Friday, June 29, 2012

Making the Pick: NBA Draft and Talent Evaluation

I had an interesting conversation last week with some friends facing challenges in the hiring process.  We got to talking about comparisons within the sports world.  Last night's NBA Draft was a great snapshot of sport's "hiring process."  

How companies (or in this case teams) evaluate talent is an interesting and varying process.  Of course there are major differences between the two, but the parallels are relevant.  There is always a pipeline of talent for NBA scouts and coaches to evaluate and they constantly monitor it.  One of the interesting points in my conversation with some recruiters was that many companies have a "superficial" pipeline.  They don't establish "real" relationships with prospective talent until there is a specific need, at which point they are placed in a reactive position.  Teams ask themselves many of the same questions that companies ask.  Questions like:

Do I have a specific need to fill or am I taking the best available?  

Am I looking for immediate return or a long-term solution?  

Do I take the safer choice or do I take a risk on higher potential?  

Are there any red flags?  

Will this person fit within my existing team?  

Is this person coachable?  

What is his or her reputation?  

Will they support our efforts to create a healthy environment? 

Intangibles like he's a "high-character guy" or a "relentless competitor" or "high basketball IQ" came up in draft commentary almost as much as performance.  For employers of all types, the search is all about the fit and proactively building a healthy pipeline which requires carefully weighing talent and performance alongside the intangibles.       

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Title IX: Lessons Beyond the Playing Field


This week marks the 40th anniversary of Title IX, the landmark legislation signed on June 23, 1972 to expand opportunities in higher education for women.  The discussion around Title IX typically centers on athletics, which fell under the educational programs umbrella.

Reading the stories this week from countless female athletes from different decades, they all pointed to the lessons sports taught them off the field.  Having spent all four years of my college experience at Michigan State on the tennis team, the message resonates.  A 2002 survey by Oppenheimer Funds found that 82% of female business executives participated in organized sports after elementary school.  This probably does not surprise most men, who have long realized how lessons learned early on the playing field translate later to the boardroom.

Sports teach us how to win and how to lose.  They teach us accountability, selflessness, time management, sportsmanship and resilience.  We learn how to work within a team- when to be a leader and when to be a role player.  Sports teach us how to bounce back from adversity and understand that calls won’t always go our way and that there will be bumps along the road to success.  We learn how to communicate and how to deal with different personality types and management styles.  It’s not hard to connect the dots and see why the lessons we learn in sports last us a lifetime.

Friday, June 8, 2012

Recovering from Adversity


The Oklahoma City Thunder’s remarkable turnaround has been the talk of the sports world this week as they advanced to their first NBA Finals in dramatic fashion.  The NBA Playoffs have been a great example of how we find lessons in sports that we can apply to our every day lives. 

How do we handle adversity, and on the flip side, how do we handle success?  The Thunder faced a Spurs team that had won 20 straight games.  Down 2-0, the numbers said they had no chance.  How did they respond?  By reeling off four straight victories, rallying from an 18-point deficit in the decisive game, and becoming only the third team in NBA history to win four straight in the conference finals after trailing 2-0.  You don’t have to be a sports fan to appreciate their fight.  

Successful people—in sports, business and life—share a common trait.  They recover from adversity quickly.  They don’t focus on the negative and they control what they can control.  So what can we learn from the playoffs while we are enjoying the games?  Don’t let adversity unravel you.  Allow it to motivate you and propel you forward.