yet to refrain from chasing the four escaping ships in recognition of the British fleets damage. He was truly in command of the situation.

Following the Battle of the Nile Nelson was made a Baron. The subsequent Sicilian campaign brought Nelson into contact with Lord and Lady Hamilton. He became involved with Lady Hamilton and, while providing financially for his wife, he abandoned her. The Admiralty was appalled at this behaviour toward his wife, as Nelson was now a great British hero. The Admiralty sent him to fight the Danes at the Battle of Copenhagen to get him away from his domestic situation. However he continued to alternate periods at sea with peaceful times at his new home, Merton Place, with Lady Hamilton. Finally in 1805 Nelson was killed in the Battle of Trafalgar. He was brought down by a new French tactic designed in response to the superior rate and accuracy of British cannon fire. The French used sharpshooters to disable the officers and disrupt the chain of command. His death shocked the nation and his comrades and those who wished they had been comrades, felt the loss personally. His man management skills, his ability at sea and his success overcame his peccadilloes and his men loved him. He practiced his management from the midst of his people in the thick of the fray. Lord Nelson's management skills inspired his people to astonishing achievements. Today's managers can learn from Nelson's management practices.