“A Yankees! A five tool player. Will be a ML Star!”
This was the final line of then-New York Yankees scout Dick Groch’s report on Derek Sanderson Jeter of Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1992. Groch is largely credited with being the driving force behind the Yankees drafting Jeter with the 6th overall pick in the MLB amateur draft that year. I had the pleasure to meet a few years ago at Steiner Sports when we spoke about his experience scouting the future Yankees captain and 5x World Series champion.
The grades he gave Jeter on the report are considered high—and ultimately rightfully so considering Jeter’s tremendously successful Major League career.
In sports, there are scouting reports all the time. Whether it’s a team evaluating a kid that they may consider drafting, or it’s an in-depth analysis on what an opponent’s tendencies are—their strengths and weakness—athletes and teams are always being judged in this fashion.
Why don’t we have scouting reports in other areas of life? I have to think that if companies invested more in cultivating and growing talent that they wouldn’t be as hard-pressed to find upper-level managers and staff to really drive their business as they gain more experience. Sure, a lot of companies may have “performance review,” but those are sporadic and hardly focus on the totality of someone’s work and effort.
My question to you today is, what would your scouting report say? If a scout was evaluating you on your potential for future success at your company or in your industry, would they be able to call you a future Hall of Famer? What are your strengths and what are your weaknesses?
Odds are that there are probably enough opportunities for you to make improvements to what you are doing on a daily basis—in both your professional and personal life—that would then make it easier for your scout to call you an All-Star. The key is identifying areas where you can improve, understanding other areas where you can do even better, and then acting on those opportunities. You’ll be surprised where you end up.
