Sports, like business, is a nonstop, flat-out competition where winners prosper and losers are sent packing. Think the multi-billion-dollar sports industry might have something to teach your business? You better believe it. With On the Ball, you will learn those lessons before your competitors do. Get in the sports business game and learn about breakthrough techniques for building a business. Reaching customers. Delivering customer service. Branding yourself and your business. Handling employee relations. Alliance building. Crisis management. Entering new markets. Turning around a business. Leadership. All that, plus your own personal behind-the-scenes tour of the sports industry-courtesy of top sports business consultant David M. Carter and ESPN.com's Darren Rovell. Hop on. It'll be a fun ride. A very profitable fun ride. * Branding, NBA style Powerful branding lessons from David Stern, Michael Jordan & Co. * Strategic alliances with the New York Yankees Win-win partnerships with George Steinbrenner * Building your business the way NASCAR did it Fast lane from the backwoods to NBC Sports * Terrorism to bribery: practical lessons in crisis management Straight from sports, 10 steps for handling any business crisis * Penetrate and dominate: Nike in new markets How Tiger Woods helped Nike go global * Know your fan, know your customer Take a tour of the baseball minor leagues and see how to really please your customers Today's most powerful business lessons... ...you could learn them from some boring business school text. But, hey, life's too short. With On the Ball, you can learn the same lessons from sports! Top sports business consultant David M. Carter and ESPN.com sports business journalist Darren Rovell serve up winning techniques straight out of the big leagues. Business is a sport, and sport's a business, right? So why not learn... * Entrepreneurship from NASCAR's Bill France Sr. * Target marketing the MasterCard way * Customer service from the late great Bill Veeck * Personal branding from cyclist Lance Armstrong and women's tennis player Anna Kournikova * Employee relations from Major League Baseball * Strategic alliances from New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner * Crisis Management from NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue * Penetrating new markets using Tiger Woods * Brand building from NBA Commissioner David Stern * Turnarounds from Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones * Leadership from Notre Dame head football coach Tyrone Willingham Fast, furious, outrageous, and unforgettable, On the Ball is everything you expect from sports, and don't expect from a business book!From The Critics