The Art of Captaincy: What Sport Teaches Us About Leadership

A fine book on leadership. My background is academic medicine. The concepts elucidated here provide directions for many doubts and dilemmas I have faced in leading medical teams, leading professional associations and motivating undergraduate and postgraduate students to do better. Being a passionate cricket fan from Sri Lanka, the thoughtful insights and anecdotes on cricket and cricketers was fascinating but understanding how principles of leadership on a cricket field helps in all fields of leadership in life is truly amazing. A must read for anyone who wishes to lead better, may it be family, workplace, professional organizations ..... or the village cricket team.Thank you Mr Mike BrearleyArosha [email protected]

Even non-cricket fans would be advised to 'slog' through this tome. Brearley's book, written in the mid 1980's is as relevant today as it was back then. Sure the anecdotes stop in 1985 but they provide a fascinating look at what it was like to be a cricketer in the 1960's - 1980's: lemon squash and biscuits, nutjobs like Close, eccentrics like Dexter and Boycott.Brearley gives you his step-by-step guide to being a captain and what pitfalls such a position brings up. Sam Mendes chips in with the introduction, having read this book when he was having difficulties with 'American Beauty'.

What a great read for cricket & also for some of the simple life lessons of working with people on a day-to-day basis.

Although this book will be primarily of interest to cricketers, it's a mistake to regard it just as a cricket book. Brearley's profession enables him to write authoritatively on captaincy as one aspect of the broader skills of leadership and motivation. Anyone interested in management would find this book as helpful as any of the reference works available on the subject.Brearley was one of the finest captains I have seen in over 50 years of watching cricket. Richie Benaud and Imran Khan, in different ways, were as successful in lifting their teams to great performances, but they were both great cricketers in their own right. Brearley was the weakest player in the side for most of his career as a test captain and the success of the team when he was leading it is testament to how important leadership is.Thoroughly recommended. I wish he'd write an autobiography!

What strikes readers of Brearley's treatise on captaining a cricket side is its relevance so long after it was written. Though it deals with a dying era of wildly eccentric English cricketers the likes of which we will never see again (Close, Dexter, Underwood, Cowdrey et.al) and the golden era of county cricket that professional sport finally replaced, his thought's on the game still hold as true as the day he penned them. Captaincy is still all of the things Brearley discusses and very little he doesn't. Even his predictions seem to be by a man who had seen the future. His discussion of the new trend of 'sledging,' the over aggressive nature of the modern players and his distaste for them seem more than justified today.With England coming to realise in recent times that a side will only be as good as the commitment the team shows, leadership becomes ever more prized. Recent sides have rallyed round a strong leader and become greater than the sum of parts because of it. That having been said, it is Brearley's point that the Australian's have always selected a team and then picked a captain from amongst them that seems to reveal a much deeper issue for the English game. Afterall, Brearley only averaged just above 20 for his country, yet still had a safe pair of hands in the field, something the present side still lacks. It is no coincidence that the Australian side fields as well as its best does. Ponting just happens to be the player the selector's picked to captain. In the end Brearley makes the point clear that a captain leads by example, certainly thought needs to behind his actions but his deeds stir the team to act.The Art of Captaincy points to strength of conviction, always back the hunch style cricket that the Australian game has always played, as the key to sucess. England are still looking to get back that sense of belief that deserted them somewhere in the summer of 1989. Reading this book only helps to remind us of a time when England were Kings. Surely they must rise again?

The captain's captain. Unpretentious and open-minded approach to captaincy and man-management. It's clear that Brearley has a deep intellect and curiosity and a strong desire to try to understand what motivates people and what gets individuals and a team working together; skills which are arguably more important to us amateurs than the pros! Aside from cricket, the matter discussed in the book are evidently transferable to other fields and aspects of life.

The views suggested in this book can be applied to many industries - most important element is know your staff and provide the trust for them to do their job. Motivate them in the ways they need to do the job.

If you like cricket, books on aspects of cricket history and cricket memoir are wonderfully entertaining as they tell a good story. However, most such books fail to give the reader much insight or understanding of the complexities that you need to understand the essentially simple game of cricket. Overlapping on both historical text and memoir, Brearley's book fills that gap perfectly. Cricket has countless nuances and Brearley expertly covers most of them here, in a way that not only entertains but informs. No other cricket book I have read covers tactics, strategies and tips as thoroughly as this one. Not suitable as an introduction to cricket in itself but an essential text for those wishing to further understand the subtleties of cricket.Also serves as an insight on wider leadership issues too, not just cricket. Those with responsiblity for managing people in the workplace and similar areas would be well advised to read, study and apply any lessons learned.A truly magnificent book - we await the Kindle version! :)

I came across this gem several years ago and bought the paperback. I'm please to see that it's now out in kindle format, so I've bought that as well. Mike Brearley is such a thoughtful person, and a joy to listen to as well. There's an excellent audio podcast of Mike being interviewed by Michael Atherton over on the BBC Radio 5 Test Match Special website. I'll post the link on my website.

Hard work if you are not a cricket fanatic but a rewarding exploration of what makes a difference in this complex tactical sport. Brearley patiently sets out his detailed preparation and strategic planning that delivered great results for England.