Sports stars tackle new challenges at business school

Toby Flood was long a formidable force on the rugby field, playing professionally with Newcastle Falcons, Leicester Tigers and Toulouse and representing England in 60 international matches. But he admits to “a little bit of fear of the unknown” when it came to thinking about what he would do when his sporting career came to an end.

“I know a lot about what I’ve known for 18 years but very little about what else is out there,” he says. “When you come out of sport, having done something particular for so long, you’re very unsure about what comes next.”

Flood soon realised that non-playing roles such as coaching or commentating were uncertain careers. He gave up retraining as a financial adviser and joined a growing number of former players returning to university — in his case, to study for an executive MBA at Cambridge Judge Business School. The degree aided his transition into a role as a large enterprise account executive for identity verification tech company Okta.

As age or injury curtail their careers, experienced sportsmen and women often bring valuable qualities to the business world, though they can also face barriers that hold them back. Business schools are recognising both sides of this equation as they look to support athletes making the shift from sport to corporate life.

Some institutions, from NYU: Stern and Hult International to the Kelley School of Business in Indiana and Leavey School of Business in Santa Clara, California, offer bespoke sports and business qualifications, often for younger enthusiasts keen to become or remain involved with sports other than as participants.

Others, such as Cambridge, Insead, EMLyon, and Aalto in Finland, attract former sports people into mainstream programmes — including EMBAs as well as MBAs and shorter executive education courses. These offer help for more seasoned players exploring a broader range of occupations that build on their talents.

Mark de Rond, professor of organisational ethnography at Cambridge Judge, who has studied Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race rowers, says: “They are very good athletes who have been at the top of their game but are also very modest. They are not born leaders but are able to hone their team working skills in a very high-pressure environment.”

He highlights multiple successful business leaders who have extensive sporting backgrounds, which may reflect their resilience, dedication and competitiveness. “They will have been not only successful but also beaten up quite a lot, facing lows as well as highs that are much more extreme than in business, much more personal,” he says.

Gabriel Faye, an engineer with Chevron, balanced studying for an EMBA at Insead with continued amateur participation in athletics and karate, representing Senegal in both sports. He stresses their value in demonstrating passion, discipline and teamwork. “Many people think track and field is an individual sport, but you need a team to coach, train and support each other,” he says.

Numerous studies support the value of a sporting background in business. The Harvard Business School working paper No Revenge for Nerds? showed that athletes at elite US Ivy League colleges between 1970 and 2021 were far more likely to go into business and finance jobs, receive an MBA, earn more and reach more senior positions than their non-athlete classmates.

An earlier study by academics at Cornell university and Southern Illinois university suggested such advancement reflected a perception by employers that sports recruits were better leaders, more confident and more self-assured.

However, as Lisa Sølvberg, a researcher at the University of Bergen, highlighted in a study published this year of recruitment practices in Norway, such attitudes may reflect recruiters’ own sporting backgrounds and biases while ignoring non-sporting activities that might be just as valuable in identifying the traits they seek.

A high-performance, results-oriented mindset is mostly a strength, though it can sometimes create challenges in the workplace

Whatever the value of sport, the transition to another career is not always easy for participants, schools or their future employers. Mickaël Romezy, director of sport programmes at EMLyon in France, says he sees growing demand from participants in their thirties who are still competing but starting to think about what to do next.

Romezy says their continuing commitments require flexibility from the school by teaching using remote learning techniques. On graduating, participants can face barriers integrating into mainstream business. “In France, their direct approach and the focus on results is a bit taboo,” he says. “They also reflect on errors — that also doesn’t in general go down well.”

Lisa Delpy Neirotti, director of sports management programmes at George Washington University, says that the backgrounds of successful athletes recruited into the specially targeted STAR EMBA degree she ran help to explain its closure after a few years.

“They had the leadership ability, the teamwork and the drive,” she says. “They were so hungry to learn. When they get focused, they are all in.” But the academic requirements were sometimes too demanding for those who had not prioritised study or had dropped out to focus on sport. Their prowess also gave them a wealth and lifestyle that imposed demands for a costly “high-touch, concierge service” approach to tuition.

FT Executive MBA Ranking 2025

See the EMBA ranking and report.

Hannu Tihinen, a professional footballer who now works in Fifa’s Global Football Development Division, first took a Uefa masters degree for international players, but then decided to develop his leadership skills further with an international EMBA at Aalto in Helsinki.

“You are highly educated in your sports career, but you are not automatically educated for your next profession,” he cautions. “A high-performance, results-oriented mindset is mostly a strength, though it can sometimes create challenges in the workplace if colleagues feel excessive pressure in a highly competitive environment.”

But he is convinced of how much he and his peers can contribute in life after sports. “My strong message to employers is that, if you give them enough time, you will get far more back than you might expect, provided that the ex-athlete has a continuous desire to learn and a strong internal motivation to move things forward.”