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The Right Call. Sally Jenkins.

 


 

The Right Call.   Sally Jenkins

What Sports Teach Us About Work and Life.

 

Can sports teach us about our work experiences and practices?   Furthermore, can sports teach us about life in general?   Regardless of your answer, Best Selling author Sally Jenkins attempts to do that in her book The Right Call.   Through the author, her extensive sports writing experience and immense writing talents try to connect a series of principles to great decision making in the arena or in the work place.

What augments this book are the numerous contacts that Jenkins has been afforded over her lengthy and award-winning career.   Whether it is Notable athletes such as Tom Brady, Michael Phelps or NFL coach Andy Reid, to name a few, or so many others, the book connects the reader to experiences witnessed in sports that often parallels what we encounter in life.   However, Jenkins range of research is not limited to famous athletes, she makes connections on the corporate side to the book’s principles via former Amazon CEO Jeffrey Bezos as well as Disney chairman Bob Iger.  Bezos informs his followers how failures happen more often than success, while Iger’s thoughts about discipline and how it is administered by leadership is critical to team success.

Jenkins names seven principles introduced and discussed throughout the book.    Examples such as conditioning, discipline, practice and culture are not uncommon staples found in other books outlining leadership and success.   However, conditioning the body may be different from practicing the mind.  Suggesting that we learn from our failures is not new age wisdom.   Yet considering our motivation as our intention may be a subtle way of pondering this notion.   

The problem is that despite Jenkins’ best efforts the principles tend to run together or are hard to discern from one another.   For that reason, it may be challenging to keep one set of tenets found in the book distinguished from another principle.   An example is how conditioning and practice could be easily construed as one in the same even though Jenkins uniquely defines both in their respective chapters. 

An example, coming from a lesser-known athlete but no less interesting or accomplished, is champion long distance swimmer Diana Nyad.   Nyad stroked one of the longest distances in swim history through the Bahamas in the Atlantic Ocean.   So, at first thought, one might connect this to such book tenets as practice, discipline or even conditioning but Jenkins dexterity hooked this fascinating story to candor and how precise language systemically at the right time and place makes the difference in decision making and ultimately success.    This is not even to mention the serious challenges, set-backs and eventual triumphs of the athlete in the first place.

One of the most interesting topics and application was noted in the chapter highlighting the principle of culture.   Jenkins taps into her many associations with coaches and players and in this case, it was NBA coach Steve Kerr.    The reader learns why Kerr was troubled about this very principle due lack of team cohesiveness.   What is more, the section also discloses the process in how Kerr went about learning more about the concept itself including discussions with NFL coach Pete Carroll.   The author, however, also goes in-depth with the memories Kerr had experienced as a player under NBA champion coach Phil Jackson.   Not to be outdone, Kerr recalls his findings in working with another Hall of fame NBA coach in Greg Popovich.   Ultimately Jenkins describes how Kerr shapes the culture through his own coaching practice.   Of course, in this example, Kerr and his team, the Golden State Warriors, were very successful due to Kerr establishing a stronger culture. 

The Right call is impeccably written.  It contains myriad examples tying athletic and corporate experiences to core principles established by the author.    The stories make the book and bring the theories in each chapter to life.    While this book is likely strong enough to be used in a business classroom or for professional development, it does not quite live up to the title.   Reading the book to learn of Jenkins experiences could be considered a good decision in itself as it may change the way we look at leadership.   Beyond that, it is a fun trip of about 200 pages of adventure, challenge and struggles of driven human beings.  

·         You might like to read this book if you enjoy reading books about decision making and leadership. 

·         You might like to read this book if you want to learn about experiences of successful professional athletes and coaches.

·         You might like to read this book if you like conflating theories and principles to business and athletic travails of noteworthy people.  

 

Read more about the author on Twitter:   https://twitter.com/washingtonpost

 

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