Inspired Ideas

I am usually in an inspired state when I watch the Toronto Raptors play at their highest potential. I suppose that’s the feeling a sports franchise is meant to create with their fans who have a deep affinity with the team. The Raptors are an interesting case study partly due to their tumultuous history as a franchise; from their inaugural year it seemed that the NBA’s northern experiment would be a complete failure.

Players refused to report to the young Toronto franchise. The reasons were far and wide. It was too cold. They couldn’t find Toronto on a map. Toronto like the rest of Canada had a weird measurement system, what the hell is a litre and a kilometer anyways? I can’t have my kids learn that shit. So, when Vince Carter, a once rising superstar, had a press conference to announce he was committed to playing in Toronto the city was naturally overcome with joy. Maybe the tide was turning. Not quite. Toronto, although it has a general self-depricating style of humour as it goes about it’s business, has a fairly large ego. And the city’s ego sure took a major hit when VC decided he no longer wanted to be part of the Raptors. We took it personally.

The fact that the franchise was able to turnaround the general direction of the organization when it felt like there was little hope left is what inspires me.

Here are 3 business lessons from the Toronto Raptors that can be applied to business life:

1. Focus your attention on a common enemy

Playa-haters. The Raptors sure had a lot of them. An article two seasons ago in Sports Illustrated seemed to already have dismissed the Raptors season before they even played a single game, proclaiming that all of their off-season moves would be unfruitful. The critics became the team’s common enemy, they set out to silence all of them.

When you have a common enemy it becomes a rallying cry for everyone in the organization, instantly every inch becomes worth fighting for, exerting that extra effort now has visual context. I once worked for a company where we were repeatedly asked to work through our lunch breaks and yet no one seemed to complain. It was the nature of the industry back then but we also had a common enemy. Every six months a ranking would come out and we were consistently 3rd. The top ranked company was Goliath we were David. They had more money and more resources, we couldn’t compete with that. There was a certain buzz, that’s hard to explain in words, that took over the spirit of the company during those long and varied days but everyone knew what they were working towards. A few years later the company hit # 1. (Sadly, I really can’t take credit for any of it, I was long gone by then).

Find your enemy. Focus everyone’s attention on the enemy. Get to work.

2. An inspired team > uninspired team

One of the guiding principles of the site. The Toronto Raptors amid all of the critics decided if we can’t find current players who want to come to Toronto then we’ll simply expand our search. Surely, there had to be talent outside of North America who desperately wanted to play in the NBA. And the management team was right. They found hidden gems that other GM’s never saw or who weren’t willing to invest in. The Raptors worked hard to find the right mix of players creating a culture of people who actually wanted to play.

You gotta find people who share the same values as your organization. Who actually want to work for your company. If a person can’t give you one good reason why they want to work for your company aside from “I saw the posting on Workopolis and I desperately need a job” - stop the interview and kick their ass out.

If you’re trying to create something great, uninspired people on your team just won’t cut it.

3. Kill the cancer swiftly

The Toronto Raptors don’t fuck around. Don’t want to be here anymore? Get your ass out. Juan Dixon was the latest example. They traded him quickly and found somebody that did want to be here.

A person who merely shows up to work because they haven’t stumbled across something better yet is like cancer. Undealt with, their bitching and attitude starts to spread to other parts of the organization. Group think takes over and now everyone is singing the blues proclaiming, “this company sucks”.

Kill the cancer before it takes over the culture of the organization.

Boom, that’s all I’ve got. 3 business lessons from the Toronto Raptors.

Go Raps.

- Nish

This post is tagged inspired ideas, nish shah, toronto raptors