What Is Moneyball Or Data-Driven Baseball?

Moneyball: Data-Driven Baseball

1. For those that say the movie isn’t about baseball, I believe they are stating that this movie is more about statistics and data and even management style. I have to disagree Moneyball isn’t about baseball. The movie is all about baseball and is compared to other sports movies with great “feel-good” winning moments such as “Miracle”, “Remember The Titans” and “Field of Dreams”. Unlike these other feel good sports movies about the underdogs and teams with spirit and heart, the Oakland A’s won because of statistics and analytics. This movie delves into the inner workings of baseball and how Billy Beane literally changed the game. When compared to the Bloomberg article about other baseball teams trying to accomplish
what Billy Beane did in Moneyball, the article is still all about baseball. It may have also demonstrated how upper management is completely changing the game with statistics and analytics, but I still think the movie and articles is all about baseball.

2. Businesses can learn a lot from Moneyball. When I first started thinking about what businesses could learn from the movie, I was skeptical and took the negative approach of hiring based on what looks good on paper. The statistics seem to work for baseball and it makes perfect sense to recruit based on sheer numbers and with the ultimate goal to get on base. However, when it comes to the business, marketing and sales jobs, I think there are other factors that have to come into play. Yes – an employer needs to look at previous job performance and sales records, etc., but I have hired several employees in my day that looked great on paper and even said all the right things in a final interview, but were a disaster in the work place. Some of them had personalities that were toxic and affected the company morale. I’ve worked for managers that may have had all of the experience they needed to get that job, but were horrible managers and were detrimental to the morale and overall performance of the company. Then, as I started reading articles about what others learned from the movie, I was definitely more hopeful. One of the founders of the successful HubSpot,Dharmesh Shah, posted a list of lessons we can all learn from the movie Moneyball. He wrote that companies needs to focus on and address the actual problem and not try to duplicate a competitor’s strategy, but to come up with your own. He also echoed what I have said about not always hiring just because they look good on paper. He wrote “get good at seeing talent where others don’t”. Ignore factors such as nationality, gender or age and focus on who can bring results. http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/15-surprisingly-inspirational-business-takeaways-from-moneyball.html

3.
Looking at how my employers are running their business, it seems they are implementing some of the lessons learned from Moneyball. The owners started out as a father and son team over 10 years ago. The father brings a wealth of knowledge and experience and moved to Utah to semi-retire and help his sons build a successful business here. They spoke of the father’s first job for Equitec. The owner of Equitec built his real estate investment firm by hiring raw talent, comprised of recent college grads that were hungry, but clueless. The owner used this hunger to train his rookies. They didn’t have titles, so they didn’t care about job descriptions – they were just willing to do whatever was needed to do to get the job done. They were asset managers, construction managers, property managers and analysts and learned everything they know today by on-the-job training. When their business started to grow and they were looking for someone to help them stay organized and manage 8 different LLCs, they didn’t hire me because I knew anything about real estate. They hired me because I had a proven record of management skills and taking on challenges. In fact, the son told me one of the reasons he hired me was because of my experience running a sweat shop of campaign workers for the Utah State Democratic Party and even running for State Party Chair. He said if I could handle working for such a minority in Utah (they are die-hard Republicans), and doing well at it and loving it, then I could handle just about anything – including this new job. The owners weren’t even sure what they were looking for, or had any kind of a job description – they just knew they needed help. Since then, they have hired another son to be VP of Operations, a Director of Engineering, a Controller, a Building Engineer and Administrative Asssitant. They have become a bit of a hybrid now – hiring both raw talent, and also employees with extensive real estate business as well. The owners also address the
actual problem and don’t get caught up in titles or job descriptions. We all do whatever it takes to get the job done and to help the company grow. I honestly hope this is the last time I ever have to look for a job and that this is my retirement plan. It’s been exciting to start on the ground up and go from being the first employee to one of 8 in less than 2 years.