Staying the Distance: The lessons from sport that business leaders have been missing

by Catherine Baker

Staying the Distance showcases the much-needed leadership lessons that sport can teach how to improve, perform and achieve, in ways that are effective and sustainable.

Leadership can be hard. It can certainly be relentless. The pandemic has wreaked havoc on the well-being, health and sustained performance of many senior leaders, and yet strong leadership remains central to the performance of every single organization.

Business leaders are very familiar with drawing lessons from elite sport, particularly around teams, leadership and high performance. But we have all been missing a trick. Day in, day out, sport has been showing us not only how to improve, perform and achieve, but how to do so on a sustained basis, consistently delivering results when it matters. This book shines a light on these unseen lessons, and provides a clear and practical roadmap for how to deploy them in the reader's own leadership practices.

With Catherine Baker's unique view into world-class sport and top-level business, and with insights from top performers in both worlds, this book provides a fresh and dynamic take on how - consistently and over the long term - to bring out the best in yourself, and in those you lead.

209 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 30, 2023

Reviews

[Jade St-Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Les liens entre le sport de haut niveau et les bonnes pratiques de leadership sont multiples. Plusieurs concepts expliqués par l’auteur sont connus, mais ils sont intelligemment illustrés par des exemples concrets issus du sports d’élite. Vraiment intéressants.

[Jamie Bowen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sport can teach business a lot, it’s all about high performance in yourself and teams, this book sets out to explain those key learnings.

Did I learn anything new? No, not really. It is very well researched, referring to other great books I’ve read, such as Dr Carol Dweck’s Mindset, but there was nothing new for me. If you were a new manager and this was your first foray into leadership books, this would be a good start.