“What makes Coach Reid a great play caller? He’s not tied to any one thing,” an offensive coordinator texted me. “He doesn’t care about run/pass ratio or any of that b.s. He cares about getting his best players touches. It doesn’t matter if it’s a run, pass, screen, whatever. It may sound basic, but so many coaches are so tied to their scheme. Force-feeding a desired philosophy. He just feeds his playmakers. Always has. Why he wins so much.” – John Middlekauff in a January 23rd article from The Athletic (click the link above)
I frequently meet leaders who typecast the type of person they wish to hire. They are looking for a certain age, DISC profile, or some other predetermined criteria. When you read the quote above, what you learn from Coach Reid is there are two primary components to success:
- Acquire the best talent.
- Get them the ball (or best opportunities in your organization) anyway you can, as often as you can.
MIddlekauff continues in his evaluation of Coach Reid, “It also helps that Reid has never been tied to a specific type of player. He doesn’t need tall wideouts. He doesn’t need a specific kind of running back. He doesn’t need one type of quarterback. Like Al Davis, Reid’s a sucker for talent. All shapes and sizes. Then, as such a great innovator, he’ll always figure out how to use them.”
After reading these two components and the comments above, the following are 6 Lessons On Acquiring And Properly Utilizing Elite Talent From Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid:
- To Properly Acquire And Utilize Talent You Cannot Be Tied To Any Single Approach – Successful leaders frequently operate outside of standard industry tendencies. Just because everyone else does something a certain way does not mean that is the way you should. Be innovative in terms of what you are looking for and how to add talented individuals to your team.
- To Properly Acquire And Utilize Talent You Must Remove Your Personal Ego – You cannot be tied to a single scheme, system, or personal preference for how things should operate. Whether you as the leader like or are comfortable with a way of doing things is not the question. Is your team delivering superior results is the question. If not, do not be stubborn. You must change your approach.
- To Properly Acquire And Utilize Talent You Must NOT Treat Everyone Equally – For your organization to have maximum success, you must force-feed your most talented employees opportunities. Get them the ball (or lead, call, meeting, platform, etc…)!
- To Properly Acquire And Utilize Talent Be Open-Minded – You should cast as wide a net as possible when searching for top talent. Top talent comes in all shapes, sizes, backgrounds, socio-economics statues, etc…. Do not look for talent in a single place or type of person. Have diversity of thought.
- To Properly Acquire And Utilize Talent You Must Be A Sucker For Talent – You must be a talent-connoisseur. Great leaders view talent similarly to someone who collects fine wine or works of art. They appreciate talent, are able to spot it, cultivate it, value it, care for it, and then properly leverage it.
- To Properly Acquire And Utilize Talent You Must Know How To Utilize Talent – Many leaders simply do not know how to utilize talent. I also think the reason many leaders want a predetermined type of person is they simply lack the creativity to know how to leverage a talented individual who is outside the scope of what they are comfortable with. They lack the innovation to think creatively about a person of a unique skill-set. To help in this area and ensure success, there should always be an organizational performance plan pre-determined for that individual to be successful.
I mentioned the online sports magazine/newspaper The Athletic above. The $25 I paid for an annual subscription is simply the best investment I made in 2019. The Athletic features many of my favorite writers like Michael Lombardi, Bruce Feldman, Peter Gammons, and many more. If you are a sports fan, trust me, click HERE, or the link above and check it out. You will not be disappointed.
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