Is Business At Your Company An Extreme Sport?

Are meetings at your company as grueling as hiking the steepest of mountains? It looks like there are more similarities than you might think between extreme sports and making it through a day at your office.

Jim McCormick and Maryann Karinch use their experience as extreme athletes and successful business people to offer you workforce tips in "BUSINESS LESSONS FROM THE EDGE: Learn How Extreme Athletes Use Intelligent Risk Taking to Succeed in Business."

The authors compiled stories, interviews, and "success-assuring" business techniques from multiple athlete-executives, seeking to provide "action-ready guidance" for achievement in business and life.

Mountaineer Kevin Sheridan, founder and CEO of Chicago-based HR Solutions, Inc., is one of the athlete-executives who offers tips for business success in the book. Sheridan discusses his experience as an entrepreneur, along with HR Solutions' research on employee engagement, "Building a Magnetic Culture" in the workplace, and best practices for hiring. Sheridan's experience as an extreme athlete frames this research. For example, when discussing interview techniques, he mentions the importance of recognizing when compatibility between management and the candidate is off: "You're climbing a K2, and he's [the candidate's] going for a walk in the park," Sheridan explains.

From freestyle motocross stars to famous surfers and race-car drivers, the book has stories and metaphors that may come close to capturing the uphill battle your work life can sometimes devolve into. Well, we said close anyway...