The Sport of Business: Applying the Lessons of the Playing Field to the Boardroom
By Robin Green Harris, Senior Counsel, Ice Miller LLP

Sports columnists regularly focus on the reasons why a team or individual won or lost a game, match or championship. They delve into athletic performances, coaching strategies, mental miscues and various other aspects of the competition. Rarely do these sports columnists examine what these athletes have learned through the games, through the victories and, perhaps more importantly, through the defeats.

And, yet, so many of these lessons from athletics have broad application – beyond the playing field, court, or gymnasium – and into the business world. As many successful business leaders know, competing in sports provides life lessons that transfer into the boardroom and the executive office. Athletics (organized or informal backyard games) teaches leadership skills that are critical to success in the business world, including competing to win, overcoming adversity, taking risks, playing with passion (not emotion) and working with a team. It is no coincidence that a February 2002 study of 401 senior executive business women revealed that 82% had played organized team sports while growing up. The women that participated in sports reported that their athletics background helped them advance in their careers in numerous ways. That is consistent with the results of a 1997 study by the Women's Sports Foundation that reported that 80% of female executives in Fortune 500 companies identified themselves as "competitive" and "tomboys" when they were young.

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