Earlier this week, business school IMD hosted Usain Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter who won Olympic gold at Beijing and set two new world records (100m, 200m and the 4×100m relay). John Weeks, professor of organisational behaviour at IMD, has even written a paper on the topic and the school has posted some videos on the “Art and Science of coaching Usain Bolt” its YouTube page.

Managers and business thinkers love to find ways of using sports to illuminate business thinking and management lessons. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t; I sometimes think that the truth is that sport-mad business leaders just want to find a way of tying the two together.

Despite the fact that I too am a bit sports-mad, I’m a bit dubious about these sorts of links. Having said that, Bolt has managed to parlay his phenomenal success on the track into profitable ventures off of it, so perhaps there is more to it than I think. What do you think? Is there anything in this?

July 8, 2009 11:29am in B-schools, Leadership, Management | Comment