#Search May 5

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I came across a leadership article last week on Bill Walsh and his method to SEARCH for talent.

One of the most important Life Lessons I have learned is the importance of who is on your team. There is no one person I can give credit for learning this valuable lesson from but many helped me. There is magical power when you become part of any group, team, or organization that is highly functional. It has been my opinion that these teams have individuals on them who exhibit three qualities. They are humble-hungry-people smart. These are the people ever leader should be SEARCHING for.

If you are doing a SEARCH for any position on your team I strongly encourage you to read a book titled WHO: The A Method for Hiring by Geoff Smart and Randy Street.

Hiring people is not 100% intuition you have to know what you are looking for. You need a method not voodoo.

I wrote a post about Coach Bill Walsh in 2014 and the legacy of his NFL Coaching Tree. You can read that story here.

Bill Walsh directly touched the lives of 6 other NFL Coaches and those 6 went on to influence 13 other NFL Coaches. The second 13 went on to influence 13 more and that second group of 13 went on to influence 12 more NFL Coaches. One man Bill Walsh influenced 35 NFL Coaches either directly or indirectly and his coaching tree is still alive. When I look at the back of Bill Walsh’s Coaching Tree Ship I see a magnificence wake.

He had a method to SEARCH for not only coaches but players. The secret was to ask the following question. Does the player fit for our scheme and culture? He had specific criteria established for every position, on and off the field, so he eliminated those who didn’t qualify when he searched for talent. When we know what we are looking for it becomes easy to discount those that don’t qualify.

If you lead a team you have the awesome opportunity and responsibility to create the culture. As the leader, you must set the expectations, describe the vision and decide who qualifies to join. There is no harm when you SEARCH for talent to realize that not everyone will qualify. When we settle versus choose who joins the team we give away our vision.

SEARCH for talent knowing what you are looking for. Bill Walsh modeled that “Life Lesson”