India-born Satya Nadella, recently named CEO of Microsoft Corporation finds motivation in Cricket, something that most Indians are fixed to. Born in Hyderabad, Nadella was active member of his school cricket team.
“I think playing cricket taught me more about working in teams and leadership that has stayed with me throughout my career,” Nadella is reported to have said after he was named CEO of Microsoft.
Well, like Nadella many CEOs in the past have been business heads by profession and sportsmen by passion. In fact, there have been many sports stars who have made it big in business and played equally well on the ground and boardroom. Scottish oil baron Sir Bill Gammell, who set up Cairn Energy is a former rugby star.
Francis Lee, a key member of the Manchester City team that won the League Championship in 1968, retired from football. he went on to went on to make his fortune from manufacturing toilet rolls.
Fran Cotton, a former England and British Lions rugby player set up Cotton Traders with team mate Steve Smith in 1987. The company started supplying rugby shirts by mail order, but now offers a broad range of clothing, household textiles and accessories.
Olympic Silver medallist Alan Pascoe set up a sports management company, which he sold in 1998 to Interpublic, the US marketing giant.later he formed Fast Track Events, a sports marketing agency.
