Gallagher’s Post

The Los Angeles Clippers are one of many teams across sports who believed that the Accumulation of Talent can take precedence over Methodical Team Building. Keeping in mind everything that we know about Building Championship Teams, you would think Businesses worth Billions of Dollars would develop a Team and Organization Building Process that would be consistent with success in sports. The Clippers did the opposite. They ignored Risk. The Best Example of this is their decision to give Kawhi Leonard a 3 Year extension despite his age and injury history. The decision to extend Kawhi offers a window into the mind of Clippers Owner Steve Ballmer. Ballmer either believes that when healthy this is a championship team. Or, Ballmer believes that selling hope buys him time and engagement. It provides relevance and engagement in the short-term. In the long-term it buys him time to fix what is a poorly constructed team. Finally, there is one last mistake the Clippers made that goes under the radar. A few years ago the Clippers Front Office became Operators Rather Than Founders. That means, the Front Office stopped making decisions. Instead there approach to Team Building was governed by Steve Ballmer. This is a common theme among underperforming teams around the world. Oddly, this happens more than we realize. By extending Kawhi,

There are so many great life lessons we can learn from sports, and the Detroit Lions represent one of those stories this football season. As a lifelong fan, I'm used to disappointment, but this weekend, Detroit is in the conference championship! Looking back three years ago when the Detroit Lions hired head coach Dan Campbell, his press conference about biting kneecaps made many in the sports media dismiss him as a meathead. But after last year's 9-8 season and the HBO series "Hard Knocks," we learned that Dan Campbell is not only tough and gritty, but he's also incredibly smart and cerebral. He has turned the team into an image of him. They have a clear identity. Watching Dan Campbell, I learned a great lesson that I have to relearn from time to time: first impressions are often wrong. We have to keep an open mind and give people time to show us who they really are. The front office of the Lions did their homework and found the right guy in Dan Campbell, along with an outstanding general manager in Brad Holmes. Together, they've built a culture of all grit, where everyone is buying in and embracing the mentality. This is not just about sports, but rather a fantastic case study in developing the right organizational culture. The Lions have shown that success comes from finding the right people, not necessarily the most talented ones. As an example, sports media personalities, questioned the Lions grabbing Jamyr Gibbs and Sam LaPorta in the first round of last year’s draft. They thought they were reaching. In the case of Gibbs, they didn’t even think he was the best running back. Fast forward to today, both of these guys are impact players. It is clear that the Lions have become a first rate organization. From ownership to the last player on the depth chart, everyone is in full alignment, and everyone in the organization is playing a role in this success. As a football fan, I'm excited for what's to come, and as a lifelong Lions fan, I'm proud to see the team succeed. Go Lions! #detroitlions #allgrit

Scott Parker on his leadership at Fulham: "At the outset, I decided to profile everyone. I got an external company to categorise the players. They spent time with them, spoke to them, asked questions & then gave me a document about that player & how they like to be approached, what traits they have in their personality." "I realised at the back end of my career that the changing room had changed drastically from the one I was brought up in. I’m very black and white." "If I’ve been crap I want someone to say, ‘You’re nowhere near it, you’ve not been good enough’ & I’ll react to that, I’ll take it on the chin, I may go back to that person and we’ll have a disagreement but in the cold light of day when I get in my car, that’ll be it, finished." "But there are different personalities and cultures and the game has changed. How you approach one player can be very different to another. One player might want it like I used to, just wanting to be told when they’ve not done well enough." "Another player doesn’t want to be exposed in the changing room, wants it done behind closed doors. How do you set the environment for a serious conversation? Is it on the training pitch sitting on the ball? Is it in the manager’s office?" "Or do they sense it’s serious & then clam up? That profile of every player gives me a real understanding and if I need to speak to that player, it’s always a reference for me to look at and understand." "It’s just a reference, it’s not a definite or something I always stick to, but it’s something I can draw on. You’d be amazed. You walk into changing rooms now and instantly players are on their phones, they’re looking through loads of stuff." "Social media and the technology side I’m crap at. I don’t like it and because I don’t like it and I’m not engaged with it, I find it harder to understand, but I realise it’s something I’m going to have to improve on because it ain’t going to stop. It’s not going away." “Having conversations with players now, you’re not always talking football." "When I was a player talking to a manager he might ask about the family a little bit & have a general chit-chat, but now you’re having a real conversation & you need to be more educated at certain moments. All that stuff comes into it.” [The Athletic] = I have studied 203+ directors & 131+ managers in football. Communication is the bedrock principle of leadership. Honest communication leads to trust & respect. Leadership starts with empathy for the person. Then the player. Leadership ultimately drives results. 📍Each week, I send one email with principles that sharp decision makers in football use to gain an edge. It's always short [5 minutes or less] & comes every Saturday morning. Join 1K+ leaders here: https://saturdaysd.gr8.com

