How Top World Cup, NBA, and NFL Coaches Make Better Decisions Under Pressure

And I'm Adi Ignatius and this is the HPR Idea Cast. As you know, and as anyone who knows me knows, I'm a huge sports fan. NBA, NFL, and of course this summer, I'm obsessively watching the World Cup. You? Yeah, big time sports fan, uh big fan of team sports. I'm very partisan, so I'm very religious about the teams I love. So we love sports as an escape from the rest of life, but I think there are also lots of lessons in it that we can bring back to work. And I think business leaders in particular can learn from managers and coaches of high-level teams. Yeah, I think that's true. Look, it's kind of a trope to talk about, oh, you know, lessons from sports also apply to business, but it's true.

You know, things like competition, collaboration, stay and adaptable, they are as relevant for successful teams as they are for successful businesses. Yeah, so today we're talking to two authors who have worked with teams across professional sports leagues in the US, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Recently they decided to do a deep dive into how elite coaches make high stakes decisions. how they prepare what happens in the moment. And how they deal with the repercussions. And of course, all of this is happening under the glare of a media spotlight, right? Yes, and second guessing from fans and owners, and sometimes their own players. So there is so much that managers can learn from how they stay cool and make smart choices under all that pressure. My guests are Alan McCall, a sports performance consultant and founder of Research and Innovation for Sports, who's worked primarily with FIFA World Cup and Champions League teams, and Johan Bilsboro, who's worked as a director of medical performance and innovation in the NBA and NFL.

They're co-authors along with Adrian Wolfberg and Ricard Pruna of the HBR article How elite sports coaches make high pressure decisions. Here's our conversation. Alan, Johan, welcome. Thanks very much. Thanks for having us. Thank you. Decision making is a really complicated thing to study. Why do you both think that elite sports coaches have lessons for the business world? Are there really enough parallels?

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