Show Me The Moneyball!

Last night I caught Moneyball, the story of Billy Beane and how he changed the game of baseball.

I was very impressed with the movie, despite not having read the book. It could easily have been another “coach pulls together a rag tag team of misfits who rise to win the championship”, but instead focused on the work of the General Manager in building a competitive team with an extremely small player salary budget. This involved finding a new strategy, a new way of thinking that disrupted the traditional beliefs in baseball.

The reason I particularly  liked this angle (apart from the fact that it was the actual story), is that it highlighted the impact made by someone in a managerial role. While there is certainly a human element to the story, what I found inspiring was that it was a clever strategy, innovative thought and strong conviction which won the day. There was no heroic half-time (or bottom of the ninth) coach’s speech, there was no team training and bonding montage and in the end there was no championship.

It gave me much faith that no all heroics have to come purely from an inspirational style of leadership.

It also gave me faith that the goal doesn’t have to be winning, or breaking records. The goal can also be to create change. To make a difference in an arena about which you care.

This spoke quite loudly to me.

As someone who has never experienced a strong attraction to idols, heroes or role models, it is greatly comforting to find examples of people who can make such large changes in their world.

While I’m not interested in sports management, it is the scale of the change which inspires me.

It is nice to find that in a hollywood movie every now and again.

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