The Influence of Sports on Business

I have always been interested in sport and while I believe there is something to learn from all experiences, I feel there is a lot that sports teaches that is applicable to management. I always look at CVs to see whether there is any sports in the candidate’s history. Plato figured this out long ago when he said, “ You can learn more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” Sport has a way of distilling truths that no management course can teach. It compresses ambition, teamwork, ego, pressure and resilience into the duration of play. It reveals character in real time, showing how people respond when they win, when they lose and when they have to keep going despite both. Over the years, I’ve come to believe that sport is leadership in motion and that its lessons for management are significant. In individual sports — tennis, golf, running — there’s nowhere to hide. You are simultaneously the strategist, executor and critic. Every decision has an immediate consequence. The scoreboard doesn’t care about intent; it measures only outcome. For leaders, that mirrors the journey of self-management. You learn accountability. You learn that excuses don’t help and that success comes from consistent preparation, not occasional brilliance or intent. You discover the art of emotional regulation: how to stay calm after an error, how to start again after losing. It’s a life skill. Team sports, in contrast, are a masterclass in interdependence. You realize quickly that talent without chemistry is noise. The best teams aren’t the ones with the brightest stars, but the ones where everyone knows their role and trusts each other and the system. In management, this translates into two ideas: clarity and culture. Clarity, because people perform best when they understand what’s expected of them. Culture, because shared purpose is what turns cooperation into cohesion. Whether individual or team-based, every athlete understands the value of practice. The repetitions nobody sees. The corrections nobody applauds. It’s a powerful metaphor for organizational excellence. The best managers— like the best athletes — separate themselves in the invisible hours. They iterate, reflect and improve, often when the world isn’t watching. Sport also normalizes failure. You win some, you lose some but you always review to learn. In management, that habit of learning from losses without personalizing them is pure gold. At its best, sport is not just about performance but about flow. The moment when effort becomes effortless and the team moves as one. That’s what great organizations strive for too — a state where purpose, people and performance align. In the end, sport reminds us that leadership isn’t a title — it’s a practice. You train for it every day. You fail, recover and play again. And, just like in sport, the real victory is not in winning every game, but in building a team, and a self, that keeps getting better.

High-Performance Culture: From the Locker Room to the Boardroom There’s a reason so many former athletes land in leadership roles. It’s not just the work ethic or the competitive edge. It’s something deeper—built through pressure, repetition, and the grind of team sports. The same dynamics that create elite locker rooms also shape high-performing executive teams. After years in athletics—and now as an investor—I’ve seen firsthand how sports and business overlap. At Solyco Capital, we don’t just evaluate balance sheets. We evaluate teams: how they communicate, handle pressure, and lead under stress. And time and time again, the best companies resemble the best teams I played on. Here are 4 traits elite athletes bring to business leadership: 1. Mindset: Pressure Is a Privilege Top performers don’t fear pressure—they run toward it. In business, high-stakes decisions are your playoffs. Great teams don’t flinch—they lean in. Growth lives in the stretch zone. 2. Role Clarity: Know Your Job In baseball, every player has a role. Confusion loses games. In business, the same principle applies. Clear roles create speed and trust. At Solyco, we ask: Do the leaders complement each other? Do they stay in their lane and still run the same race? 3. Feedback: Fast, Direct, Unemotional In sports, feedback is constant—and it’s not personal. In business, it’s often delayed or sugar-coated. Great exec teams normalize real-time feedback. One CEO I know runs debriefs like post-game film: no ego, just improvement. 4. Leadership Under Pressure Every team faces adversity. The best leaders stay calm, not loud. They lower the temperature and lead with clarity. In business, that’s often the difference between survival and collapse. Final Whistle Boardrooms aren’t stadiums—but they’re arenas just the same. The leaders who win aren’t always the flashiest. They’re the ones who’ve been coached hard, failed publicly, and bounced back—with more grit than ego. Athletics taught me how to lead, follow, and stay ready. Those lessons shape how I invest, build teams, and lead at Solyco. Because business is a team sport—and the scoreboard never lies. This post reflects personal experience and opinion, not investment advice or the official position of Solyco Capital.

