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The Greatest: What Sport Teaches Us About Achieving Success
What can Roger Federer teach us about the secret of longevity?
What do the All Blacks have in common with improvised jazz musicians?
What can cognitive neuroscientists tell us about what happens to the brains of sportspeople when they perform?
And why did Johan Cruyff believe that beauty was more important than winning?
Matthew Syed, the 'Sports Journalist of the Year 2016', answers these questions and more in a fascinating, wide-ranging and provocative book about the mental game of sport.
How do we become the best that we can be, as individuals, teams and as organisations? Sport, with its innate sense of drama, its competitive edge, its psychological pressures, its sense of morality and its illusive quest for perfection, provides the answers.
What do the All Blacks have in common with improvised jazz musicians?
What can cognitive neuroscientists tell us about what happens to the brains of sportspeople when they perform?
And why did Johan Cruyff believe that beauty was more important than winning?
Matthew Syed, the 'Sports Journalist of the Year 2016', answers these questions and more in a fascinating, wide-ranging and provocative book about the mental game of sport.
How do we become the best that we can be, as individuals, teams and as organisations? Sport, with its innate sense of drama, its competitive edge, its psychological pressures, its sense of morality and its illusive quest for perfection, provides the answers.
304 pages, Paperback
First published February 23, 2017
88 people are currently reading
1506 people want to read
About the author
Matthew Syed
62 books547 followers Matthew Syed is an author and highly acclaimed speaker in the field of high performance. He has written six bestselling books on the subject of mindset and high performance – Rebel Ideas, Bounce, Black Box Thinking, The Greatest, and his celebrated children’s books, You Are Awesome and The You Are Awesome Journal – and has worked with many leading organisations to build a mindset of continuous improvement. He is also a multi-award-winning journalist for The Times and a regular contributor to television and radio. In his previous career, Matthew was the England table tennis number one for almost a decade.
Matthew’s work explores a thought-provoking approach to high performance in the context of a complex and fast-changing world. By understanding the intimate connection between mindset and high performance, organisations can unlock untapped potential in individuals and teams, driving innovation and agility to secure a future-proofed environment.
Matthew is also co-founder of Matthew Syed Consulting (MSC); the company has worked with an impressive portfolio of clients to build growth mindset cultures and drive higher performance in individuals, teams and organisations. Matthew Syed Consulting’s cutting-edge thought leadership programme and digital learning tools are becoming a catalyst for real and lasting change within business and the public sector.
Matthew’s work explores a thought-provoking approach to high performance in the context of a complex and fast-changing world. By understanding the intimate connection between mindset and high performance, organisations can unlock untapped potential in individuals and teams, driving innovation and agility to secure a future-proofed environment.
Matthew is also co-founder of Matthew Syed Consulting (MSC); the company has worked with an impressive portfolio of clients to build growth mindset cultures and drive higher performance in individuals, teams and organisations. Matthew Syed Consulting’s cutting-edge thought leadership programme and digital learning tools are becoming a catalyst for real and lasting change within business and the public sector.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
April 5, 2017
I loved Matthew Syed's previous books, Bounce and Black Box Thinking. Two of my favourite all-time non-fiction books. I picked the paperback version up without reading the back page blurb. I was disappointed to find it was simply a collection of articles (although very well written) he had previously published. My mistake. I was expecting to find another ground breaking work on how success works. I had read several of the articles before, so I felt somewhat disappointed. That said it is very well written and I did enjoy the read, but don't expect anything revolutionary.
November 2, 2017
A book about what makes someone the greatest. What do they do that makes them stand apart from the crowd in the world of sport?
Matthew Syed's best book so far. I found this fascinating and particularly liked the interviews at the end. A lot of the knowledge Syed shares is transferable to life/other professions.
A really well structured book with some useful tips on how to make yourself the best if not better.
Matthew Syed's best book so far. I found this fascinating and particularly liked the interviews at the end. A lot of the knowledge Syed shares is transferable to life/other professions.
