04 11.2014 TeamGame Man —Changer Thomas— Dimitroff onBilly the Beane art of on team buildingachieving and radical talentdisruptive evaluation change C M Y CM MY CY CMY K LEADERS Bishops Park House 2nd Floor 25-29 Fulham High Street London SW6 3JH T +44 (0)207 042 8666 E [email protected] Insights from the leading figures in www.leadersinsport.com sports performance & beyond 04 Autumn Issue Welcome Stephen Dobson Executive Editor Performance Portability of Performance here’s a great book written on talent how that player would fit in and adapt. He called Chasing Stars: The Myth of Talent described it as “the art of middle management and the Portability of Performance. It’s – understanding our coaches and our assistant by a Harvard Business School Professor named coaches, who they are, how they thrive and Boris Groysberg, who examined the careers whom they can thrive with before we decide of more than 1,000 star analysts at Wall Street to invest a lot of money acquiring talent”. The investment banks. When these people change result is an insight into the inner workings of organizations they take their skills, networks an NFL franchise – the relationships, the team, and even clients with them. There’s a saying on the organization, the city and everything in Wall Street that goes: “When an analyst moves between. Turn to page 20 to read more about from one firm to another, the only thing that his approach to talent evaluation and changes is the letterhead.” Of all positions, this team building. is the one where performance of new hires should be guaranteed. Of course, the other option to recruiting talent is developing your own, and that’s the area Yet Groysberg found that star analysts often we’ve explored in our two other talent articles suffered an immediate and lasting decline in in this edition, firstly with the Head of Learning performance when they moved banks. Their and Talent Development at global investment previous results appear to have been intimately bank BNP Paribas, a man who develops high- linked to their former employer’s unique flying ‘corporate athletes’ on a daily basis, resources, environment, organizational and secondly with a world expert in skill cultures, networks and staff. development from the Australian Institute of Sport, who told us that the “best coaches have In elite sport, where performance is ruthlessly athletes believe they’re exactly the right and openly scrutinized, and talent moves freely coach for them”. around organizations, how often is predicted future performance based on past results? Is Elsewhere in this edition we talk to legendary the context of that previous performance and rugby coach Sir Graham Henry about the unique aspects of our own organizations what makes the New Zealand All Blacks so properly understood? To help us explore this special, we challenge traditional thinking on idea we met with Thomas Dimitroff, who’s spent testosterone and look at the tenets of great his career evaluating talent and building teams leadership. It’s a collection of stories and ideas in the NFL. He told us that one of his biggest to help you look at your team, athletes and mistakes when recruiting talent was not to look organization with fresh eyes. at his organization as a whole and understand Worth Knowing 011 04 Autumn Issue Contents 08 30 34 50 20 54 42 48 20 Cover Features Insights Columns Around the Credits Story 10 30 17 World Publisher Writers Michael Brooke 20 Robert Kaplan Mounir Zok 04 LEADERS Mounir Zok Extracting the best The tenets of How? What? Why? Executive Editor Chris Parker Thomas from the best leadership Wearable technology Leaders Sport Stephen Dobson Performance Dimitroff and decision making Performance Consultants Team Man Editors 34 62 Summit Mike Forde The Art of Team Matthew Thacker Sir Graham Mike Fincke 56 New York 2014 Damien Comolli Building and Talent Ed Davis Out of This World Chris Parker Clive Reeves Evaluation Henry Matthew Stone The Dangers of 08 You don’t coach Art Director Photographic Agency a Casual Glance sitting down Reading List Brilliant Path Getty Images Alastair Clarkson Commercial 42 Manager Ashley 58 Justin Woolford Merryman 5 Minutes With Testosterone Justin Moore A Common Associate Athletic Director for Football Misconception Texas A&M 50 Damian Farrow In Pursuit of Excellence 02 03 04 Autumn Issue Leaders Sport Performance Summit 2014 New York In June 2014, the Leaders Sport Performance Maurits Hendriks Michael Gervais Chef De Mission Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016 High Performance Sports Psychologist Summit returned to US soil for another Netherlands Olympic Committee Seattle Seahawks sell-out conference at Bloomberg HQ in “There are people here with absolutely “It’s a great experience to be able to New York City. Three hundred and fifty elite tremendous track records.” learn from the best in the world.” coaches, managers, sporting directors, technical directors and performance directors - representing 