You know investors now definitely see sports as an asset class when J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley all decide to allocate time and resources to launching sports-focused teams / reports / indexes. 📈 ➡️ J.P. Morgan   6 months ago, J.P. Morgan launched a new "sports investment banking coverage group" to cover investments in sports franchises for their clients around the globe.   Fred Turpin, J.P. Morgan’s Global Head of Media and Communications Investment Banking declared then: “With top sports franchises in the US and Europe now valued at more than $400 billion in total, sports have become an increasingly large asset class, attracting more and more institutional investors.”   ➡️ Goldman Sachs   Last month, GS released a report called "Changing the Game: Unlocking new opportunities in sports" in which they picture sports as an "outperforming asset class generating opportunities for corporates and investors to diversify their assets and unlock value."   Here's a quote from Dave Dase, Global Co-Head of Sports Franchise:   "The days of just selling tickets and concessions are over; sports are rapidly expanding into 24/7 data management platforms that bring best-in-class customization - helping teams grow and increase the monetization of their fan base across all business verticals.”   Trends quoted in the report include:   📱 Evolving media landscape shaping a new era for sports rights   🤝 Minority stakeholders becoming an essential part of the capital structure in parallel with soaring sports teams’ valuations 🎮 Expanding range of sports-adjacent businesses 🥅 Modern-day stadiums generating new avenues for monetization   ➡️ Morgan Stanley And now, Morgan Stanley’s wealth management division is launching an investment index tied to sports leagues.   Name of the index?   The "Parametric Custom Core Sports League" strategy.   The portfolio's holdings will consist of 250 to 400 securities from companies that have sponsorship, media, advertising deals, and other associations with major sports leagues, including the NBA, WNBA, NFL, NWSL, MLS, MLB, LPGA, PGA, NHL, US Open Tennis, F1, Nascar, and college basketball.   The portfolio is aimed at high net worth sports fans with a $250k investment minimum.   It will allow them to invest in a curated index of companies with strong sponsorship, media and advertisement ties to the most prominent sports leagues.   Sandra Richards, Managing Director and Head of Morgan Stanley’s Global Sports and Entertainment Division, stated:   “We see the demand from our clients that are asking about ways to invest in sports. And it’s going to continue.”   To be noted that they'll use Nielsen Sports as its data source to track the activity, spending and visibility of the companies with exposure to professional sports leagues.

This story begins with how Sports came to my aid being an inexperienced founder. I have never been on a Job. My fire in the belly for entrepreneurship made me skip internships to open my first venture. I skipped the campus placement to start BEWAKOOF® out of college itself. My only experience of leading a team was limited to the team Sports that I have played all my life. As a 19-year-old with no work experience. With the little world exposure that I had, Sports became the dominating breeding ground for me to pick up leadership lessons and apply them in the world of Business and Startups. And it worked wonders for me. - Building teams with complementary skill sets - Keeping the team motivated when the odds were against us - The never-quit attitude - The competitive spirit and the sweet taste of victory. The list is endless… Entrepreneurs can apply many lessons from sports to growing their businesses. But this post is about what can’t be applied: “Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing.” In sports. NOT in business. In Sports, the goal is clear: win, ideally by a larger margin than the previous win. Fast forward to my business career, I learned that clinching a deal with a massive margin felt good momentarily but wasn't a sustainable win. Picture a founder landing a killer valuation for their startup. The negotiations are tough, but they manage to seal a deal that looks great on paper. Initially, it may seem like a big win and an ego boost for the founder. Fast forward a few months: the business is facing a few jitters, and it's time for the next funding round. But the VC is now disengaged. Less invested in the company's future since they own very little of the shareholding. So, did the founder win really? Or did the founder push both parties to eventually falter? Similarly, if a VC takes a big pie of the company using hard negotiation techniques and its position of power, it will lead to a demotivated founder. So, did the investor really win? THIS is the only difference I’ve observed between sports and business over the years. In sports, you can win by a margin again and again and people will love you as the best athlete of all time. Business, on the other, needs to be a win-win situation always if you are in it for the long haul. You can’t be winning by a margin. If you win by a massive margin, then somebody is losing by a big margin. And it’s not an advantage that’ll benefit you in the long run. You will eventually lose to resentment or disruption. What do you think?