One of the 𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘵𝘴 of sports team ownership is the SCARCITY of teams... 𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐋𝐒 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝟏𝟎 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬: 2014: Arthur Blank pays $70m for Atlanta expansion team 2023: Mansour–Sycuan pay $500m for San Diego expansion team It's why owners often say... "𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘨𝘶𝘦, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮." ──────── 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗟𝗦 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: 1. Buy an expansion team for $500+ million 2. Buy a current team at $500+ million These expansion fee statistics are even more drastic in the NWSL and USL. It's not about spotting a team early...but rather a league 🤯

The business of sports is like any business—success hinges on your ability to make accurate judgments of people. That goes for owners, execs, coaches, agents, players, and even referees. No one understands this better than Adam Silver, Commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA). In so many ways, Adam’s leadership at the league has been marked by extraordinary judgment. I am honored to have seen this up close. That’s why his support of Good Judgment is so meaningful to me. I wrote #GoodJudgment to help you make high-stakes decisions about whom to hire, fire, promote, partner with, befriend, date, marry, and more. To start building your own all-star roster of relationships, visit https://lnkd.in/gcSBcPte

Scott Parker on his leadership at Fulham: "At the outset, I decided to profile everyone. I got an external company to categorise the players. They spent time with them, spoke to them, asked questions & then gave me a document about that player & how they like to be approached, what traits they have in their personality." "I realised at the back end of my career that the changing room had changed drastically from the one I was brought up in. I’m very black and white." "If I’ve been crap I want someone to say, ‘You’re nowhere near it, you’ve not been good enough’ & I’ll react to that, I’ll take it on the chin, I may go back to that person and we’ll have a disagreement but in the cold light of day when I get in my car, that’ll be it, finished." "But there are different personalities and cultures and the game has changed. How you approach one player can be very different to another. One player might want it like I used to, just wanting to be told when they’ve not done well enough." "Another player doesn’t want to be exposed in the changing room, wants it done behind closed doors. How do you set the environment for a serious conversation? Is it on the training pitch sitting on the ball? Is it in the manager’s office?" "Or do they sense it’s serious & then clam up? That profile of every player gives me a real understanding and if I need to speak to that player, it’s always a reference for me to look at and understand." "It’s just a reference, it’s not a definite or something I always stick to, but it’s something I can draw on. You’d be amazed. You walk into changing rooms now and instantly players are on their phones, they’re looking through loads of stuff." "Social media and the technology side I’m crap at. I don’t like it and because I don’t like it and I’m not engaged with it, I find it harder to understand, but I realise it’s something I’m going to have to improve on because it ain’t going to stop. It’s not going away." “Having conversations with players now, you’re not always talking football." "When I was a player talking to a manager he might ask about the family a little bit & have a general chit-chat, but now you’re having a real conversation & you need to be more educated at certain moments. All that stuff comes into it.” [The Athletic] = I have studied 203+ directors & 131+ managers in football. Communication is the bedrock principle of leadership. Honest communication leads to trust & respect. Leadership starts with empathy for the person. Then the player. Leadership ultimately drives results. - Each week, I send one email with principles that sharp decision makers in football use to gain an edge. It's always short [5 minutes or less] & comes every Saturday morning. Join 1K+ leaders here: https://saturdaysd.gr8.com

Earlier today, news broke that the Friedkin Group acquired a majority stake in Everton while already owning AS Roma. This sparked my thoughts on the rise of Multi-Club Ownership in sports due to Private Equity involvement. What stands out as uncommon is the concept of Multi-Sport General Management. Reflecting on my journey, my initial focus was on MLB and the NBA in Sports Management. Shifting gears, I broadened my scope to include Football and Cricket to enhance my opportunities. I realized that team-building processes are consistent across major sports, fueling my ambition to become a Multi-Sport General Manager in Cricket, European Football, the NBA, MLB, and the NFL. Despite limited progress in this endeavor, my belief in Consilient Insights, Unity of Knowledge, and Pattern Recognition has only grown. The process of Team Building transcends specific sports, offering a competitive edge and ensuring long-term success. Though I regret not testing this hypothesis professionally, I urge Front Offices, Football Departments, and Private Equity Firms to consider individuals with these skills. Hiring those who understand the sports-agnostic nature of team building can enhance the intellectual foundation of any organization.

