What have sports stars and CEOs got in common? It’s an interesting question, and one that doesn’t revolve solely around Lycra bodysuits.

As an award-winning ghostwriter, I’m prone to asking myself questions such as this. It encourages lateral thinking and makes me wonder just how proficient Alan Sugar would be at the pole vault.

In this case, I’ve realised that business and sportspeople do indeed have a lot in common. After all, while outwardly they operate in very different arenas, many of the pressures and skills are surprisingly similar.

Success and failure, for instance, is very much played out in public. Athletes are judged by wins, losses, statistics, and championships. CEOs are judged by revenue, profit, growth, stock price, and company performance. Admittedly, CEOs aren’t required to give a urine test on submission of their quarterly results.

Leadership also matters. A star athlete can influence team culture, effort, and confidence in the same way a CEO shapes company culture, priorities, and morale. Allied to that, the higher someone rises in both fields the more people expect from them. A missed penalty in an FA Cup Final will dominate headlines same as a failed product launch will haunt a CEO.

There’s a need also for continuous improvement. Sportspeople train and refine technique. CEOs study markets, competitors, leadership, and strategy. The best of both are often obsessed with getting slightly better every day. Sadly, this can ruin Christmas morning for the kids when both are out for a 22-mile run.

Also true in both cases that team success beats individual talent. A superstar athlete can’t win alone any more than a brilliant CEO can build a great company all by themselves. Success depends on attracting, developing, and coordinating talented people. Either that or by attracting the interest of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.

Mental resilience is also key. Criticism, setbacks, injuries, and unexpected crises are far from uncommon, and the ability to recover from losses is often more important than avoiding them, as is the understanding that what worked when you were 25 may not work 30 years later. All you’re ever going to do is put your back out.

Which brings us to the one major difference – athletes usually have a shorter performance window. That’s why Tom Daley took up knitting.

As a ghostwriter, the characteristics that bring CEOs and sportspeople on to the same page are fascinating. Similarly, while the average CEO might not be able to run 100m in under ten seconds, I’m also reminded that sportspeople don’t always make the best businesspeople. Google ‘Dennis Lillee and aluminium cricket bats’. He ended up with a garage-ful.

Thankfully, all this makes great content for a ghostwriter. Enough to win the accolade of Sunday Times bestseller? If you’re in either camp, there’s only one way to find out.