Growing up, sport felt simple. It was part of the school day, something you did after class or at the weekend. You supported your local team, wore the same kit year after year, and rarely thought about the business behind it. Fast forward to today and sport is anything but simple. Professional teams, leagues, media rights, apparel, nutrition, data, and fan engagement have become large, interconnected industries. What was once largely community driven is now global, highly commercial, and increasingly sophisticated. As highlighted in our latest private equity outlook, revenue across sports teams and ancillary services is projected to grow from around $500bn in 2025 to more than $860bn by 2033, reflecting both scale and sustained demand. It is no surprise that private equity has taken notice. We are seeing continued private equity interest across sports franchises, supporting infrastructure, technology platforms, and adjacent services. According to our private equity outlook, capital is coming from both institutional and wealth channels, supported by a broader range of fund structures and strategies. In a clear signal of confidence, CalPERS committed close to $1.8bn across two dedicated sports funds in 2025, backing flexible capital strategies across the wider sports ecosystem. Transaction dynamics point to a maturing market. While deal volumes were more subdued last year, total deal value reached an eight year high, suggesting larger, more strategic transactions rather than a slowdown in conviction. Sport still carries emotion, loyalty, and identity. But it is also an increasingly investable and professionalised sector, one that requires disciplined underwriting and a clear understanding of risk. Alongside familiar private market considerations such as illiquidity and valuation, sports investing brings additional sensitivities around brand equity, performance volatility, regulation, and fan perception. The more interesting question is no longer whether capital will continue to flow into sport, but how ownership structures, governance, and long term investment horizons will shape the future of the teams, athletes, and communities at the centre of it. Curious to hear how others are thinking about the role of private equity in sport today. #PrivateEquity #Sport With Intelligence

I grew up playing competitive sport. Five hours a day, six days a week, training with national and state squads. 🏸 Discipline. Strategy. Performance. 🏃♀️ For years, I believed that was the gold standard of achievement. Gaming? I used to see it as something entirely different. 🎮 But over time, I realised the dichotomy is completely false. At the highest levels, esports and gaming demand as much discipline, strategy, pattern recognition, resilience, and commitment to excellence as any physical sport. Recently, I met Lucy Chow, author of Changing the Game, a brilliant #book on how esports and gaming are redefining careers, business, and the future of work. The book features insights from industry pioneers, including Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, and reframes gaming as one of the most significant learning ecosystems of our time. I collect author-signed books, so I was delighted when she signed my copy!! Our conversation, together with a close reading of this excellent book, made me realise just how deeply gaming influences how we learn, adapt, and lead. When I used to conduct interviews for McKinsey recruitment, I noticed something interesting. A disproportionate number of sports-men and women advanced to the final interview rounds. It is no secret that elite sport is an excellent training ground for future business leaders. But now I see something I did not see back then. Gaming, esports, and the new emerging competitive categories are no different. The skills are the same. ⚡ Fast decision-making under pressure 🔄 Adaptation 🤝 Team dynamics 🔁 Iterative learning 🌿 Emotional regulation 🧭 Leadership in complex environments The question is whether we are able to see this past our own biases. Approached with intention, games are an excellent training ground. If you play games like I do, it's time to stop feeling guilty about them. Instead, lean into them. As with all skill development, it is awareness and deliberate practice that turns experience into capability. And if you don't play games yet, it's perhaps time to incorporate them into your routines. What games do you like to play? 💬 And what skills do they give you? 👇 ------------------------ Hi, I’m Surya. I talk about #technology, #leadership, #strategy and #creativity. I am passionate about helping individuals, teams, and organizations reach their full potential. 🔔 Follow me for updates and thought pieces.

The 100th highest-paid male athlete made more than the #1 female athlete in the world. 💰 That’s not just inequality — it’s bad business. Take Coco Gauff, a championship-winning tennis star. She earned $30.4M last year, an incredible feat. Yet, she still made $7M less than a benched NFL quarterback. But here’s where it gets interesting: ✅ 19M watched the women’s NCAA basketball final ✅ 9.4M tuned in for USA’s gold-medal soccer match ✅ WNBA viewership surged 115% YoY This isn’t a lack of interest — it’s an undervalued market. Some might argue, "If businesses are getting the same results from female athletes while paying less, isn’t that just smart business?" Not really. Here’s why 👇 📉 Underpaying means underinvesting Women’s sports are pulling record viewership, yet brands and leagues are starving them of resources. Underfunding a high-growth asset limits returns instead of maximizing them. 📈 Brands are missing out on a high-ROI play Female athletes drive stronger engagement per dollar spent, yet they remain underpaid and under-sponsored. Investing now means locking in premium visibility before prices surge. 🔥 Consumer expectations are shifting Gen Z and Millennials demand equity. Brands that ignore this aren’t just making a statement — they’re losing revenue, trust, and market share. And the first brands to recognise this won’t just be making statements — they’ll be making profits.