36 sports and 25 countries - gathered at the event to share knowledge, exchange ideas and listen to inspiring stories. Brian Cashman Sir Graham Henry Trent Baalke David Epstein Tom Crean General Manager Former Head Coach General Manager NY Times best-selling author Head Coach New York Yankees New Zealand All Blacks San Francisco 49ers The Sports Gene Indiana Hoosiers Men’s Basketball “The best way to learn is a crash “It was a pleasure to speak “Events like this are “The range of people here, and their “I was really excited to come.” course at a summit like this.” at this conference.” extremely important.” thirst to learn, is unlike anything else.” 04 05 04 Autumn Issue The Sport Performance Summit 394,722 miles In Numbers Total Distance Travelled 8 Expert Workshops in 25 Sports Performance Countries Represented 5,250 yrs Combined Years of Experience 75 International Clubs 15 Speakers 36 13 Different World 42 Sports Champions Sporting Federations 350 Delegates 06 07 Alastair Clarkson, 04 Autumn Issue Head Coach, Hawthorn FC Alastair Clarkson is a former Australian rules footballer and current coach of Hawthorn Football Club. Following a successful playing career he moved into coaching in 2001 and was appointed to his first senior coaching position in 2005 at Hawthorn FC. After a tough start, his side saw rapid improvement, reaching the AFL Reading List Finals in 2007 and claiming a Grand Final victory in 2008, 2013 and 2014. Alastair After years of sustained success, Alastair is known as one of the most progressive coaches in one of the Clarkson most competitive sports on the planet. Alastair Clarkson, 2008, 2013 and 2014 Grand Final-winning coach, discloses some of the favorite titles that sit on his bookshelf. Legacy Management Secrets Playing to Win James Kerr of the New England Michael Gordon Patriots First published in 2013, this book Playing to Win is an insider’s view explores the philosophies that James Levin of how the Hawthorn Football Club have helped make the All Blacks won its 11th Premiership in 2013 the world’s most consistently An all-encompassing account of the and, in the process, established successful international sporting outstanding New England Patriots itself as Australia’s most successful outfit and asks what can we – as team, this title analyzes the many football club during the past 60 individuals, companies and teams ‘success factors’ underlying the team’s years. Written by an award-winning – learn from what they do. three Super Bowl victories across four author, it offers a fascinating insight seasons from 2001-2004. Managing into what it takes to build a winning to be both entertaining and insightful, Clarkson: “Marrying the significant culture at a sports team. If Clarkson, it’s a must-read for anyone looking the man at the helm of Hawthorn cultural influence of the traditional to revolutionize their organization. Maori people with the business FC during this incredible period, priniciples required to endure and endorses it then it must be good… Clarkson: enjoy sustained sucess, this book tracks “The New England Patriots 15 lessons of leadership and business have continued to reinvent themselves Clarkson: “Michael Gordon has and gives some level of understanding under Bill Belichick. They are living chronicled the progress of the Hawthorn about the legendary deeds of the proof that if you select the right people Football Club intimately over the past All Blacks of New Zealand.” on and off the field, instill the right six years. This account is a compelling mindset and reinforce those behaviors read for all football lovers, especially that benefit the group rather than the those who enjoy observing the spirit individual, the whole can be much with which a group of people greater than the sum of its parts.” band together to chase a dream.” 08 09 | Talent Development | Corporate Athlete | Michael Brooke 04 Autumn Issue A chartered psychologist, consultant and senior learning professional, Michael has coached, designed and delivered training in numerous organizations and across a variety of industry sectors. Clients have included city solicitors, senior investment bankers, traders, private equity partners, advertising executives, board directors and professional athletes. He has extensive experience in the City of London and has held various senior learning and development roles. He is currently the UK talent specialist for global investment bank, BNP Paribas. He also runs his own consultancy specializing in high performance coaching and is an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society. Extracting the best from the best have worked in talent development The excellent feedback they provide comes When looking to enhance your own performance, much can in various blue chip organizations from a completely different school of thought. for more than 20 years. My Yet there is much more to be learnt from the be learned from examining excellence within other fields.