"Hiring Lessons of the NFL Draft", Minneapolis Star Tribune, May 1, 2006

 

Following the annual National Football League collegiate draft, which was held over the weekend, long has been a guilty pleasure of mine. Helping companies hire executive talent is my day job, and the professional sports talent selection process has vicarious appeal.

 

Every year, football fans from Weehawken to Wayzata dream that their team will draft the next Lawrence Taylor or Alan Page. Some years they are rewarded with stars, some with stiffs. The NFL drafting process is at least as sophisticated as the corporate hiring process these days, with psychological assessments, IQ tests, breakdowns of college performance and examinations of physical ability.

 

How can football teams and companies maximize the chances of selecting future stars? Here are my rules to consider in assessing talent in professional football or in business:

 

1. Beware Hometown Heroes -  When choosing between two players of equal talent, do not choose the local college star who will "sell tickets." Success in the future, not the past, sells tickets; fans will adore a superstar wherever he is from. For example, Joe Namath, a Pittsburgh native, was revered by locals in Alabama and then New York, based on his performance and charisma.

 

In business, select extraordinary talent from different cultures, rather than settling for ordinary candidates who fit your cultural comfort zone. In a global economy, "success sells tickets."

 

2. Draft the Best Athlete, not the Most Pressing Need -  In the NFL, drafting to improve a key weakness is fine if the player selected is of similar ability to those available at other positions. Otherwise, select the best available athlete, even if he plays a position where you already have talented players.

 

Companies often assume that candidates from their own industry will help them most. But executives from other industries can help a company leapfrog its competitors by bringing best practices from elsewhere. For example, UnitedHealth Group, the managed care giant based in Minnesota, deliberately recruits a significant percentage of its executives from outside the health care industry.

 

3. Avoid Cogs in the Machine -  Some college football programs are so successful that the system makes good players appear great, but they then revert to ordinary in the pros. Teams selecting Big Ten running backs run this risk.

 

In business, companies are sometimes blinded by the halo effect of a candidate from an elite competitor. But success in a smoothly functioning system often doesn't translate into success in a turnaround effort.

 

4. You Can't Teach Heart -  College football players who aren't self-motivated are not likely to develop that trait as professionals. Good talent with great will and intelligence beats unmotivated great talent every time, as the success of Tom Brady and Jerry Rice ("too slow") or Ray Lewis and Emmitt Smith ("too small") proves.

 

In business, as motivational author Jim Rohn has written, "Don't waste your time trying to change ducks into eagles." Hiring motivated individuals is easier than trying to instill ambition into the unmotivated.

 

5. Ability Matters, But is Hard to Measure -  Metrics of ability are important, but subjective, in football and the workplace. The Football Hall of Fame is filled with players who lacked world-class speed but whose playing speed made them far more successful than sprinters who were not football-savvy.

 

Companies sometime rely too heavily on school grades as an indicator of success in the workplace, especially for experienced hires. I once encountered a company that asked candidates how they scored on their SAT college entrance exams. The fallacy is obvious -- SATs are predictors of future success in college.

 

6. Jerks Rarely Win -  Superstars who are personally productive but disruptive to the organization are seldom worth the bother in a team sport. For all his touchdowns, Terrell Owens has never won a playoff game beyond the first round. As a team executive famously said to the star of an abysmal team who was demanding more money: "We lost with you, we can lose without you."

 

In business, companies are sometimes afraid to rein in disruptive stars, particularly sales rainmakers or technical gurus. But a superachiever who demeans and manipulates his or her peers can ultimately disrupt the output of the entire department.

 

7. Don't Mistake Eccentrics for Jerks -  Jerks may not be worth the trouble, but talented nonconformists usually are. The Oakland Raiders won multiple Super Bowls collecting talented oddballs with a deep desire to win, after they were discarded by other teams.

 

In business too, it is wise to manage talented individuals differently, even gingerly, as long as they are committed to leveraging their abilities toward the goals of the organization.

 

8. Don't Try to Fix All Your Problems with One Hire -  Trying to compensate for systemic weaknesses with a superstar doesn't work. The classic example is the elite quarterback inserted behind a terrible offensive line, like Archie Manning on the 1970s New Orleans Saints. In contrast, the New England Patriots won yet another Super Bowl in 2005 with no-name cornerbacks Asante Samuels and Randall Gay. The defense was built as a system, not around any one superstar (thought the team had several).

 

In a business, beware trying to hire superstars to compensate for weaknesses in other parts of the organization. Hiring a sales guru is a worthy goal, but if marketing is feeble, business growth will continue to disappoint.

 

9. Production Eventually Trumps Potential -  In football, the ultimate complement is "He's a football player." In business, it's: "She makes money everywhere she goes."