🏁 Two Formula 1 races cancelled. 🌍 Hundreds of millions of dollars in economic impact erased overnight. The cancellation of Formula 1 races in Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦 and Bahrain 🇧🇭 due to rising geopolitical tensions is more than a sporting decision. It is a signal. A signal that global sport is now deeply intertwined with geopolitics and economic strategy. Today, sport operates at the intersection of: ⚽ Global competition 🤝 Diplomacy 💰 Investment 🌐 International influence 📊 Economic development In my latest article, I introduce a new concept: 🚨 SportDiplonomics A framework explaining the growing relationship between: 🏟️ Sport 🌏 Geopolitics 📈 Economic policy The current tensions involving Iran 🇮🇷, the United States 🇺🇸, and Israel 🇮🇱 demonstrate how quickly geopolitical events can disrupt the global sports ecosystem. Within days we saw: ✈️ Flight routes disrupted 🚢 Shipping lanes under threat 🏁 Major sporting events cancelled 💵 Millions in tourism and event revenue lost The global sports economy now exceeds $600 billion. But as recent events show, sport is no longer insulated from global instability. For governments, investors, sports federations, and event organizers, understanding this dynamic is becoming essential. ⚽ Sport today is not just competition. It is economics. It is diplomacy. It is strategy. 📖 Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/dhhAWwMa #SportDiplonomics #SportsEconomy #SportsBusiness #SportsInvestment #Geopolitics #SportMICE #InvestSport

Life doesn’t end after sport But for many athletes, it can be an extremely hard transition and life as they know it, as they love it, does come to an end. A great post by AJ McCormack yesterday brought up valuable points on athletes as entrepreneurs 🍦 Leclerc’s ice cream 🍾 Hamilton's non-alcoholic spirits 👟 Albon's shoes I’d even tack on Norris’ Quadrant and Leclerc’s Piano career, Bottas' calendar last year and some other short term projects not only by F1 drivers but by all athletes recently Starting your own business is often glorified on LinkedIn ➡ The freedom ➡ The excitement ➡ The money (or so they say) But for an athlete it is a lot different Starting a business, leveraging their brand, is a way to continue to connect with the fans they loved, a way to engage with the community they built even after being an athlete. These F1 driver examples are all still racing, yet they’ve invested loads of time, effort, money (blood, sweat, and tears too probably) into building something based on who they are and what they love. Even though they are still competing, they still get the thrill of racing and the athlete lifestyle, starting their ventures now helps make the transition from athlete to retired much smoother. In 2009 Sports Illustrated released a study that saw 78% of NFL players file for bankruptcy or go broke within 2 years of retirement. There’s a lot of issues surrounding this, however the most important one: They don’t know how to not be an athlete. Once sports are over, they’re lost and it hurts. Having businesses up and running while you’re still competing, building a brand while you’re still an athlete, helps make that transition less of a harsh reality and more of a new adventure for athletes. ⚫ It allows them to hold on to what they had during their time competing ⚫ It allows them to continue to work hard and stay connected with fans ⚫ It allows them to have stability in a very big transition Athletes as entrepreneurs is an important trend not only for what they bring to the table in an office or a board room, but also to help change the outcome for thousands of athletes transitioning out of competition and into the workforce and a new style of life. What’s your favorite “side quest” or entrepreneurial venture by an athlete?

In elite sport and business, surrounding yourself with the best makes you better. When I led elite sport programs, we deliberately sought out the toughest training partners. In alpine skiing, that meant lining up with the Austrians and Norwegians; not hiding in a bubble and hoping to be competitive on race day. World-class athletes wanted, and demanded, to test themselves daily against those who raised the bar. Our leadership team mantra was simple: athletes and coaches need to know what fast looks and feels like. But training partners alone weren’t enough. Athletes also had to believe their coaches were creating the right conditions: a clear plan to match the goal, standards that never slipped, and accountability equal to talent and ambition. Without that belief, performance stalled. IMO business is no different. Your best people want colleagues who push them higher every day. And they need to trust their leaders are building an environment where winning is the only outcome. Do you know what “fast looks and feels like” in your business? #SportToBusiness #leadership