Strategy Huddle: Management Lessons from Sports(SAGE IIM-Kozhikode Series for New Managers)

Though Sun Tzu’s ‘Art of War’ was written 2,500 years back, strategy is seen as a young discipline in business management. Over the last half to three-fourths of a century, strategy has carved its own niche in the larger business management realm. Strategy Huddle: Management Lessons from Sports draws out significant strategic management knowledge from 27 different phenomena in diverse sports including soccer, basketball, marathon, boxing, chess and cricket. The practical applications of these strategies are shown through business case scenarios in this book. For new managers seeking to sharpen their strategic management concepts such as blue ocean, behavioural and network strategies as well as for strategic thinkers interested in understanding the deeper connections between strategy and sports, this book brings to the readers an enriching learning and strategic experience. 

Table of Contents:
Series Note Note by Series Editor Preface Acknowledgements In Pursuit of Disruptive Innovation Internal Organization and Winning Core Competencies Appreciating the External Environment Blue Ocean Strategy: Cricket and Celebrities Strategic Learning: Good to Great! The Lustrous Strategic Leadership Being Spot On Using Behavioural Strategy! Sorting out the Network with Bosman Ruling and Resource Dependence Theory Battle of the Sexes References

About the Author :
Dr. Deepak Dhayanithy is Associate Professor of Strategic Management at IIM Kozhikode. He has been at IIM Kozhikode since 2011, offering and teaching elective courses to MBA and PhD students – on sports, analytics, decision-making, poker and strategy. His research includes sports phenomena and the natural environment. During the first decade of this century, he completed his PhD (Fellow, IIM Lucknow) and witnessed the unfolding of the sub-prime crisis from his perch in the subprime mortgages industry. In the 1990s he studied architecture and worked as an architect before turning to management studies. Born and raised near Elliot’s Beach in Madras, he spent an inordinate amount of time playing and following a range of sports and games. His academic writing includes research papers in sports contexts, book reviews for sports management journals, views in news outlets and the book, ‘Strategy Huddle – management lessons from sports’. It is his understanding that there is more to sports than fun and games, and that the tough competition in sports makes it a good petri-dish to study the complexities of strategy. He takes heart in what Albert Camus said regarding morality, “everything I know most surely about morality and duty, I owe to football”. He is married to Dr. Anjana Bhagyanathan who teaches architecture at NIT Calicut. Their kids enjoy playing sports which the author continues to try and understand.

Review :
Strategy Huddle dives into the intricacies of strategy-making by captains, agents and players in a variety of sport arenas, and Deepak Dhayanithy’s passionate interest in both sports and strategy has enabled him to translate these intricacies lucidly into both known and unknown strategy lessons for management—creating a must read for both budding managers and business leaders. Strategy Huddle: Management Lessons from Sports is a unique book which brings to light lessons in strategic management through the sports industry and successful sportsmen. It explains concepts in strategic management through lessons learnt from different sporting disciplines. It is a highly enjoyable read and a must read for leaders in organizations and sports aficionados. It will also encourage business schools to offer courses on strategy from a fresh perspective as Professor Deepak has been practicing at IIM Kozhikode. His passion for sports and strategy is evident in this well-researched book. Deepak Dhayanithy has done a Rolf Dobelli, creating a brilliant compendium of management lessons from the world of sports. Most managers quote Moneyball. It was a great lesson, but the Oakland Athletics never won anything. The real leaders learn from Coach Pop whose leadership principles built the greatest sports franchise in San Antonio. This book has that and 26 other equally amazing lessons. Everyone ‘knows’ sports, but hardly anyone has studied them with the passion and insight that Professor Dhayanithy has. More importantly for us, he has brilliantly extracted insights from those sports and translated them to the world of business and management, using easy language that will appeal to every manager out there. Essential reading! Sports, whether individual or the team variety, capture the popular imagination like no other. Distilling the management lessons from the lives and work of sportspeople while simultaneously making for compelling reading, however, is not an easy task. Strategy Huddle accomplishes that task with flair, drawing on a diverse set of examples ranging from chess to e-sports. It should be an enjoyable and illuminating read. Strategy Huddle explores and exposes the ubiquitous interweaving of sports and strategy across a wide spectrum of sports categories. A surgical dissection of 27 well-known instances, with a refreshingly simple outlook on each of them. Deepak’s innate sense and deeply personal interest in both areas shines through. A thoroughly enjoyable read, for both academicians and non-academicians alike. The west (notably the United States) has a culture of board rooms drawing inspiration from sports managers. In India, this trend remains under-developed. Deepak Dhayanithy breaks the mould—bringing his deep understanding and appreciation for sports to strategic management. He is one of the pioneers of educational courses marrying the fields of strategy and sports. Strategy Huddle is a step in the direction of taking this mainstream.