1/2 Man, 1/2 Amazing

This may be a surprise to some, but I do appreciate (sort of) that not everyone that reads this blog is as fully invested and familiar with the nuances of sports, and in particular professional basketball.  1/2 Man

So you may not have realized that the title of this post, 1/2 Man, 1/2 Amazing was not just meant as a general descriptive phrase, but rather was/is the nickname of an actual person, legendary street and playground legend Anthony Heyward.  The nickname stems from a famous Heyward slam dunk over a much taller player. The full details of Heyward's nickname from Hoopedia:

An original member of the AND 1 team he earned Street Name, 1/2 Man balling at Rucker Park. After driving the lane and dunking on a dude that was much bigger then him, Rucker MC Duke Tango called him 1/2 Man 1/2 Amazing. The name has stuck ever since and we all know who was the first player to have it was (sorry Vince Carter). 

Like many of the other streetball legends that have come before and since, 1/2 Man never has 'made it', that is, obtained the highest level of accomplishment in professional basketball, a contract with an NBA team.  There are various theories why fantastic street ball talents like 1/2 Man have largely failed to make an impact in the Association, from lack of experience in structured offensive and defensive systems, to games that are kind of one-dimensional and thus easily defensed at the NBA level, or to a perception that the street or playground game is simply inferior to the NBA game, and consequently its stars, while talented, are by and large a level (or two) below top professional caliber.

I suppose it is debatable whether or not any individual playground star like 1/2 Man was or is talented enough to make it in the NBA, logically you would have to assume that if indeed an NBA contract were offered guys like 1/2 Man would jump at the chance, since even the minimum NBA salary (between about $500K and $1.4M based on experience) is bound to be far greater than what can be earned in the playgrounds and on barnstorming tours playing in local gyms.

But more interesting to me in the case of the NBA largely ignoring the playground legends, is considering how much of the snub is due to pure basketball ability and potential, and how much is based on these players not having the 'correct' background and more typical developmental experiences of NBA players. Even today, most new NBA players compete in American colleges, even if for only a year or two.  Non North American players usually have experience in high-level professional leagues in Europe. With only the occasional exception (e.g. Rafer Alston, AKA 'Skip to my Lou' ), no one steps from the playground to the NBA.

Ok, so you are not in the business of stocking and NBA team. Sadly, neither am I. But chances are you and your organization is looking for help right now.  Chances are even in a recession, your company has to fill and back fill jobs. 

Chances you are looking to the same sources (Top 20 colleges, LinkedIn, or employee referrals) that have always worked for you in the past.

Chances are you don't have a scout watching the talent on the playground.  And that is too bad.

Because that is where 1/2 Man 1/2 Amazing plays. 

Email and feed subscribers click through

Builder or Custodian

In the world of big-time college athletics success on the field or court often results in ancillary benefits to the institution in the form of increased donations, an uptick in applications for admission, and in the case of so-called ‘Cinderella’ type schools that have not been traditionally strong, a surge in awareness and name recognition for the school to a wider audience.

In the college ‘money’ sports of (American) football and Men’s Basketball, a successful season or two, or a deep run in championship competition can be a springboard of opportunity for coaches at these smaller schools to make the jump to a larger school (and substantially raise their compensation), and can also create exposure for players at these small schools that perhaps might lead to a shot at professional contracts in the NFL or NBA.

Not unlike many industries or even geographies, there is a kind of hierarchy in college athletics; schools ‘know’ their place in the hierarchy by virtue of their level of competition, the conference and peer institutions that they choose to organize and affiliate with, and this hierarchy guides and influences the players they can recruit, and the quality and experience of the coaches they can employ.  Schools (and fans, alumni, students, etc.) all know their ‘place’ in the hierarchy, and while their is occasionally some institutions that ‘climb’ the ladder to higher levels of affiliation and competition, most of the upward mobility is personal, e.g., a successful coach at a lower level of competition gets a similar job at a bigger, top-flight school.

Last spring Butler University, a liberal-arts school with less that 5,000 students made a remarkable run to the Championship game of Men’s College Basketball, only to lose by two points to perennial power Duke, 61-59.  Butler’s coach Brad Stevens, was purported to be a candidate for several ‘bigger’ jobs (he stayed), and star player Gordon Hayward was seen as a potential NBA star (he left, and now plays for the Utah Jazz).  The movement of coaches and players from these small school successes is not really news anymore, and not terribly interesting (even to me).  

