The secret to winning is not what you think it is. It's not the coach. It's not the star. It's not money. It's not a strategy. It's something else entirely. Several years ago, Sam Walker set out to answer one of the most hotly debated questions in sports: What are the greatest teams of all time? He devised a formula, then applied it to thousands of teams from leagues all over the world, from the NBA to the English Premier League to Olympic field hockey. When he was done, he had a list of the sixteen most dominant teams in history. At that point, he became obsessed with another, more complicated question: What did these freak teams have in common? As Walker dug into their stories, a pattern emerged: Each team had the same type of captain -- a singular leader with an unconventional skill set who drove it to achieve sustained, historic greatness. Fueled by a lifetime of sports spectating, twenty years of reporting, and a decade of painstaking research, The Captain Class tells the surprising story of what makes teams exceptional. Drawing on original interviews with athletes from two dozen countries, as well as general managers, coaches, executives, and others skilled at building teams, Walker identifies the seven core qualities of this Captain Class -- from extreme doggedness and emotional control to a knack for nonverbal communication to tactical aggression and the courage to stand apart. Told through accounts of some of the most pressure-soaked moments in sports history -- from Bill Russell's legendary "Coleman Play" in the 1957 NBA Finals to Barcelona's "Figo Game" against Real Madrid in 2000.

PART I : GREATNESS AND ITS ORIGINS : The birth of a freak team -- ONE. Alpha lions : Identifying the world's greatest teams -- TWO. Captain theory : The importance of "glue guys" -- THREE. Talent, money, and culture : Alternative explanations -- FOUR. Do coaches matter? : The Vince Lombardi effect --PART II : THE CAPTAINS : The seven methods of elite leadership -- FIVE. They just keep coming : Doggedness and its ancillary benefits -- SIX. Intelligent fouls : Playing to the edge of the rules -- SEVEN. Carrying water : The hidden art of leading from the back -- EIGHT. Boxing ears and wiping noses : Practical communication -- NINE. Calculated acts : The power of nonverbal displays -- TEN. Uncomfortable truths : The courage to stand apart -- ELEVEN. The kill switch : Regulating emotion -- PART III : THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION : Leadership mistakes and misperceptions -- TWELVE. False idols : Flawed captains and why we love them -- THIRTEEN. The captaincy in winter : leadership's decline, and how to revive it.