Moneyball, or what Brad Pitt can teach you about managing great people…

It struck me that the only way to maintain a blog (it is, after all, yet another commitment) was to write about things that interest me & hope that other people find these musings interesting too! So, the opportunity to start with a blog that incorporates Brad Pitt, performance management & the art of getting the best from people seemed like a good way to start.

So, why Brad Pitt? Well, this week Pitt was nominated for an Oscar for his role as Billy Beane in Moneyball (also nominated for a further 5 Academy Awards), which tells the story of the Oakland Athletics baseball team in 2001. The film tells how Beane, as Coach of the Oakland A’s, is ultimately successful in assembling a team of first class players, despite not having the revenue of the other, bigger, clubs. Beane and his chief scout Peter Brand, used a system known as sabermetrics to identify playing statistics that could be good indicators of future success. In doing this, they flew in the face of conventional wisdom at the time to identify a new range of qualities to look for when scouting for talent. By re-evaluating their strategies, the Oakland A’s were able to compete against much larger market teams such as the New York Yankees despite having only a third of the budget.

How is this relevant to business performance? The critical factor here is that Beane was able to identify a range of qualities to look for when scouting for talent. He was very clear about what he was looking for in a player & could recognise when a previously poor performer could be moved to a different position to achieve much greater things. I am often asked to support businesses in managing an under-performing individual, the aim being to exit the individual at minimal cost & disruption to the business. Very often this is the result of a mismatch in expectations between the business and the individual and a lack of mutual understanding.

Do you know what you are looking for in your people? Do you invest quality time before beginning the hiring process in deciding what your ideal person would “look” like? Or do you advertise a vacancy with limited information about your requirements and hope that you will meet the right person in the interview?

So, when your business is looking to hire new talent what should you be doing in order to generate your own Moneyball? Make sure that you know the answers to these:

• How will you measure whether this person is successful or not?
• What are the key objectives for the first 6 – 12 months?
• What skills are essential in order for them to be able to deliver?
• How would you want them to behave?
• Can you train them to deliver or do you really need someone who can hit the ground running?

Remember “Recruit for Attitude – Train for Skill”.