But another piece of employee transition news from Butler caught my attention over the weekend - the surprise resignation of Butler’s President Bobby Fong to take the over the same position at even smaller Ursinus College (I had to look it up too), a school of about 1,700 students located in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. Fong has been President of Butler for 10 years, a period that has been marked by rising enrollments, a successful $150M fundraising campaign, and capped off last spring by the exciting run to the Men’s Basketball Final Four and the Championship game.

If Fong were a player or coach on the basketball team, we’d expect his next move to be ‘up’; to take over at a big school like Michigan or South Carolina.  But to drop down to a tiny, off the map school like Ursinus?  In sports, this would be considered a step back, a career hiccup, or even the first step on the road to obscurity.  But look a bit closer and we see that what matters to Fong is the job he will be doing, not necessarily who he will be doing it for.  After 10 years of building up Butler, Fong wanted to start all over again the process in an environment where he would have that opportunity.  The money quote from Fong - “"You always want to be able to help an institution improve, and I tend to be a builder. I am not a custodian."

Super line, and one that reveals much about Fong as a leader, and that can also help anyone better understand and assess potential career moves.  Sometimes moving ‘up’ only means you get a nicer office to sit in while you simply look after things and try not to screw up. Sometimes you have to take a step ‘down’ in order to keep building.

Good luck at Ursinus President Fong, and if you make the Final Four again, I will demand an NCAA investigation.

Quick - Send in the 'B' Team

Last week there was a fantastic story in the world of sports, and one that most people, even the most ardent sports fans in the US probably missed.

USA defeats Turkey to capture World Basketball Championship.KD

I am not talking about the HR Capitalist, I know he was on top of the story.

Take a look at some of the not-so-thinly veiled references to this collection of American players as the ‘second team’, ‘junior varsity’, or ‘guys who know their roles’.  

Sure, this team lacked the star power and ability from more widely known performers like LeBron (who could not be bothered to take his talent to Turkey), Dwayne Wade, and Kobe Bryant.  For the record, the recovering from injury Bryant gets a pass from me as he carried that Laker team to the NBA title this past spring.

Heading in to the World Championship tournament there was a palpable air of concern from USA Basketball officials and fans that this ‘B’ Team would not be able to win the tournament, to re-confirm (at least temporarily), US dominance of international basketball, and perhaps most importantly, to secure the automatic qualification to the next Olympic competition in 2012.  One of the classic dilemmas the US has faced in International tournaments is the reluctance of many star NBA players to commit to the national team, that normally has to play in qualifying and World Championship tournaments in the summer, the ‘vacation’ season for the NBA.  Guys like Kobe have dragged themselves through 100 games or more from October - June, asking them to commit to two weeks playing in a rickety gym in Serbia in August is not that easy a sell.

For this, and other reasons (primarily the LeBron free agent circus), the USA built a new team for the World Championships, consisting primarily of younger and emerging NBA stars, with a few more experienced, veteran players sprinkled in to the mix. But clearly, this team was perceived as not the USA’s ‘best’ team, just the best one that the country could manage.  While chock-full of talented players (and admittedly one ‘A’ player, the remarkable Kevin Durant), this group was certainly not assured a gold medal, the days of the US just trotting out any 5 NBA players and expecting to win on the International stage are long passed.  Plus, this tournament was to be played in Turkey, giving the hard-working, chain-smoking, flopping Turks a significant home court advantage.

This team then, had several built-in excuses should they have failed to win.  They were after all, the ‘B’ team. They were mostly young, and had little experience in major international competition. No one was really paying attention back in the US.  The finals of the World Championship took place the first Sunday of the new NFL season. But with the inspiring play of Durant, the Lakers Lamar Odom, and contributions from many of the younger players, the US team won the tournament in impressive fashion. Based on this performance, Durant certainly, and some of the others potentially will crack the ‘A’ team roster for the 2012 Olympics.

What does this all mean to the rest of us, and the real world of work?  

Maybe nothing.

But it could be a reminder that developing depth of talent sometimes requires sending in the ‘B’ team.

Even in important, high pressure, and high stakes environments.

Truth is, people know even if they don’t want to admit it, when they are on the ‘B’ team. In basketball the only way to make it to the ‘A’ team is to play your way in, you can’t do it just in practice, or in low stakes contests.  Want to see if any of your ‘B’ players have what it takes?  Then you just might have to put them in the game. 

Hard Knocks - A Recruiting Tool?

