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Managing in the Talent Economy: The Football Model for Business
Brady, Chris , David Bolchover, and Brian Sturgess
50/4  (Summer 2008): 54-73

Football is indeed the quintessential model for modern-day talent-dependant business. Football managers have always needed to solve the foremost people management dilemma of how to most effectively manage talent. However, talent alone is not enough. In an early example from English football in the 1930s, in the words of Arsenal’s Herbert Chapman, the manager’s task is to use that talent to “organize victory.” Countless examples can be cited from the history of the game of football where clubs and national teams fielding line-ups of what was considered to be the best and, therefore, the most expensively paid talent in the game at that time failed to live up to expectations. In contrast, other examples from football can be cited where a team of medium-quality, average-costing talent has consistently outperformed more-illustrious rivals. In most cases, the difference can be attributed to the lack or presence of an effective manager.

 

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