If you know me, you know I am a big baseball fan. All winter long I live for spring training and opening day. My summer vacations include going to other cities’ ballparks to watch games. I have Tiger season tickets and go to about 40 games a year. 

I also pay attention to off-season  moves that my favorite teams make. That is why this off-season has been so interesting for me. I have never met Dave Dombrowski, the President/CEO/GM  of the Tigers, but as I read about his off-season player moves I have come to the conclusion he is either brilliant (the Fielder trade) or he is confused (the Fister trade).  I’m crossing my fingers and assuming he is brilliant.

As I read what local reporters and national reporters are saying about the Tigers, it made me think about how companies recruit and retain their talent. For example, when I read that the Tigers couldn't come up with a deal to sign Scherzer, I wondered how companies would handle similar situations. When your company has a key player/worker that doesn't think she is getting paid what she should, how do you handle that situation?

And then what do you do when you have key players/workers leave or transfer or get sick, and you have to fill those spots? Look at the Tigers—this year because of trades, free agency and injuries we opened the season with different faces at all four infield positions than we opened with last year. So Dombrowski did some pretty involved maneuvering, whether you like the decisions he made or not.

At ASE we recruit the best talent we can, just like everyone else does. And as conditions and business needs change, we move people around internally just like the Tigers have done. So from a purely professional point of view (i.e., not necessarily a fan’s point of view), I would have enjoyed getting inside Dombrowski’s head and finding out what his thought processes were this winter. 

We all accept the adage that nobody is perfect. Everyone brings a specific combination of strengths and weaknesses to his job. But I think we are often guilty of expecting our players’/workers’ weaknesses to turn into strengths, despite what experience and common sense tell us.

My observation is that in the real world weaknesses never become strengths. They might be improved on a little here and there, but they still remain weaknesses. I believe Dombrowski understands that reality. And so what he has done, and I think what the best talent managers do, is focus on the individual’s strengths, put that person in the best possible position to capitalize on those strengths, and then resolve to live with his weaknesses.

For any talent manager, that philosophy triggers a corollary: Since you have realistically accepted each player’s/worker’s weaknesses, you cannot afford  to stop looking for ways to re-deploy that individual’s strengths after initial deployment. In other words, you have to look at your whole roster as a fluid thing, a process that needs to be able to respond to new conditions. You simply cannot leave it alone.

If you follow the Tigers, you know that for the last few years they stocked up with players who were heavy hitters but slow runners. As a result they scored a lot of runs via the home run and the extra-base hit, but too often when they faced really good opposing pitching they couldn’t score any runs at all. And that was one of the reasons they lost the World Series two years ago and failed to make it to the World Series last year.

So despite having one of the most talented rosters in the major leagues, Dombrowski chose not to leave it alone. He broke it up and brought in players who collectively have changed the culture of the team. Now we have fewer big hitters but a lot more speed and hopefully better defense (another not-so-stellar area in recent years) because of that speed.

Dombrowski has shown what I think are key attributes for an effective talent manager: truly accept that no employees are perfect, and therefore resolve to capitalize on their strengths and live with their weaknesses. And never stop looking for better ways to capitalize on their strengths.

By the way, I am betting on a Central division  title again this year . . . and keeping my fingers  crossed for that World Series victory!!