One of my favorite things in the world is college football, and more specifically, the Michigan Wolverines. Indeed, you could say that my introduction to Web 2.0 was through a vibrant network of college football blogs that is far more entertaining (and probably more informative) than ESPN.
For those of you who aren’t familiar, Michigan hired a new coach this season; and for the first time in about 40 years, the new coach is a guy who is not a “Michigan Man”. With this came a radically different offensive system, that requires different styles of players than Michigan’s historically recruited (most obviously having a quarterback with the ability to run the ball, where as Michigan has traditionally had QBs more known for being 6’5 statues with rocket arms).
So last week, in their first game under the new era, Michigan lost to Utah. Utah isn’t a bad team (actually they’ve been picked as a BCS buster-type), but they are a team that Michigan had traditionally been able to beat handily. But alas, without the right players in the system, RichRod lost his first game as coach of the Wolverines.
This got me thinking. Rich Rodriguez is forced to play his system, or, more accurately, an adaptation of his system, with players that were mainly recruited to play in a different system. This problem is quite similar to those facing managers and leaders all across the business world, especially in this time of rapid change in the business world.
The lesson that I take from this comparison is that leaders, be they in business or government, are often forced to run their systems with other people’s players. This can of course have drastic consequences, if the skillsets don’t match up to the new leader’s visions and strategies. Ultimately, the leader has a few choices: 1. Adapt the model, 2. Re-Train the players, or 3. Get a new team. Probably more accurately, a combination of all three.
This has been rambling and barely coherent, but my take away is that, at least right now, for a Web 2.0 implementation, it is important to remember that you are trying to run a spread option offense with a three-yard and a cloud of dust workforce. Models have to be adaptive, players have to be trained, and new recruits need to be brought in.
