Sam Walker

WSJ Sports Editor, Author of The Captain Class

  • ABOUT
    • SAM’S BOOKS
  • THE CAPTAIN CLASS
    • TEAMS & CAPTAINS
    • ARE YOU CAPTAIN CLASS MATERIAL?
  • MEDIA
  • REVIEWS
  • ENDORSEMENTS
  • CONTACT

REVIEWS

A “well-told book about leadership” with “genuine insight” that “intelligently masquerades as a book about sports.”

– ANDREW ROSS SORKIN

The New York Times


“The best business book of 2017 on leadership…. This wonderfully written and wildly entertaining study of the most winning sports teams in history has more to say about leadership, engagement, and the chemistry that sparks and sustains extraordinary achievement than a decade’s worth of leadership books.”

– SALLY HELGESEN

Strategy + Business


“The book I most enjoyed reading this year…. A fascinating book for sports fans, full of insider stories on top teams and the sources of their success. But it also offers leadership insights applicable outside of sports.”

– HARVEY SCHACHTER

Globe and Mail


“It seems that Walker discovered fundamental truths about team dynamics, whether in pro sports teams or corporations: Strong leadership from the top is crucial, but only works when there’s a talented leader on the field.”

– RICHARD FELONI

Business Insider


“13 of the best business books of 2017.”

– CATHERINE CLIFFORD

-CNBC 


“One of the best leadership and management books of 2017.”

– AMAZON.COM


“One of the best sports business books of 2017”

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED


“I can’t tell you how much I loved The Captain Class. It identifies something many people who’ve been around successful teams have felt but were never able to articulate. It has impacted my thoughts around how we build our culture.”

DEREK FALVEY, CHIEF BASEBALL OFFICER

Minnesota Twins


“Combining statistics with epic stories from the playing field, Walker compellingly makes his case that captains possessing traits not usually assumed as shared among leaders are what make empires. A fascinating sports study with much wider-reaching application, featuring page-turning tales of personal triumph and cogent analysis.”  

KIRKUS (starred review)


“A remarkable book, one that articulates much of what you feel about great teams but have perhaps been afraid to express…. Sam Walker has done a terrific job. His book is well worth reading.”

DAVID WALSH, CHIEF SPORTSWRITER

The Sunday Times (UK)


“A thoughtful, smart and quick read, and a counterintuitive one—which I like and endorse.”

PETER KING

MMQB


“One of THE sports books that I think will soon be in every manager’s office. He has unearthed the one element That seperates good teams from great ones.”

MATT WILLIAMS

BBC Radio 2 (starts at 1.45:37)


“A remarkable book… What’s most interesting is that [these captains] share very few of the cliched traits that the modern conventional wisdom has come to view as the stuff of ‘captain material.'”

DAVE FESCHUK

The Toronto Star


“A remarkable new book that challenges some conventional ideas about leadership.”

DAN LYONS

LinkedIn


“A genuinely fascinating study of why captains are so influential in successful teams yet are almost always misjudged.”

JOE SHORT

Express (UK) 


“Non-fiction book of the week.”

National Post


“This is a fascinating book for sports fans, full of insider stories on top teams and the sources of their success. But it also offers leadership insights applicable outside of sports.”

Toronto Globe and Mail


“One of the five best nonfiction books for May, 2017… With a comically exacting rigor, Sam Walker, an editor at the Wall Street Journal, uncovers the “hidden force” powering history’s greatest sports teams: the characters of the people leading them. Walker’s book is both a compelling sports argument-starter and an easy-to-swallow guide to effective leadership, suited to barstool and boardroom alike. The portraits of leaders across the athletic-spectrum are warm and dishy. Together, they form an affectionate paean to the figure of the under-appreciated captain.”

iBOOKS

5 best nonfiction books of May


“13 Best Books for Summer 2017.”

– ADAM BROWN

Forbes


“The Captain Class is an expertly executed, incredibly thorough read on leadership, a book that can be applied to all levels of athletics and beyond.”

KEVIN DUFFY

Masslive


“The Captain Class offers a tremendous insight into the world of elite-level captains, their roles, influences and foibles. And this isn’t any old insight. Walker is a highly skilled prose craftsman and is clearly dedicated to this research project. What makes this book so good — and in fact what validates it — is that Walker’s arguments stand up. This isn’t pub chat. Evidence is everything here and Walker draws on academic research from a whole gamut of influences. Walker has created a genuinely fascinating study of why captains are so influential in successful teams.”

THE EXPRESS (UK)


“The premise alone is intriguing: The former sports editor of the Wall Street Journal, now a deputy page one editor, spent years coming up with a list of the 16 most dominant teams in sports, and then looked for what they had in common. His answer? Each team had what the book’s summary calls a ‘captain’ — ‘a singular leader who drove it to sustained, historic periods of greatness.’ Sam Walker then studied the seven attributes those leaders exhibited, such as doggedness or nonverbal communication skills, that aren’t always heralded as the most important leadership traits.”

THE WASHINGTON POST


“When we think about the athletes who make their teams great, we tend to think about high-scoring hotshots. But in his new book The Captain Class, Sam Walker argues that while star players help, the true hallmark of a top-tier team is a captain who works hard behind the scenes.”  

– SARAH BEGLEY

TIME MAGAZINE


“Walker studied 1,200 teams across 37 sports and, amid numerous books about the makings of individual sporting brilliance, his search for those intangibles of team success feels genuinely new. The case he makes for the captain is also persuasive.”  

DAILY TELEGRAPH (UK)


“The book doubles as a guide to success in business, with pointed commentary on what makes leaders effective or ineffective.”  

BOOKPAGE


“Written for serious sports fans in lively language that also speaks to aspiring athletes and business professionals, this book offers a compelling argument for the value of inspired leadership.”  

PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY

 


“A wonderfully strange and absorbing study of what drives great sports teams. The result is informative, persuasive and great fun for anyone not only with a passing interest in sport but in mankind.”

– KEITH DUGGAN, CHIEF SPORTSWRITER

The Irish Times

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“Well-researched, wildly entertaining, and thought-provoking.

In The Captain Class, Sam Walker presents compelling narratives about the secret ingredient to the greatest teams of all time – and quickly has the reader reexamining long-held beliefs about leadership and the glue that binds winning teams together.”

– THEO EPSTEIN

President of Baseball Operations, the Chicago Cubs

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