Patriots influence impacts a business article - New England Patriots Forums

***Box_O_Rocks*** · 07-07-2009, 11:45 AM

Please! I'm posting this here because the Patriots are used as an example for a discussion on business management. Since this has "real world" political potential, I invite anyone who wants to discuss it as a "political" article to repost it in the appropriate forum. For the rest of us, one more example of how Krafty Bob and Evil Bill reach beyond the stadium to influence the world. Thank you.

What Wall Street Should Learn from the NFL - Lane Wallace

Quote:

Jul 7 2009, 9:37AM

Business
What Wall Street Should Learn from the NFL

At first pass (so to speak), the linebackers of the National Football League and the CEOs of corporate America might seem to have little in common, other than larger-than-average paychecks. But a recent article written by Roger Martin, Dean of the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, argues quite convincingly that they share more than most of us would think. And, more importantly, that the NFL has some very important lessons to teach American business leaders.

Personally, I'm impressed that a Canadian-born, Harvard-educated economist even thought to employ a football analogy to explain how flawed economic theories about compensation and investment contributed to the recent melt-down on Wall Street. More impressive still is that his basic argument, and the economics behind it, is so easy to follow, once you view it in football terms.

nashvillepatsfan · 07-07-2009, 12:21 PM

good find Mr. Box

***jmt57*** · 07-07-2009, 12:23 PM

I think it's a testament to both the Pats and the NFL as a whole that they have become so widely known that they can be used in analogies such as this. Even people who don't watch the NFL at all seem to know about the Patriots.

***MoLewisrocks*** · 07-07-2009, 12:24 PM

God, I love common sense. If only the entire world could be operated on that basis...

Oddly though even the NFL has veered a little off the mark over the last decade or two. Special interests - in this case agents - have created a new compensation model based on hype driven expectations. The only saving grace is the bulk of most contracts remain un-guaranteed. Absent that football would be just like corporate America, or baseball... The allure of football beyond the action has long been the fans ability to relate to the players. Sure they are more physically gifted than most of us, but they still have to earn their paycheck. And they can lose their job even if they are doing it well (altough sometimes more or less so in the cap era). Most of us at some point in life are forced to face the fact that there are no guarantees. Hard work, as well as talent or ability, should be rewarded. It isn't always, and the gap between the over compensated and under compensated just grows ever wider with impunity, in all segments of society. No system works perfectly, but the NEP system seems to evoke less resentment top to bottom. We should probably put Bill in charge of the world, when he's done here that is...

***BradyFTW!*** · 07-07-2009, 01:31 PM

Maybe it's because I went to business school in Boston, but our professors used Patriots analogies all the time. Pissed the Jets fans off to no end, but they knew it was true.

jays52 · 07-07-2009, 02:37 PM

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Originally Posted by BradyFTW!

Maybe it's because I went to business school in Boston, but our professors used Patriots analogies all the time. Pissed the Jets fans off to no end, but they knew it was true.

Same in my experience. The program I'm in has had several examples using the Patriots. I did a competitive analysis paper using BB as an example, and a talent recruitment/retention paper on the Pats as well.

Out of curiosity, was your school in Cambridge?

***BradyFTW!*** · 07-07-2009, 03:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jays52

Same in my experience. The program I'm in has had several examples using the Patriots. I did a competitive analysis paper using BB as an example, and a talent recruitment/retention paper on the Pats as well.

Out of curiosity, was your school in Cambridge?

Nope, Wellesley. Went to Babson for entrepreneurship. Definitely got plenty of mileage out of both Belichick and Theo Epstein as well, hahaha. How about you?

efin98 · 07-07-2009, 03:43 PM

I get the gist of it with the betting and real world connection but I'm getting it as a whole being an analogy about not basing your future results on present and past excellence and not to overstep your means...

jays52 · 07-07-2009, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BradyFTW!

Nope, Wellesley. Went to Babson for entrepreneurship. Definitely got plenty of mileage out of both Belichick and Theo Epstein as well, hahaha. How about you?

Babson?! I liked you. I went to undergrad at the other "B" school in the other "W" town. I reveled in beating you guys at the business bowl. Going to HBS right now for the MBA.

***BradyFTW!*** · 07-07-2009, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jays52

Babson?! I liked you. I went to undergrad at the other "B" school in the other "W" town. I reveled in beating you guys at the business bowl. Going to HBS right now for the MBA.

Right on, I dated a girl at Bentley for a few years in college, spent a good amount of time over there. Don't hold the Babson crowd against me though; I wasn't a fan of them either (token scholarship kid among rich brats, etc.), but for entrepreneurship it was the right place to go. Not sure where I'm going to get my MBA, but I'm probably going to have to sort that out in the semi-near future, before I move back to Boston.