The Hindu : New Delhi News : Tips for success

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Thursday, May 22, 2008
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Tips for success

Kunal Diwan

A motivational book from a winner

It provides guidance on making important choices
Shows how to achieve a ‘winning advantage’

Coach-cum-writer: John Buchanan.

New Delhi: Former Australian national cricket team coach John Buchanan has now come out with a motivational book titled “If Better is Possible”.

In his newest reincarnation as coach of Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League, Buchanan will participate in a function to promote his book at the Australian High Commission in New Delhi this Friday.

Equipped with a degree in human movements, a teaching diploma and a Master of Arts in Sports Administration, Buchanan was pivotal in inspiring the Australian Test team to 16 victories on the trot over a span of six series.

“If Better is Possible” illustrates how business managers can lead their team to greatness and explores in detail what it takes to build up and sustain championship teams.

Written as a series of accessible essays, the book provides guidance on making important life-changing choices, creating a culture of success, gaining material toughness and using various systems and processes to achieve a winning advantage.

Woven throughout the narrative is the behind-the-scene story of how the Aussie cricketers under Buchanan’s guidance became invincible.

The 16 successive victories apart, the team also won two World Cups and retained The Ashes in a highly successful campaign.

The book forms a platform on which Buchanan reveals the strategies he used to gain the upper hand in contests.

“A clear vision of where you want to take people is one of the most important requirements for managing and coaching a team. Everything else follows -- leadership, team ethos and culture, the method of achieving the vision and the kinds of people needed to drive the vision,” he says.

Buchanan’s stint with the Australian team yielded a 75 per cent or better win-loss ratio in both test matches and One Day Internationals.

Few other teams in cricket history have been able to reach and sustain such levels of success and focus.

The book has been published by Orient Paperbacks.

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