A really well structured book with some useful tips on how to make yourself the best if not better.
July 7, 2024
Pretty interesting stories, but repetitive at times. There was also a lot of focus on just male athletes, and a certain few Syed kept gravitating back to which I found a bit tedious. Syed also mainly concentrated on mainstream sports, which was fine, but it would’ve added more intrigue to the book if there had been more variety.
April 18, 2023
I'm not the biggest sports fan. Wisdom tends to come from unexpected places so I try to peek under a variety of rocks. This seemed like a popular and easy read because it's simply a collection of Syed's articles categorized by theme. The articles themselves aren't bad but a lot of times focus on the intangibles using specific examples. The specific examples however are very very British. The main sports featured are football (soccer), tennis, cricket and golf. Many of the articles speak of specific matches or events that I have no knowledge of. If those sports are your thing, I am sure this book is a treat, a real walk down memory lane. Not for me tho.
May 1, 2017
This book differs from Bounce and Black Box Thinking by using Matthew's newspaper articles to create the narrative of what makes sporting perfection. This means that it's broken down into nice bite size chunks with 5 overarching chapters. There's something about sports writing that makes it come alive and is so evocative, and this book ticks a lot of those boxes. Some great stories as well which I never knew.
December 12, 2023
Little bit of a con just a collection of articles
May 14, 2023
A bit disappointed by this book after reading two of his bestsellers, however, I will try to explain the best I can what I got from this book.
Syed, a former table tennis Olympian turned journalist, draws upon his personal experience, as well as the insights of other athletes and coaches, to examine the characteristics and habits that set the world's best athletes apart from their peers.
The book is organized into chapters that focus on different aspects of sporting greatness, such as genetics, practice, mental toughness, and the role of luck. Throughout the book, Syed weaves together stories and anecdotes from a wide range of sports, from tennis to gymnastics to boxing, to illustrate his points and bring the science of sports psychology to life.
One of the strengths of "The Greatest" is Syed's ability to break down complex scientific concepts and make them accessible to a general audience. He draws upon research from fields such as neuroscience, psychology, and physiology to explain how the brain and body work together to create extraordinary athletes. He also discusses the importance of deliberate practice, which involves focusing on specific skills and seeking feedback from coaches or trainers, in achieving excellence.
Another key theme of the book is the role of grit and resilience in athletic success. Syed argues that the best athletes are not those who are naturally gifted, but rather those who are able to persevere through setbacks and failures. He points to examples such as Michael Jordan, who was famously cut from his high school basketball team, and Serena Williams, who has overcome numerous injuries and setbacks throughout her career, as evidence of the importance of resilience.
Overall, "The Greatest" is a well-written book that is sure to be of interest to anyone interested in sports psychology, coaching, or personal development. Syed's insights and anecdotes are both informative and entertaining, and his message about the importance of deliberate practice and resilience is one that is applicable not just to sports, but to all areas of life.
Syed, a former table tennis Olympian turned journalist, draws upon his personal experience, as well as the insights of other athletes and coaches, to examine the characteristics and habits that set the world's best athletes apart from their peers.
The book is organized into chapters that focus on different aspects of sporting greatness, such as genetics, practice, mental toughness, and the role of luck. Throughout the book, Syed weaves together stories and anecdotes from a wide range of sports, from tennis to gymnastics to boxing, to illustrate his points and bring the science of sports psychology to life.
One of the strengths of "The Greatest" is Syed's ability to break down complex scientific concepts and make them accessible to a general audience. He draws upon research from fields such as neuroscience, psychology, and physiology to explain how the brain and body work together to create extraordinary athletes. He also discusses the importance of deliberate practice, which involves focusing on specific skills and seeking feedback from coaches or trainers, in achieving excellence.
