Playing a sport helps one become a better leader. Ask Brian Moynihan, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer at Bank of America. Moynihan, who took over the reins of BofA in 2010, was co-captain of the Brown University rugby team. Like for many others in the US, for the young Moynihan, rugby was a way of life. He played fly half and inside centre. He was not imposing athletically but was fast. "You can win in rugby only if you play as a team. I mean, every person has to carry the ball, every person has to tackle, every person has to pass the ball, so you have to work as a team," he said to the Brown Daily Herald
The lesson has come in handy now that Moynihan leads one of the world's biggest banks at a time coronavirus has shut down large parts of the economy. He is undeterred and has gone public saying that consumer spending is picking up and the American economy is beginning to recover from the shutdown. That should be good news for a banker who learnt his first leadership lesson on the rugby field.