“OUR PEOPLE ARE OUR GREATEST source of competitive advantage.”
This sentiment is often heralded in companies by everyone from middle managers to HR professionals to CEOs. It is a great sound bite. The problem: It is not true—at least, not entirely. An organization’s star performers are its source of competitive advantage, and only if they are strategically assigned to the most critical roles. Employees who are simply good at their jobs do not provide an advantage over competitors, and having star performers in jobs that are less than critical is a waste of talent.
In order to identify the right roles and people, leaders and managers have to consider their strategy and then their talent. What is the organization’s five-year strategy and what roles will be critical in executing it? In order to determine the right talent, organizations should leverage performance data to make decisions in the most objective way possible.
Soccer provides an excellent example of how this concept plays out. With 11 players, soccer teams are comparable in size to high performing executive management teams. All positions in a team are important, but are there some that are more critical for success? Which is the most critical?
Goalkeepers Save Victories
Opinions abound as to which is the most important position on the field, with many arguing for the goalkeeper. Consider Alisson Becker, who became the most expensive goalkeeper in the world when Liverpool F.C. agreed to pay Roma £65 million prior to winning the
