Analogies between business and rowing
are not uncommon. One well-used poster
adorning the walls of offices throughout
the world has the word “Teamwork” and
a picture of an eight with the phrase
“Together we achieve more.” Former top
rowers readily graduate to boardrooms and
become known for their business acumen.
In Great Britain’s Oxford University boat this
year for the race against Cambridge, known
simply as The Boat Race, there were no less than
six members of the team studying at Oxford’s
Saïd Business School, four of them taking MBAs.
This begs the question: is there is a connection
between a career in business and rowing?
Earlier this year the British newspaper The
Independent ( 9 April 2009), posed this question
after noting the degree make-up of the Oxford
boat. Does business become the rower? United
States Ivy League University Harvard has a list
of graduates that are Olympic athletes. This list
would suggest a connection: of the 12 rowers on
the list, 10 of them hold Harvard MBA degrees.
admits that the number of MBA
students in the Oxford boat was
an anomaly. “Often we have one or
two, but never six,” says McKenna. But,
McKenna notes, there are many personality links
between the type of people who do MBAs and
athletes. Although, he adds, it is difficult to show
a differentiation between athletes of different
disciplines. Oxford captain and MBA student
Colin Smith says MBAs fit the rowing personality.
“Top rowers believe that they should be top
rowers and good MBA students believe that they
should be managing global corporations. There
are many similarities.”
This evidence, however, does not show any
decisive link in itself. MBA programme director
at the Saïd Business School, Chris McKenna,
The nature of the degree is what attracts these
rowers to the course. “They love rowing and
they need a useful degree,” says McKenna.
“Often you’re looking at older students, so often
they are able to juggle multiple tasks. They >
Oxford University (r) racing
against Cambridge University
(l) during the 155th Oxford &
Cambridge University Boat Race
on the River Thames in March
2009. Oxford won the race in
17 minutes and 2 seconds.
