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  • Published: 29 May 2017
  • ISBN: 9780670078493
  • Imprint: Viking
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $38.00

The Captain Class

The Hidden Force That Creates the World’s Greatest Teams




The former global sports editor of The Wall Street Journal profiles the greatest teams in history and identifies the counterintuitive leadership qualities of the unconventional men and women who drove them to succeed.

The secret to winning is not what you think it is.
It’s not the coach. It’s not the star.
It’s not chemistry. It’s not a strategy.
It’s something else entirely.

Several years ago, Sam Walker set out to answer one of the most hotly debated questions in sports: What are the greatest teams of all time? He devised a formula, then applied it to thousands of teams from leagues all over the world, from the English Premier League to the AFL to Olympic field hockey. When he was done, he had a list of the sixteen most dominant teams ever, period.

At that point, he became obsessed with another, more complicated question: What did these freak teams have in common?

As Walker dug more deeply, a pattern emerged: Each team had the same type of captain – a singular leader who drove it to sustained, historic periods of greatness.

Fuelled by a lifetime of sports spectating, twenty years of reporting, and a decade of painstaking research, The Captain Class tells the surprising story of what makes teams exceptional. Drawing on original interviews with athletes from two dozen countries, as well as general managers, coaches, executives, and others skilled at building teams, Walker identifies the seven core qualities of this Captain Class – from doggedness and the knack for nonverbal communication to aggression and the courage to speak truth to power.

Told through riveting accounts of some of the most pressure-soaked moments in sports history – from Bill Russell’s legendary 'Coleman Play' in the 1957 NBA Finals to Rechelle Hawkes’s extraordinary resilience in the Hockeyroos’ 2000 Olympic victory – The Captain Class doesn’t just bring these events to life; it presents a fresh, counterintuitive take on leadership that can be applied to a wide spectrum of competitive disciplines.

The sixteen leaders who make up the Captain Class were never the most skilled, nor were they paragons of sportsmanship. They were often role players, allergic to the spotlight, and famously inarticulate. In short, they will challenge your assumptions of what inspired leadership looks like.

'A fascinating sports study with much wider-reaching application, featuring page-turning tales of personal triumph and cogent analysis’ Kirkus (starred review)

'Written for serious sports fans in lively language that also speaks to aspiring athletes and business professionals, this book offers a compelling argument for the value of inspired leadership.’ Publishers’ Weekly

  • Published: 29 May 2017
  • ISBN: 9780670078493
  • Imprint: Viking
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 352
  • RRP: $38.00

About the author

Sam Walker

Sam Walker is the Wall Street Journal’s deputy editor for enterprise, the unit that directs the paper’s in-depth page-one features and investigative reporting projects. A former reporter, columnist, and sports editor, Walker founded the Journal’s prizewinning daily sports coverage in 2009. He is the author of Fantasyland, a bestselling account of his attempt to win America’s top fantasy baseball expert competition (of which he is a two-time champion). Walker attended the University of Michigan. He lives in New York with his wife and their two children.

Praise for The Captain Class

Over the years, many books have promised to reveal the secret of building successful teams. But now Sam Walker has actually gone and done it. He’s given us an idea-driven, myth-busting gem of a book that is insightful, useful and hellaciously fun to read. If you care about leadership, talent development, or the art of competition, you need to read this immediately.

Dan Coyle, New York Times bestselling author of The Talent Code, The Secret Race, and Lance Armstrong’s War

In The Captain Class, Sam Walker gives us important and original insights into the mysterious ingredients of transformative leadership. A stunning mix of research and narrative.

Susan Cain, author of the #1 bestseller The Quiet

Well-researched, wildly entertaining, and thought-provoking. In The Captain Class, Sam Walker presents compelling narratives about the secret ingredient to the greatest teams of all time – and quickly has the reader reexamining long-held beliefs about leadership and the glue that binds winning teams together.

Theo Epstein, President of the Chicago Cubs

Sam Walker has unlocked one of sports’ greatest mysteries: the secret to the success of 16 team dynasties. On nearly every page, you’ll be shaking your head at another revelation about how a team’s dominance is hard-wired to the team captain’s leadership. The Captain Class is one of the most surprising, best-written—and fun—sports books published in recent years.

Don Van Natta Jr., ESPN investigative reporter, Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times bestselling author of First Off the Tee, Her Way and Wonder Girl

The Captain Class is a brilliant hybrid: one part detective story and one part leadership book, set in the world of sports, and dedicated to a fascinating mystery: What sets apart the greatest teams of all time? I'm not even a sports nut and I couldn't put it down.

Dan Heath, co-author of the New York Times bestsellers Made to Stick, Switch, and Decisive

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Identifying the best

How sports journalist Sam Walker evaluated the greatest teams of all time.