HBR's 10 Must Reads on Leadership Lessons from Sports (featuring interviews with Sir Alex Ferguson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Andre Agassi)

The world's elite athletes and coaches achieve high performance through inspiring leadership, strategic choices, and mental toughness. Harvard Business Review has talked to many of them throughout the years to learn how their success can translate to business leadership.

If you read nothing else on management lessons from the world of sports, read these 10 articles by athletes, coaches, and experts in the field. We've combed through Harvard Business Review's archive and selected the articles that will best help you drive your performance - whether as an individual contributor or a leader.

This book will inspire you to:



Improve your weaknesses, not just your strengths
Hold everyone to high standards - especially your stars
Find meaning in success - and in challenge
Take care of your body for sustained mental performance
Identify the right rivalries to bring out the best in you
Build your team from the bottom up
Understand where the analogy of sports and business doesn't work.

This collection of articles includes "Ferguson's Formula," by Anita Elberse with Sir Alex Ferguson; "Life's Work: An Interview with Greg Louganis"; "The Making of a Corporate Athlete," by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz; "The Tough Work of Turning a Team Around," by Bill Parcells; "How an Olympic Gold Medalist Learned to Perform Under Pressure: An Interview with Alex Gregory"; "Mental Preparation Secrets of Top Athletes, Entertainers, and Surgeons," an interview with Daniel McGinn by Sarah Green Carmichael; "SoulCycle's CEO on Sustaining Growth in a Faddish Industry," by Melanie Whelan; "Life's Work: An Interview with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar"; "Major League Innovation," by Scott D. Anthony; "Looking Past Performance in Your Star Talent," by Mark de Rond, Adrian Moorhouse, and Matt Rogan; "Life's Work: An Interview with Mikhail Baryshnikov"; "How the Best of the Best Get Better and Better," by Graham Jones; "Life's Work: An Interview with Joe Girardi"; "Why There Is an I in Team," by Mark de Rond; "Life's Work: An Interview with Andre Agassi"; and "Why Sports Are a Terrible Metaphor for Business," by Bill Taylor.