Each year I am interviewed by Don Baker and Josh Matthews for their Hangin’ With The AD Podcast. If you are a leader in the athletic arena, you need to know these two men. Don is the Cobb County School (GA) District Director of Athletics and he partners with Josh Mathews, Pope High School (GA) Athletic Director, to discuss hot topics and lessons learned with leaders in the world of athletics. While the podcast is targeted to athletic directors, the leadership principles apply to anyone involved in athletics.
The purpose of my annual visit is to, in preparation for Christmas, discuss the sports books which have impacted me the most the previous twelve months. Our conversation has become a resource to help athletic leaders know how to best invest in their staff and teams during the holidays.
To give you a preview, the following are my Top 10 Sports Books Of 2022 which I will discuss on this year’s Hangin’ With The AD Podcast. Each are listed in alphabetical order except for the first one. Simply click on the title of each book to learn more and order.
- 2021: The Year In Leadership: The Stories of Faith, Athletics, Business, and Life Which Inspired Us All by Brian Dodd – Yes, this is a little selfish as I am the author. However, if you are looking for great leadership principles from Patrick Mahomes, Nick Saban, Tom Brady, Steph Curry, Chris Paul, some of the best baseball scouts in the world, Sean McVay, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and many, many more, this is the book for you. Simply a fun read and there are leadership lessons you can use on every single page.
- Standing Alone: Stories of Heroism and Heartbreak from Manchester City’s 2020/21 Title-Winning Season by Sam Lee, Daniel Taylor, and Oliver Kay of The Athletic – If you are looking for a profile of a great leader, then this book about Manchester City and its manager Pep Guardiola is for you. City’s triumph is relived in real time, in 360 degrees. Articles include profiles of each of City’s title winners by their former youth team coaches; on-the-road features from the hometowns of some of their international superstars, brilliant tactics board breakdowns of key moments in the season; and exclusive interviews with players, coaches and backroom staff. For more from this book and Guardiola, read my article 35 Qualities Of A Once-In-A-Generation Leader.
- Decoding Greatness: How the Best in the World Reverse Engineer Success by Ron Friedman – Using eye-opening examples of top performers—from Agatha Christie to Andy Warhol, Barack Obama to Serena Williams—and groundbreaking research on pattern recognition, skill acquisition, and creative genius, Friedman reveals the staggering power of reverse engineering and teaches you how to harness this vital skill for yourself. You’ll learn how to take apart models you admire, pinpoint precisely what makes them work, and apply that knowledge to develop novel ideas, methods, and products that are uniquely your own. Along the way, you’ll meet the culinary detective who exposes top-secret recipes, the burglar who can visit a bank and recreate its blueprints, and the celebrated artist who reverse engineered his way to the top of his profession without any formal education.
- The Pursuit Of Excellence: The Uncommon Behaviors Of The World’s Most Productive Achievers by Ryan Hawk – A master class in achieving and sustaining excellence, even in the most challenging of times―from the host of The Learning Leader Show and author of Welcome to Management. Leadership advisor Ryan Hawk has interviewed hundreds of the most productive achievers in the world to discover the best practices for pursuing and sustaining excellence. He found a pattern of uncommon behaviors that set these stellar individuals apart. Packed with specific actions to take, experiments to run, and tools to analyze what works best for you, this uncompromisingly practical guide will inspire, challenge, support, and empower you to become your very best.
- Blood In The Garden: The Flagrant History of the 1990’s New York Knicks by Chris Herring – The definitive history of the 1990s New York Knicks, illustrating how Pat Riley, Patrick Ewing, John Starks, Charles Oakley, and Anthony Mason resurrected the iconic franchise through oppressive physicality and unmatched grit. Similar to Standing Alone, this book provides an incredible profile of Coach Riley and his almost-maniacal approach to leadership. For more from this book, read my post 4 Reasons Visionaries Are Fired Before Their Visions Become Reality.
- The 6 Types Of Working Genius: A Better Way to Understand Your Gifts, Your Frustrations, and Your Team by Patrick Lencioni – Beyond the personal discovery and instant relief that Working Genius provides, the model also gives teams a remarkably simple and practical framework for tapping into one another’s natural gifts, which increases productivity and reduces unnecessary judgment. In classic Lencioni fashion, Pat brings his model to life in a page-turning fable that is as relatable as it is compelling. He tells the story of Bull Brooks, an entrepreneur, husband, and father who sets out to solve his own frustration at work and stumbles into a new way of thinking that changes the way he sees his work, his team, and even his marriage. For more from this book, read my post 19 Leadership Lessons From Patrick Lencioni’s New Book The 6 Types Of Working Genius.
