Strategic Planning and Management Insights

Up means down and down means up — We’ve all had colleagues who make it a practice of denying what we know is real. It happens in politics, science, business and anywhere: people whose beliefs are a million miles away from reality. 

Moneyball is a 2011 movie based of Michael Lewis’ book that details the Oakland Athletics baseball team and their 2002 season managed by Billy Beane (played by Brad Pitt). The team has one of the smallest budgets in the league, which prompts Beane to enlist a young Yale economics graduate to use data and analytics to build his new and unusual team. After a wildly successful season for the usually poor-performing Athletics, people recognize his conviction and the success of his strategy using undervalued players. Along with many valuable lessons on business, Moneyball also provides useful insights on executing a strategic plan, leadership and creating change.

Carlos Valdes Dapena is the managing principal at Corporate Collaboration Resources and the Author of Lessons from Mars. Carlos spent 17 years working for MARS incorporated, a global food and pet care industry. During his time with MARS, his career focus was around improving corporate collaboration within the organization, eventually leading the development of the Mars Framework for High-Performance Collaboration. After moving on from this role in 2017, Carlos continues to share his insights and best practices for team collaboration and leadership development through his book and consulting work.