I'm a huge baseball fan.
I’m also a “business junkie” and a student of performance. Few movies combine both of my passions better than Micahel Lewis’s Moneyball. The movie is entertaining, but the lessons were more powerful.
Nearly all of those lessons were centered around, to borrow a tagline from Apple: “Think Different” to compete effectively when the odds were stacked against them. Classic David Vs. Goliath.
The Lessons
Facts matter. Not looks on the surface
Conventional wisdom does not work when you are under-resourced
“Sexy” factors are often over-valued, while the real indicators that produce the ultimate goal (winning) are sometimes over-looked, and as a result, under-priced. Opportunity!
Under-valuing those create market inefficiency, and opportunity for those with lesser resources to compete
Sometimes “experience” creates barriers to seeing true value.
In other words, fresh eyes and the baggage they do NOT carry are needed to see assets, where others see liabilities
If you believe in something, you can’t be partially committed. Go All In.
Think differently
Start early, prepare. Hustle
Losing sucks. Don’t tolerate it when people don’t seem to be bothered by loosing. Get them off the team, quick!
There are ways to compete against 800lb gorillas, which I wrote about in “Build a Winnable Plan.” Outspending them is top of the list of things to avoid.
Define the right problem? (language warning!)
Ask the right Questions
“Evaluate 3 players. I know I did 51.” Hustle is always a default strategy that never gets old. No substitute for starting a new role…
That’s what loosing sounds like.