What it takes to win
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 4:50 PM

Well, here we are in the BostonWorks HR Blog, so it seems appropriate to ask this question on this day: What does it take to be the best at what you do?

The 2004 Boston Red Sox answered that question last night when they won the World Series (wow - let's see that in type again: the Boston Red Sox won the World Series!!!): it takes an entire organization, from the front office on down.

It may long be analyzed exactly how this team managed to do what no other Red Sox team has been able to in eight and a half decades of trying. But what's great about sports is their relative transparency as an organizational metaphor. As in any organization, it starts with the people:

-- Ownership - from principal owner John Henry on down. Smart, dedicated, with a will to win, an unwavering commitment to beating the competition, and a willingness to spend what is necessary and assemble the personnel to do so.

-- Senior Management - Lucky Larry Lucchino, Hollywood Tom Werner, and Boy Wonder Theo Epstein. Deep knowledge of the business, and what makes for success. Experience, yes, but brashness and youthful can-do as well. Throw in a willingness to make informed risks, to innovate, to make bold moves in order to achieve their objective.

-- Line Management - Terry Francona and coaches at field level. Keep the team focused, motivated, and loose. Use decision drivers as appropriate (eg, stats). Make sure your players are clear on what to do and give them the tools to do it. Then let them do it.

-- Talent - ultimately the ones who get the job done, who make it happen. If you don't have talent in the game -- and talent that is skilled, drilled, deep, and without holes in the line-up -- you won't get there, especially with today's competition.

-- Supporting Cast - they play critical roles in critical (usually unforeseen) moments. Think team physician Bill Morgan, hitting coach Ron Jackson, pitching coach Dave Wallace.

So you have the people in place -- then what?

-- Focus - after the 2003 season, the entire organization, top to bottom, was dedicated to a single goal: not just getting into but winning the World Series, the only true salvation and resting place for what this team and franchise have endured.

-- Perseverance - like most jobs, baseball is played every day and is a long haul. This team wore thin in mid-summer, slumped, then changed personnel, caught their breath, and came back. Later, in the playoffs, when it was all on the line, they did not waver. Think Curt Schilling, David Ortiz.

-- Trust - that the other guy will pick you up when you are down. We saw this time and time again. Everyone contributed, regardless of their assigned role. Think Dave Roberts, Pokey Reese, Doug Mientkiewicz.

-- Love of the Game - someone once said that if you love the worst aspects of your job, the drudgery, then you're probably in the right field. Well, these guys are all in the right field (not just Trot) as they love to play baseball.

Even with all these pre-conditions, there are two remaining ingredients:

-- Performance - you need to execute, to bring your "A" game, to play your best, to the best of your ability. And boy, did they. Pedro, Lowe, Damon, Bellhorn, Foulke. They had offense. They had defense. They did it all, so well that they shut down the competition -- three divisional and one league champion - in unprecedented fashion. And finally, the biggest intangible of all. . .

-- Chemistry - this is the most difficult of attributes to create or predict. Either it's there or it isn't. One announcer said the team got an A+ in chemistry, and for this self-proclaimed band of idiots, that may well have been the grade that made the difference.

So thank you, Boston Red Sox, for giving us not just a World Series crown in our lifetime but an organizational model of success, to hold up, to emulate, to aspire to, to remember. This team got the job done. And that's really something to celebrate, for a long time.
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