- How to Beat a Broken Game: The Rise of the Dodgers in a League on the Brink by Pedro Moura – Winning at modern baseball is nothing like it was even twenty years ago. In the years since the famous Moneyball revolution, baseball has grown to look less like a sport than a Wall Street firm that traded its boiler room for a field. Teams relentlessly chase every tiny advantage to win games and make money, even as it hurts fans, TV ratings, and players, courting bigger problems in the long run. This dramatic and insightful book takes you into the clubhouse with the championship players, as well as into the offices where teams constantly seek new ways to win—even when it hurts the game. How to Beat a Broken Game shows not only what it takes to win, but what it will take to save the sport. For more from this book, read my posts 15 Lessons On Building A Successful Organizational Culture and 5 Lessons On Giving Effective Feedback and The One Quality All Brilliant Leaders Possess.
- 5-STAR QB: It’s Not About the Stars, It’s About the Journeyby Yogi Roth – It’s the most hyped, most intensely scrutinized and highest paid position in sports. And once a high school prospect is labeled a 5-Star QB, his life path changes forever. 5-STAR QB is unlike any book you’ll ever read, as it takes you inside the minds, the lives, and the moment-by-moment experiences of more than 50 quarterbacks, in their own words. In addition, each chapter has advice from notable Ambassadors of the Game that is layered with a wisdom that will enrich the lives of any recruit, parent, or fan of football.
- Sustain Your Game: High Performance Secrets to Manage Stress, Avoid Stagnation, and Beat Burnout by Alan Stein Jr – Based on his years as a successful basketball performance coach—having worked with and alongside superstars like Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, and Kobe Bryant—and a keynote speaker to major companies like Pepsi and Amex, Alan Stein Jr. brings you the keys to lasting, unimaginable success. The secret? Sustain Your Game teaches a timeline of short term to medium term to long term because we are always battling all three: stress in the now, stagnation in the present, and burnout in the long term. For more from this book, read my post The Secret To Longevity In Leadership (And It’s Actually Quite Simple).
- The Leadership Secrets of Nick Saban: How Alabama’s Coach Became the Greatest Ever by John Talty – Speaking of profiles of great leaders, in The Leadership Secrets of Nick Saban, senior sports editor and SEC Insider for Alabama Media Group, John Talty, highlights the keys to Saban’s winning strategy and offers readers a blueprint for paving their own paths to success using the esteemed coach’s leadership lessons. For more from this book, read my post 10 Leadership Lessons From Nick Saban On Longevity And Staying Relevant As A Leader.
- ***BONUS*** Since one of the books above is mine, I want to give you a book I am currently reading. The Grandest Stage: A History of The World Series by Tyler Kepner – In seven scintillating chapters, Kepner delivers an indelible portrait of baseball’s signature event. He digs deep for essential tales dating back to the beginning in 1903, adding insights from Hall of Famers like Reggie Jackson, Mike Schmidt, Jim Palmer, Dennis Eckersley and many others who have thrived – and failed – when it mattered most. Why do some players, like Madison Bumgarner, Derek Jeter and David Ortiz, crave the pressure? How do players handle a dream that comes up short? What’s it like to manage in the World Series, and what are the secrets of building a champion? Kepner celebrates unexpected heroes like Bill Wambsganss, who pulled off an unassisted triple play in 1920, probes the mysteries behind magic moments (Did Babe Ruth call his shot in 1932? How could Eckersley walk Mike Davis to get to Kirk Gibson in 1988?) and busts some long-time myths (the 1919 Reds were much better than the Black Sox, anyway).
- ***2nd BONUS*** The Last Folk Hero: The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson by Jeff Pearlman – Jeff is one of my favorite authors. From the mid-1980s into the early 1990s, the greatest athlete of all time streaked across American sports and popular culture. Stadiums struggled to contain him. Clocks failed to capture his speed. His strength was legendary. His power unmatched. Video game makers turned him into an invincible character—and they were dead-on. He climbed (and walked across) walls, splintered baseball bats over his knee, turned oncoming tacklers into ground meat. He became the first person to simultaneously star in two major professional sports, and overtook Michael Jordan as America’s most recognizable pitchman. He was on our televisions, in our magazines, plastered across billboards. He was half man, half myth. Then, almost overnight, he was gone. He was Bo Jackson.
My latest eBook is available for download. The Top 65 Leadership Quotes Of 2022 Part 1 is a resource every leader should have. Great quotes bring clarity and put into words who we intuitively feel as leaders. They give us wisdom and insights which advance the mission and vision of our organizations. This eBook includes thoughts and insights from leaders like Warren Buffett, Nick Saban, James Clear, Dawn Staley, Jurgen Klopp, Jerry Seinfeld, and even Ted Lasso. This resource will take you about 10 minutes to read but a lifetime to apply. You will want to stop and ponder the implications of each quote. Click HERE or on the image provided for immediate download!