How to slay your MBA like an Olympian Three elite athletes on the transferable skills that help them find success in their MBA programs Olympian Melanie McCann is completing her MBA at Queen’s (Photograph by Kate Peters) There’s a lot of overlap between the qualities athletes must possess to make it to the Olympics and those required of successful students and, later, businesspeople: leadership, collaboration, determination and time management are key in both fields. But talk to Erica Wiebe, Brad Gushue and Melanie McCann, current and former Olympians who are all enrolled in an MBA program at Queen’s University’s Smith School of Business, and it quickly becomes clear that their athletic prowess sets them up for success in other ways, too. Being coachable, for example, or understanding how to spot—and close—the “gaps” in their knowledge or experience.