Is finance the optimal career for a former athlete.

 When I got to college, something that stood out to me was the number of athletes majoring in economics or finance.

This begs the question, do college athletes work less hard in the classroom because these are easy majors, or do athletes just have the aptitudes necessary to succeed in business. I would theorize it is the latter and not the former. To succeed in business, you must be hard working, confident, analytical and good at dealing with different personalities. I would argue all of these traits are what make an athlete great as well.

To be great in a specific sport you must practice all the time and not just practice all the time, do the correct kind of practicing. This would be similar to successful businesspeople who are notoriously known for working long hours and even working evenings and weekends. An athlete must be able to get it done in "crunch time" or when the game is tied, and it comes down to one play, which takes confidence from the athlete to say that he or she wants the final shot, possession or at-bat. In business you must be able to advocate for your product or argument to get the outcome you want, which also takes some confidence. An athlete must have some analytical skills, or innate talent/ instincts to get it done on the playing field. In the moment, athletes must make split second decisions based on the status of the playing field, score of the game and time on the clock. This takes innate analytical skill on the part of the athlete to, in most cases, make this split-second decision for the betterment of the team. This goes without saying in business as well, where most decisions are made on bottom-line earnings, sales goals, and economic trends that are usually mapped out in spreadsheets, which take analytical ability to create. Last and maybe the most important trait of any businessman/woman or athlete is they have to be able to deal with people on their sports team or within their corporation. The captain of sports teams is usually the best player, but not always; sometimes it is the athlete that deals the best with the different personalities on the team and is a good leader. Captains are the face of the team and are the player that is an extension of the coaching staff who usually give their input to the coaches where to direct their attention to. Therefore, they are a part of making the hardest decisions in the game and outside of the game. This trait translates well in the business world, especially with supervisors, bosses, and leaders within a business corporation. Most of the time, a boss is looked at to make the big-time decision that affects the direction of the company; therefore, they take on the most responsibility. The best bosses are able to deal with any kind of personality.

College athletes who do not go pro, which is most of them, go on to become doctors, lawyers, coaches, or engineers. However, the most common degree earned from division 1 college athletes is business with 26% of all athletes majoring in the discipline. Athletes have all the capabilities to achieve great heights in business and some of the most famous businesspeople were former college athletes. John Donahue (CEO of Nike) was a college basketball player at Darmouth, and Brian Moynihan (CEO of Merill Lynch) was a college football player at Brown. Economics and Finance have the perception that they are easy majors, however, when it comes down to it, athletes major in these disciplines not because they are easy, but because they have all the tools to be successful in these disciplines.