Another key theme of the book is the role of grit and resilience in athletic success. Syed argues that the best athletes are not those who are naturally gifted, but rather those who are able to persevere through setbacks and failures. He points to examples such as Michael Jordan, who was famously cut from his high school basketball team, and Serena Williams, who has overcome numerous injuries and setbacks throughout her career, as evidence of the importance of resilience.
Overall, "The Greatest" is a well-written book that is sure to be of interest to anyone interested in sports psychology, coaching, or personal development. Syed's insights and anecdotes are both informative and entertaining, and his message about the importance of deliberate practice and resilience is one that is applicable not just to sports, but to all areas of life.
December 20, 2019
I was given this book for Christmas but took a while to pick it up because I have issues with some of the ignorant and prejudiced views that the author has expressed in the past about Roman Abramovich.
This book is highly readable in that it comprises a series of newspaper articles of a couple of pages each which the author had previously written. They've been stuck together in this book in a more or less coherent order. As such, the book can either be read in one go as a continuous narrative or else dipped into for a few minutes at random. Each approach is equally good.
The book is about sport rather than on sport, in that it deals with the big picture of what sports represents, rather than telling the story of specific sporting incidents. There is a chapter, for example, on how much of sports is about gaining small margins, not only with sportspeople doing immense amounts of training to gain a small improvement but with engineering and technology increasingly playing a part even in individual sports, thus turning them into battles between backroom teams as much as between individual athletes. To put that into context, the time difference between first and last place in the 1988 Olympic 100 metres breastroke final was 0.1%, with the winner's life transformed and person in last place promptly forgotten.
If you like to think about sports as well as watch them, as I do, then you'll like this book. I certainly did, despite still having some reservations about the author and not warming to him. Credit where credit is due though.
This book is highly readable in that it comprises a series of newspaper articles of a couple of pages each which the author had previously written. They've been stuck together in this book in a more or less coherent order. As such, the book can either be read in one go as a continuous narrative or else dipped into for a few minutes at random. Each approach is equally good.
The book is about sport rather than on sport, in that it deals with the big picture of what sports represents, rather than telling the story of specific sporting incidents. There is a chapter, for example, on how much of sports is about gaining small margins, not only with sportspeople doing immense amounts of training to gain a small improvement but with engineering and technology increasingly playing a part even in individual sports, thus turning them into battles between backroom teams as much as between individual athletes. To put that into context, the time difference between first and last place in the 1988 Olympic 100 metres breastroke final was 0.1%, with the winner's life transformed and person in last place promptly forgotten.
If you like to think about sports as well as watch them, as I do, then you'll like this book. I certainly did, despite still having some reservations about the author and not warming to him. Credit where credit is due though.
August 10, 2019
This is not a book about success, or anything else it promises to deliver in the introduction or its title. This book is a collection of articles, published by the author in the past. He takes a theme, juxtaposes it over a sporting figure or event, and develops it to his conclusion. I loved the book as I discovered many sporting heroes and villains I had no knowledge of. I discovered a former boxer, that hid his bisexuality, by “adopting” his male lover and thereby avoiding any criticism from the outside. I discovered the plight and impact state sponsored doping programmes had on two lives, that found solace in marriage from the havoc the drugs wreaked on their bodies. I found out how the abolition of the reserve clause in contacts led to the creation of free market (and astronomical) wages we see today. It is anecdotal. It is human. And if you are not interested in sport, don’t buy it. There are other books that talk about lessons on success from sport without asking the reader to be keen about sport. This is why I give this book 4 stars instead of 5.