A senior leader of your organization joking around with the administrative staff, an exchange highlighted by the staff mercilessly riding the leader over his weight.

A leadership meeting with the company owner and several high-ranking executives discussing (ad nauseum), how to deal with a high performing employee that has refused to come to work in a dispute over compensation.

An employee openly sharing, really oversharing, significant personal information including the fact that he is really not too sure how many children he has, and what their names are.

These scenes, and more, were all a part of the HBO Series 'Hard Knocks:Training Camp with the New York Jets', the latest installment of a long-running documentary series that gives football fans a look at the internal, behind the scenes, and normally hidden from view world of a professional football training camp.

What would compel a team to be willing to participate in such a project, and to possibly be exposed and potentially embarrassed by such a public airing of their normally private, and often highly secretive preparations for the upcoming season?  

Is it for the team's fans?

The show provides really interesting, and compelling entertainment if you are a supporter of the Jets, or even a fan of professional sports in general.  It is a way to kind of 'give back' to the fans, by sharing so openly at least some of the inner workings of the organization and its leaders, staff, and players.

The show does give fans a glimpse into the plans and strategies that the team hopes to employ, a view of the leadership and motivational methods of the coaching staff, and how ownership and executives evaluate talent, and make hiring and firing decisions.

Is it for the publicity?

Maybe.  But realistically in the US, everyone knows about the National Football League.  The start of the season is incredibly anticipated, and the season ending Super Bowl game is perennially the top rated television broadcast of the year, and is a de-facto national holiday. Truly, the world doesn't really need another show about football.

Is it for recruiting?

Bingo.

Jets Head Coach Rex Ryan described the show as a 'recruiting tool'.  The idea being that by participating in the show, and making visible all this behind the scenes information and making open, and really transparent coaching tactics, leadership styles, and the attitude of ownership towards staff and players, that potential new recruits to the organization will have a much, much better of how the team operates, what the coaches and players are like, and will be able to make a significantly better informed decision about their ability and willingness to 'fit in'.

Making a mistake in the hiring process is expensive for any organization.  For NFL teams it can be a million dollar mistake. Making a few potentially embarrassing documentary shows could be a small price to pay to avoid paying a bigger price down the line when some high-priced new talent doesn't pan out.

How far would you be willing to go, how honest and open are you willing to be to communicate what it is really like to work at your company, to be a member of the team, and what it takes to 'fit in' in your shop?

This far?

Resigning in protest

The story of the Jet Blue Flight Attendant that resigned from his position as the great Marv Albert would describe - In dramatic fashion, has been all over the news the last two days.  Cursing out a plane full of passengers, activating the emergency slides, grabbing a couple of beers, and making a run for it makes for a fantastic story.

Lots of folks have fantasized about marching in to the boss' office and firing off a pointed screed or diatribe and proudly walking out into a glorious future of happiness and success (or in the case of our friend from Jet Blue, possible jail time).

Sure, the flight attendant was fed up, had to deal with what sounds like an incredibly annoying and entitled passenger, took a shot to the head from said passenger's luggage, and seemingly just snapped. It happens.  Usually not as cool and newsworthy as this episode, but it happens.  People get fed up and quit their jobs every day.

But I wonder about  other scenarios that might make employees resign in protest.  These could be sub-standard working conditions, a hostile work environment, or even inept management.  

I mean really inept.  

The kind of management that would welcome back to the organization a notorious ex-employee.  A person in whose tenure as a high ranking and highly paid member of upper management left a history of failure, poor leadership, shattered public relations, and just for good measure was sued by another former employee for sexual harassment, dragging the organization through a public and embarrassing court case.

This just in - The New York Knicks to bring Isiah Thomas back to the organization as a consultant.

Yes, the Isiah Thomas that in four plus years as Knicks GM and Coach led the team to exactly one playoff appearance and made a series of colossally bad personnel decisions resulting in the team being burdened with a slew of bad contracts for under performing and below average talent.

And did I mention the sexual harassment lawsuit?  Ok, just checking.

If you were an employee of the Knicks, and your leadership openly welcomed Thomas back into the fold after his legacy of failure and embarrassing behavior what would you think?  Could you take it any longer? Would you feel compelled to head for the emergency exit, grab a beer, pull the slide, and make a run for it?

Could your management make such a colossally bad hire that it would make you resign in protest?

Footnote - apparently there is no truth to the rumor that Knicks owner Jim Dolan is looking to bring in Mark Hurd to get the back office operations in shape.