By Mike Hoban
Tonight, a highly publicized annual talent management event will take place: the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) player draft. Millions of dollars and thousands of hours have been spent to identify the collegiate players with the ability to play at the next level up. Martin LaRue certainly fit that bill in 1972.
The case of Mr. LaRue is instructive not only for the world of sports but for the world of talent management in business and it has to do with distinguishing between performance and potential. He was a “can’t miss” collegiate star, a reputation which helped make him the very first pick in the 1972 professional basketball draft – he was the best of the best. Because of his outstanding performance at the college level, many professional talent scouts extrapolated and they saw ‘high potential.’
Well, Mr. LaRue’s performance in the NBA was underwhelming at best and he left the league after just four seasons. Despite the stacks of scouting reports, the many game tapes of his performance and all of the hoopla about this hoopster, his perceived trajectory never materialized. Apparently, he didn’t have the “right stuff” for the next level after all, earning him the distinction of being called the “worst #1 draft pick in NBA history” by one sports web site.
Hmm… Does this sound familiar in the business world? Perhaps an excellent mid-level leader is promoted to an executive position only to struggle and ultimately fail at that next level up? It happens a lot and underscores that performance and potential are not the same thing.
Professional sports talent scouts - people who do that for a living – got it wrong, despite their insights and their analyses. Perhaps they were so dazzled by the star power of LaRue’s performance they misjudged his potential to take his game to the next level. Executives and their HR talent scouts have to be vigilant they don’t fall into the same trap and need to use different yardsticks to distinguish between performance and potential.
While accurately identifying potential is still an inexact science, the business world has developed better processes that are yielding more reliable results. Will tonight’s draft reveal any new ways to spot potential in the world of pro sports?
Mike Hoban is a senior consultant for Development Dimensions International (DDI).


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