What Can Business Owners Learn from the NFL Draft?
Teams’ approaches to the draft can provide some important lessons that apply to businesses.
April brings showers, springtime, some flowers – and the NFL Draft. This time of year, teams are scrambling to lock in their draft boards to decide which players to target, uncover “hidden gem” players, and spread misinformation in the hopes that other teams can’t track their plans (the term “smokescreen” is used ad nauseam by draft pundits during this time).
Running a successful draft requires a lot of moving pieces working together effectively. There are a lot of similarities between how teams successfully run their drafts and how CEOs run their businesses. Here are some lessons we can learn from the teams who crush the draft that we can apply to running a business.
Successful teams do their due diligence.
Teams that are the best at drafting do everything in their power to make the most well-informed decisions possible. They watch game film, pour through endless measurements and statistics, and interview the players as well as their college coaches. They leave no stone unturned when evaluating players.
Likewise, successful businesses are often those who think before they act. How much money will you need to devote to a plan? How does this affect your company’s overall financial health? Will it impact how much you are able to pay yourself or your shareholders? Your odds of success are much greater if you take the time to answer key questions such as these. Tackling important questions on the front end will free up time for the CEO and limit the possibility of an undiscovered issue rearing its head on the back end.
The best teams are prepared for anything.
Interviews of the best General Managers after the draft usually contain a line similar to this: “We ran various scenarios before the draft and knew that Player ‘X’ may be available at our spot, so when he was there at our selection, we weren’t surprised.” These teams run endless “mock drafts” to see what players may be available under different scenarios. Running these scenarios allowed the team to significantly reduce surprises during the draft.
The best-run businesses are always thinking of the future. They lean on trusted experts who lay out scenarios and work with the CEO to come up with a plan of action in response to these situations. For example, a CFO might identify that a handful of large customers make up a sizable portion of a company’s revenue. They could run an analysis to see the impact of losing one of these customers and gauge if the company could weather the storm. The CFO could then help the business take steps to strengthen its financial position and reduce this risk.
Top teams aren’t afraid to act.
Drafts in previous years have been littered with teams who thought they were going to be able to pick the player they covet, only to miss out when a rival trades up to a couple of spots in front of them to grab that player. The team that misses out may have had their own opportunity to trade up, but didn’t because they hesitated.
Businesses can sit back and hope that things fall their way, but there is often a competitor that is willing to take necessary action to jump in front of them if the opportunity presents itself. In the previous sections we talked about performing due diligence and scenario planning, but these mean nothing if a business is not willing to act on that information. There are times when it is riskier not to act if, for example, there is an issue that you can take steps to avoid before it comes to your doorstep.
Teams with aligned strategies are the most effective.
Certain teams are known for drafting specific types of players. These organizations have a clear sense of what they want their identity to be and how they want to build their team. Their draft strategy aligns with the vision of the coaches, the general manager, and the owner. Everyone is on the same page, working towards a common goal, which makes them much more effective than a team in which everyone is operating in their own silos.
High-performing businesses often operate in the same way. When the whole organization is moving as one, decisions become easier, and options become clearer. Business owners no longer need to worry about management making decisions that are out of sync with their objectives. Having people in place that you trust are in alignment with your vision provides peace of mind that doesn’t exist within splintered organizations.
Putting it all together.
The Draft is an exciting time of year for football fans, teams and the cities they represent. The teams that have proper alignment, do their diligence, prepare properly, and take action will (usually) wind up with the best results. Consider bringing a trusted professional on board who can help you apply these lessons to your business so that you can crush it year-round.