We've long used sports metaphors to describe business situations: "they dropped the ball," "we hit it out of the park," or a project launch is "down to the wire." But, unlike sports, where every other team has to lose in order for one to win, the modern business environment is more about innovating and creating better value for customers than it is about crushing the competition. But the world of sports still has a lot to teach us about how to approach the work itself.