February 18, 2023
An interesting collection of his columns However, the most interesting thing I've ever heard him say was his evuafion of a Andrew Flintoff from their time on the podcast 'Sav, Fred & the Ping-pong guy' which was that Fred's back slapping, hail fellow well met persona is purely for the camera. As I suspect are most celebrities What anyone who is successful has that also-rains like me lack is that ability to compartmentalise Some great insights, re Pete Sampras that he talked and talked about his past glories, came over as surprisingly human I think he was getting closer with Messi, that extra dimension Written in 2017, he echoes the old trope that Little Leo needed to win a Copa/ World Cup to reach the tof Greatness Mountain Job done the but any true football fan has known he was extra special for 15+ years It's this, it's that. But a bit like your shopping mad friend, you know it when you see it. PS, the very next day a huge row erupted because Tiger Woods gave Justin Thomas a tampon, because "you are playing like a girl" Nobody ever said he was a nice guy To paraphrase Scott Fitzgerald, "The greatest are not like you and I, they sre different
May 19, 2025
Really wish I had read this with a pen in hand, there are frequent passages that are well worth remembering (not just for those of us who wish to be remembered as sporting greats). Sport is a microcosm of life's tribulations, and there are many lessons from this book and those it documents that can benefit all.
If I had to level a criticism, it would be that the anthology nature (collection of columns) made it difficult to maintain momentum when reading, as the topics often jump around. That said, they are well ordered such that there is some flow, as Syed turns his gaze to various aspects of sporting life.
The way this book considers heroes of various sports (football, tennis, table tennis, cycling, boxing, rugby, golf and others) allows most readers to have some touchpoint. Although there is a definite bias towards male athletes, but that is representative of the media coverage distribution.
If I had to level a criticism, it would be that the anthology nature (collection of columns) made it difficult to maintain momentum when reading, as the topics often jump around. That said, they are well ordered such that there is some flow, as Syed turns his gaze to various aspects of sporting life.
The way this book considers heroes of various sports (football, tennis, table tennis, cycling, boxing, rugby, golf and others) allows most readers to have some touchpoint. Although there is a definite bias towards male athletes, but that is representative of the media coverage distribution.
August 5, 2017
Not bad, and good in parts. Syed uses a number of written stories / diary entries to form a book about his observations / opinions on sport and some of the sporting heroes and anti-heroes. At times the book is revealing and insightful, at others it seems a regurgitation of previous books or 'old facts'. He talks a lot about the 'what' of the 'Greatest', but falls short on the 'why' and the how'....giving many facts, but little in the way of instruction for others. The best parts surround the mental areas of sport in the earlier chapters, and also the latter stages surrounding icons. It is well researched and well written, but could have done more to unleash 'advice and help' for mere 'earthlings'.
April 23, 2023
My recommendation came from watching Ted Lasso. The synopsis was inaccurate. I was expecting more George Plimpton. Syed is not. He is better than the writers at ESPN, but I don't know what makes him a bestselling author. The first section, Building a Champion is the weakest, but each section is better than the previous. Syed is at his best in couching sports in its political context. The final section, Icons, starts strong, stumbles, and then recovers. He is honest in his portrayal of Mohammed Ali, something an American writer probably could not have said. His essay on Andre Agassi provided information I did not know. Having lived in Las Vegas for almost three decades, Agassi is a local hero. It is worth a read if your expectations are not too high.
December 9, 2021
It has taken me weeks to finish this book! It is a collection of extremely well written and thought provoking essays on the myriad aspects of greatness in sports. And just as the subtitle tells us “What sport teaches us about achieving success”. The essays become like a collection of Aesop’s fables using stories of sports luminaries to teach us life lessons. Engagingly and intelligently written. I highly recommend, even if you need to read it in short bursts over the course of a few weeks as I did.
November 28, 2024
3.5 stars. This book is a collection of articles from the authors archives. The book does not delve into an analysis of what sport teaches us about success, as the title suggests, instead it provides a semi repetitive list of stories group under chapter title describing similar characteristics.
Despite this enjoyed the book, and it served like a historical summary of some of Sports great athletes and sporting events.
Despite this enjoyed the book, and it served like a historical summary of some of Sports great athletes and sporting events.
May 23, 2019
Great truths. Very accurate person of the goods and bads of the pursuit of singular greatness.
Not perfectly spoken in audio.. Steve Ballesteros for example..
