Moneyball – ‘What’s the problem?’

WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?

This scene is a discussion from the Oakland Athletics’ general manager [Billy Beane, played by Brad Pitt] and the scouting team, who’s tasked with finding and replacing several key personnel, including Jason Giambi. For the first minute and a half of this clip, the Oakland A‘s scouts are chatting about potential replacements for Jason Giambi, a superstar first baseman at the time, who was a key part of the A’s success in the previous season. Giambi was offered nearly $8MM/year by the Yankees, which the Athletics could not afford, since they’re a small market team and Major League Baseball’s rules for competition heavily favored big-market teams at the time.

The Athletics, just off a heartbreaking playoff ALCS loss to the Yankees, now needs to replace several key personnel, including Giambi. I can relate to Brad Pitt’s character in Moneyball in so many ways; he and I seem simpatico in the way we both think. I’ve worked in enterprise resource planning [ERP] software technology consulting for the last 10-15 years, and I’ve been a part of countless discussions like these. I’ve personally found that so many of these types of discussions I’ve been a part of have often been just as ineffective and frustrating at times, even though the industry is seemingly completely different and unrelated. This is a sports movie, but I’ve personally found that applying principles like these tend to be universally applicable, no matter what our pursuit is.

‘We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking we used when we created them.‘

-Albert Einstein

I often find that quotes have a way of putting things in a way better than I can; they have a way of bringing to life a much richer discussion. Strategy is fascinating to me; I love to win, just like Billy Beane. I imagine you probably do too—I mean, who doesn’t love to win? What I’ve increasingly found is that these discussions follow a couple of different patterns:

Discussions often focus primarily on the potential solution[s], when the problem isn’t yet well-defined, understood, or agreed upon. This is often unresourceful and misguided, particularly when it comes to strategic [long-term] decision-making.

Discussions often focus on anecdotal [meaning, not necessarily true or reliable] reasons that may or may not hold value, instead of focusing on more rigorous methods for understanding cause & effect. I’ve found that solutions often become self-evident once these problems are well-defined. This is where the value creation happens, in my experience. Why wouldn’t we make risk-adjusted bets on our time & energy at work? This is much more resourceful, efficient & effective. It also requires total buy-in to work, which is why it’s so rare.

I’d love to hear your take on this; if you feel my pain and would like help with how to re-direct these discussions, please let me know how I can help you and/or your team!