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Great Teams Are the Product of Picking the Right Players
A championship team is a team of champions.
—UNKNOWN
If you are a champion manager or coach or administrator, you don't have to be sold on the notion that winning in your category doesn't happen without the right people. It all starts with people. They are your most valuable resource.
From my time playing hockey, and working with organizations and leaders across many different industries and environments, and in studying and analyzing what works in selecting the right players for the team and organization, I have honed in on fundamentals, principles, and philosophies that are the bedrock for building successful teams.
Great teams are the product of picking the right players.
Thorough and gifted recruiters surround themselves with people who make everyone better. They hire people who improve the organization. There is a Silicon Valley tenet that says that ‘“A’ people hire ‘A’ people, and ‘B’ people hire ‘C’ people.” The best want the best around them and working for them—and not just the best people but also the right people.
Among the most important mentors in my life are those who are also the best recruiters: my parents (they picked one another), all my coaches, including, of course, Herb Brooks, and also the business leaders for whom I've worked. When I was employed by Valassis Communications, my boss was Dave Brandon. He became an important mentor of mine; he showed me how to recruit. Years later, I met and worked ...
