HBR’S Must Reads On Leadership Lessons from Sports
Various Contributors with HBR Editors
Harvard Business Review Press (February 2018)

“We can’t all be Fred Einstein!”

That was Joe Theisman’s response when he overheard — and was enraged by —  a reference to “dumb jocks.”

In fact, there is a great deal of value that business executives can learn about leadership as well as about teamwork, motivation, preparation, setting priorities, performance under severe pressure, and allocation of resources from coaches, players, and even owners in “the wonderful world of sports.”

This is another volume in one of the several series of anthologies of HBR articles previously published by Harvard Business Review Press. The focus in this one is on leadership lessons that can be learned from the sports world. If you were to purchase each of the sixteen articles as a reprint, the total cost would be about $150. The cost of this volume — if purchased from Amazon — is only $12. That’s not a bargain. That’s a steal.

If you are looking for world-class material that offers cutting-edge thinking on the subject of COMPETITIVE TEAMWORK…and from a single source…look no further.

For example, here is a selection of brief excerpts that suggest key points:

o From “Ferguson’s Formula,” an Interview of Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United) by Anita Elberse:

“I am a gambler —  a risk taker — and you can see that in how we played in the late stages of matches. If we were down at halftime, the message was simple: Don’t panic. Just concentrate on getting the task done. If we were still down — say 1-2 — with 15 minutes to go, I was ready to take more risks. I was perfectly happy to lose 1-3  if it meant we’d given ourselves a good chance to draw or win.”

o From “The Tough Work of Turning Around a Team,” Bill Parcells

“I’m not saying business is like football. I am saying people are people, and that the keys to motivating them and getting them to perform to their full potential are pretty much the same whether they’re playing on a football field or working in an office.”

o From “An Interview with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar” by Alison Beard:

Beard: Which is more important — talent or practice?

Abdul-Jabbar: I think to really excel, you need both. But a good work ethic trumps lazy talent every time. Conditioning and preparation are key aspects for any competition. My talent would not have lasted as long as it did without them. But I know I was blessed with natural gifts. So I’ve always believed that the two need to be paired.

o From “How the Best of the Best Get Better,” Graham Jones

“You can’t stay at the top if you aren’t comfortable in high-stress situations. Indeed, the ability to remain cool under fire is the one trait of elite performers that is most often thought of as inborn. But in fact you can learn to love the pressure — for driving you to perform better than you ever thought you could. To do that, however, you have to first make a choice to devote yourself passionately to self-improvement.

o From “Why Sports Are a Terrible Metaphor for Business,” Bill Taylor

“So the job of an NFL coach is to yell, threaten, and otherwise cajole maximum effort from players who have almost no expectations of sticking around for very long. What sane company would take that approach? Organizations that are building for the long term, that hope to attract, grow, and retain the best people in their fields, and that wish to create an environment where great people do their best work year after year have little to learn from the short-term, utterly disposable mentality that defines life in the NFL. Most football teams, to be brutally honest, are a collection of mercenaries ruled by a tyrant. That’s not how great business organizations work.”

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Here are two suggestions while you are reading On Leadership Lessons from Sports: First, highlight key passages. Also,  perhaps in a notebook kept near-at-hand (e.g. Apica Premium C.D. Notebook A5), record your comments, questions, and action steps (preferably with deadlines). Pay special attention to clusters of insights — identified as “Idea in Brief,” “Journey to Greatness,” “A Firm Foundation,” and “Sizing Up an Innovation’s Potential” — that are strategically located located  throughout the narrative.

These two simple tactics — highlighting and documenting — will expedite frequent reviews of key material later.