I take Mark Hurst's/Uncle Mark's advice and read The Economist. A couple of weeks ago, there was an interesting piece in the Schumpeter called "The Catalan Kings." The piece looks at one of the age old questions in sports AND in business: Is it better to buy talent or train your own talent?The article answers this question through the lens of who many consider the best soccer team in the world right now - Barcelona.
Barca, as they are called, takes the "grow your own approach". They have their own school/training facility: La Masia.
La Masia is unique among football schools. It is a boarding school that puts as much emphasis on character training as on footballing skills. The students are relentlessly instructed on the importance of team spirit, self-sacrifice and perseverance.
I cannot help but think how this could possibly benefit American sports clubs. Due to the Lockout happening with American Football, the 2-3 Rookie Symposium was cancelled. 2-3 days of what to expect now that you are in the professional ranks versus a boarding school.
The article references the Harvard study of Wall St. analysts that change firms and see an immediate decline in performance. I don't know if that is a fair comparison. If you had asked me in the beginning of May, I would have agreed.
I am a fan of the Boston Red Sox. During the off season, they picked up Carl Crawford from the Tampa Bay Rays. Crawford's career averages:
| Year | Age | Tm | Lg | G | AB | R | H | HR | RBI | SB | SO | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Seasons | 1290 | 5209 | 791 | 1531 | 108 | 615 | 416 | 807 | .294 | .334 | .441 | .775 | 106 | |||
| 162 Game Avg. | 162 | 654 | 99 | 192 | 14 | 77 | 52 | 101 | .294 | .334 | .441 | .775 | 106 | |||
The Red Sox paid him a fortune to bring that to Boston. And he, until maybe the last week or so, really stunk it up. But now, we are seeing the Carl Crawford reflected in those stats.
I'm a little torn on the subject. I like the grow your own approach. But sometimes you need to bring some heavy hitters in to mix it up. You need new blood. You need an infusion of new ideas and abilities.
It is a tough call, but I agree with you. Sometimes you have to bring in new ideas and abilities. This may or may not cost a fortune. Sometimes, you plain old need to clean house.
ReplyDeleteUntil employers and sports teams can get their employee retention under control (that is to say create value and opportunities for each and every one of their employees unique needs) we will always see increased costs of doing business because of recruiting.
I think that you are both right. We need to fire people and we need to recruit new ones.
ReplyDeleteThe bigger issue is that "stars" seldom make it, because the great result that earned fleeting stardom always comes from the individual in concert with the team.
In other cases, "stars" fizzle because their brightness was merely a reflection of a supernova like Steve Jobs. I remember a young man who joined my company many years ago from Apple Computer, as it was then. He never seemed very bright or effective, but he was always introduced as, "Fred, who joined us from Apple." Apple's gain.
That is perfect that we can get the loan moreover, this opens up new possibilities.
ReplyDelete