Abstract
Like business, professional sport organizations may have many imperatives placed upon them. However, sometimes, unlike business, they have less difficulty in understanding where their core business lies. Moreover, they recognize the significant difference between activities that reflect the core of the business (like providing sporting merchandise for sales), versus those that are core to the business (like developing player talent). This chapter explains the importance of understanding an organization’s core business and the impact that leadership has on driving success in the “right” areas. It places leadership in the context of wider organizational change and explains the role of the leader as a change agent, in a similar manner to a team’s captain.
If somebody told weightlifters they could lift an extra five pounds by munching Brillo pads, there wouldn’t be a clean pot within three miles of any gym in this country. (Mark Cameron, weightlifter)
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
C. Zook and J. Allen (2001), Growth Strategy in an Era of Turbulence, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA.
C.K. Prahalad and G. Hamel (1990), “The Core Competence of the Corporation”, Harvard Business Review, 90(3), pp. 79–91.
J.W. Weese (1995), “Leadership and Organizational Culture: An Investigation of the Big Ten and Mid-American Conference Campus Recreation Administrations”, Journal of Sport Management, 9(1): 119–34.
J.W. Weese (1996), “Do Leadership and Organizational Culture Really Matter?” Journal of Sport Management, 10(2): 197–206.
J.P. Kotter (1999), On What Leaders Really Do, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA.
R.B. Denhardt (2002), The Pursuit of Significance: Strategies for Managerial Success in Public Organizations, Waveland Press, Prospect Heights, Il.
R.B. Denhardt and J.V. Denhardt (1999), “Leadership for Change: Case Studies in American Local Government”, The Pricewaterhouse Coopers Endowment for The Business of Government, September, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Arizona.
Marcus A. Caton (1998), Using Performance Indicators within Australian National and State Sporting Organisations, A Paper presented to Sports Coach 98, Melbourne, 28 November.
W. Bennis and R. Thomas (2002), “Crucibles of Leadership”, Harvard Business Review, 80(9): 39–45.
J.W. Greenberg (2002), “September 11, 2001: A CEO’s Story”, Harvard Business Review, 80(10): 58–64.
M. Romney (2004), Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership and the Olympic Games, Regnery Publishing, Washington DC.
A. Smith and H. Westerbeek (2004), The Sport Business Future, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.
J.E. Post (2000), “Moving from Geographic to Virtual Communities: Global Corporate Citizenship in a Dot.com World”, Business and Society Review, 105(1): 28.
H. Fleishman (1999), Consumers Demand Companies with a Conscience, Hillard Fleishman, London.
Copyright information
© 2005 Hans Westerbeek and Aaron Smith
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Westerbeek, H., Smith, A. (2005). Playing to Win: The Leadership Function. In: Business Leadership and the Lessons from Sport. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230524415_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230524415_2
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-52422-8
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-52441-5
eBook Packages: Palgrave Business & Management CollectionBusiness and Management (R0)