Do you have the seven qualities of a great leader?

As the former sports editor of the Wall Street Journal, Sam Walker chronicled the exploits of some of the most remarkable teams ever assembled. Fascinated by their success, he spent over a decade researching which teams performed best and how they did it.

Sam lays out his findings in his latest book, The Captain Class: The Hidden Force that Creates the World’s Greatest Teams. Initially, he expected to find a magical combination of factors such as exceptional skill, brilliant coaching and remarkable strategy. Instead, he discovered something completely different: the 16 teams with the longest winning streaks across 37 elite sports succeeded because of a single player -- the captain of the team. These captains were not only not the best player, but also possessed all or most of seven characteristics rarely associated with great leaders.

Sam is currently deputy editor of the Wall Street Journal, where he worked as a reporter, columnist, and sports editor. He is also author of a previous book, Fantasyland.

In this interview we discuss:

How talent, coaching, money and strategy rarely result in teams stringing together years of consecutive greatness
Why a single player, the captain of the team, is the key to the enduring success of outstanding teams
Why most captains were appointed by the coach, not selected by the players
What the analogies are for this coach-captain in the workplace
How these captains excel in seven ways:

they are relentless
they are aggressive
They are willing to do thankless jobs
they shy away from the limelight
they excel at quiet communication
they are difficult to manage
they have excellent resilience and emotional control

The secrets of success of players like basketball great Tim Duncan
Why all of the little things on a team must get done
Why Pele, possibly the greatest soccer player of all time, was never a captain
Why none of these captains were inspiring speech makers
What maps of team interaction reveal about captain communication
Why shared cognition is such an important part of team communication
Why superstars can sometimes decrease great team performance
Why sacrifice for the collective good of the team is so important to winning
How we should look for the least likely candidates when searching for group leaders
Why we should not mistake the ability to take praise as a sign of a great leader
Why criticizing others is a right we earn and how to earn it
Why elite leaders are often boring

Episode Links

Sam Walker

The Captain Class: The Hidden Force that Creates the World’s Greatest Teams

Fantasyland

Barcelona

CM 097: Sam Walker on Creating Outstanding Teams

Curious Minds at Work

CM 097: Sam Walker on Creating Outstanding Teams