Also could have been better curated to trying a single take rather than just simply clips from a column..
He's a better author than this collection shows..
Not perfectly spoken in audio.. Steve Ballesteros for example..
Also could have been better curated to trying a single take rather than just simply clips from a column..
He's a better author than this collection shows..
July 18, 2019
An interesting collection of stories about different personalities in all areas of sports. Syed is able to shed a little bit of light into the psyche behind some of the sports stories of the last few decades. It’s an overall interesting read but really only for a few short stories in between and nothing special.
March 18, 2020
For someone who enjoys and works in sports, I found this book quite cool. Especially how it shares clever insight that you would never think about in the world of sport. Also if I was thinking of becoming a manager of my son/daughter's non-league football in the future (if that's what they want) then I for sure will be using some tips the book has taught me.
July 25, 2021
The wordsmith sportsman
Matthew Syed reaches greater heights with his writing than he ever did as a sportsman. His ability to paint the pictures of genius, usually flawed, sets him apart as a sports writer. Flaws and triumphs are celebrated in equal measure. This book should be essential reading for all aspiring professional sportsmen and women.
Matthew Syed reaches greater heights with his writing than he ever did as a sportsman. His ability to paint the pictures of genius, usually flawed, sets him apart as a sports writer. Flaws and triumphs are celebrated in equal measure. This book should be essential reading for all aspiring professional sportsmen and women.
July 25, 2024
Plutarch
Interesting book about sports and striving for perfection. The author starts off in a general sense of the work sports and then hones in on the motivations and contributing factors, such as the external social and political factors. He ends the book with several profiles of athletes reminiscent of Plutarch’s Lives.
Interesting book about sports and striving for perfection. The author starts off in a general sense of the work sports and then hones in on the motivations and contributing factors, such as the external social and political factors. He ends the book with several profiles of athletes reminiscent of Plutarch’s Lives.
January 25, 2019
Bought this for the man pictured playing Chetan Baboor in the pages of Sportstar in the early 2000s, as much as the writer. Didn't quite do it for me. Syed's knowledge of multiple sports and characters is obvious; passion (romance?) seems to be the missing ingredient.
January 27, 2019
“May your hands always be busy, may your feet always be swift. May you have a strong foundation, when the winds of changes shift. May your hear always be joyful, and may your song always be sung. May you stay for ever young. “ - Bob Dylan
October 29, 2019
Some interesting topics in there and some of the essays were worthwhile.
However, I'm not sure where the essays were originally published or if this was the style of the book and I felt the flow of the book was a little forced, if not confused.
However, I'm not sure where the essays were originally published or if this was the style of the book and I felt the flow of the book was a little forced, if not confused.
February 14, 2020
Brilliant in parts
I chose the stars as the booked lacked flow, it is a collection of writing which in itself is very good and can be read in sections. I enjoyed the book and will be looking for more from this author.
I chose the stars as the booked lacked flow, it is a collection of writing which in itself is very good and can be read in sections. I enjoyed the book and will be looking for more from this author.
December 29, 2023
All the right ingredients but they don’t quite come together to form a tasty meal. The book is a collection of the author’s former sports essays, loosely organized by theme, and they tease at something interesting without quite pulling it together.
April 4, 2024
Essentially a collection of newspaper columns written by Matthew Syed, grouped together under loose headings around themes. Some nice pieces included, although they do have the tendency to be written in a rather grandiose and self-absorbed manner.
October 15, 2024
Enjoyed the book. Can't say I agree with everything the author says, and his summary that Ali was the greatest despite being a racist bigot who wanted segregation of races flies in the face of the authors politics. But it is well written and researched.
June 14, 2017
very good, although found it a bit repetitive with others by Matthew Syed. Enjoyed it nevertheless.
October 22, 2017
This is an interesting book, especially if you are a sports enthusiast. Pleased to have won this book in a recent Goodreads First Reads giveaway.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews