The sports helping executives stay at the top of their game

Is that afternoon golfing really a form of corporate education?

- Henry Mance and Charlotte Guckian

The idea that the business world can learn from sports is old and convenient. It means company away days can be filled with fun activities. It allows retired athletes to charge companies large sums for motivational talks, and it enables business people to meet their sporting heroes.

But which sports — traditional physical activities or mind-based games — can really claim a close link to working life? Here are some contenders that are regularly championed by executives and investors.

POKER
Adherents: Susquehanna International Group co-founder Jeff Yass; venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya
Poker is the source of corporate phrases such as "above board" and "pass the buck." The game itself has the clearest relevance to traders. Susquehanna, the quantitative trading firm, is one that embraces the link. "Before you become a trader at Susquehanna, you learn how to play poker," says Mr Jeff Yass, who co-founded the company with his poker friends. "We have a couple of months' training in poker, because... being a poker player and a trader... is very similar."

Success in poker derives not just from an understanding of probability, or from luck, but from a reading of other players' intentions and an acceptance of uncertainty.

Ms Jo Living runs Aces High London, a company that organises corporate poker workshops. She argues that poker should be taken seriously — as a way of revealing and improving business skills. "How people show up in the real world is how they show up at the poker table," she says.

The game rewards "deep listening" and punishes a lack of assertiveness, she adds. Investor Chamath Palihapitiya says it teaches you to "be unemotional but stubborn".