Rethinking Your Company Culture We often hear companies described as being "like a family." But Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, argues this mindset can actually hold an organization back. In his widely-shared video, he makes an insightful analogy - your company should be more like a professional sports team. On a sports team, the focus is on building the best possible lineup through rigorous hiring, providing amazing coaching, and if someone isn't delivering, making the tough decision to move them off the team with respect. The goal isn't being thick as thieves, it's fielding the most powerful team to win championships. Similarly at work, we should be prioritizing excellence over minimal expectations of just being nice to each other. Bring on incredible talent, provide them world-class training, give candid feedback, and be willing to quickly get rid of dysfunctional team members who simply aren't performing at a high level. Just as a sports team wants to bring in game-changing superstars and move out sub-par players who aren't living up to standards, companies should be obsessed with continuously improving their workforce talent density. It's not personal, it's just keeping the team aspiration at the highest level. Of course, you want your workplace to be filled with amazing, supportive people you enjoy spending time with. But the "family" mindset can hold people back from making the tough management calls when individuals aren't meeting their responsibilities. Thinking of your organization as a pro sports franchise allows a sharper performance focus. The hard truth is that families make compromises and unconditionally embrace mediocrity in a way world-class teams simply cannot. Successful companies, like champions, reload with top performers ruthlessly every season. It's not cold, it's just the path to winning. https://lnkd.in/g9SYDJHF

The #wednesdaymailbag is here. This week, Barry, from Brighton, wants to know my thoughts on Ford Field, and the potential economic impact of the Detroit Lions Playoff Run. The short answer... Go Lions! To level set a few things, we'll avoid questions about public financing of Stadiums for now... we'll save that fun conversation for another day. Now let's talk about Ford Field... It doesn't have the reputation of Arrowhead or Lambeau, but it is one of the National Football League (NFL)'s most unique venues. It's a domed stadium that fits in well with the overall fabric of Downtown Detroit, and there is a historic adaptive re-use component to the stadium as well. The stadium was able to re-use a former Hudson's department store warehouse which provides an interesting sense of history for what is still a relatively young venue, and helps the stadium feel like part of the neighborhood whether it's game day or not. As far as the atmosphere goes... all it took was a some good football to get us Detroit Lions fans out of our shell. The atmosphere this year and especially in the playoffs has been fantastic, and I expect that to continue. Finally, I would say the overall economic impact came at a perfect time. While Detroit has is unique in that all four professional sports teams play Downtown, our teams have had a tough go since 2014 or so, and I don't think the pandemic did Downtown Detroit any favors. This economic shot in the arm came at the perfect time, and hopefully we see more success in the coming years. #detroitteam & #crefam: Jeffrey Brendan Mark Barry Daniel Conrad Adam ARA Taylor Andrew @ Christopher Dan Renee Kyle Brendan Peter Thomas Christos JP Mark Gabe Maggie John Matt Craig Michael Eric Steve Josh Tilman Adam Will Nicholas Dawn Jason: that's my two cents... don't spend it all in one place and Go Lions!

So awesome to see the increasing popularity of the WNBA (Women's National Basketball Association) with attendance and TV ratings going through the roof. But this post is not about that, well sort of... When I saw the infographic below showing the growth in ticket sales to the Indiana Fever home games this year, it struck me just how awesome a job their entire recruiting team has done to react to such a massive change in talent capacity needs. We often talk about recruiting and workforce planning needing to be nimble, but rarely does change transpire this rapidly. Imagine what this HR team just did. Caitlin was drafted on April 15th, and her first home game was on May 9th. Historically, the Fever were used to getting about 4k fans per game, and now they had to prepare for the unknown. From ticket sales to concessions, facilities, security, and everything in between; they just knew they were about to grow like crazy and would need to find more talent capacity to do so. From the outside looking in, it appears as though they killed it. Through 5 games, they have seen more fans than they saw all year in 2023 averaging over 16k per game and the execution has been flawless. Shoutout to Donna Wilkinson, Angela Lee, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, CPSP, Lauren McMullen, and Jose Reynoso from Pacers Sports & Entertainment for pulling this off and teaching all of us a lesson in adaptive recruiting. The team Crosschq is honored to do our part in helping you support these efforts and fired up to watch the Fever franchise and all of the WNBA teams continue to grow like crazy. #goWNBA #gamechanger #qualityofhire