In a two-decade career as an All-Star shortstop and third baseman for the Baltimore Orioles, Ripken played—at times alongside his coach and manager father, Cal Sr., and his second baseman brother, Billy—in a record-shattering 2,632 consecutive games, earning him the nickname Iron Man. Since retiring, in 2001, he has run a youth baseball organization and a charitable foundation.

A version of this article appeared in the March–April 2019 issue (p.152) of Harvard Business Review.