"Let Him Conquer the World" - Lessons From Coaching Athletes With Learning Disabilities (2nd in a Two-Part Series)

On January 23rd, 2013, an eighth-grader, Owen Groesser, on the Van Hoosen Middle School's basketball team in Rochester Hills, Michigan scored two three-pointers in his team's 35 - 26 win over another school.  Owen's game performance went viral on Twitter and made ESPN's SportCenter's Top 10 Plays a day later.

If you're not already familiar with this story, you may ask, "So what's remarkable about a high school player making a couple of three's?"  In fact, "the stat line read: MIN PLAYED: 2  3FGA: 4  3FGM: 2 PF: 0  TP: 6. Not bad for a basketball player but hardly Lebron-esque."

Did I mention that Owen has Down Syndrome?

While this story has run its course in terms of recency, it offers some excellent insights on the importance of talent development.  This is the second in a two-part series on lessons that businesses and other organizations, such as nonprofits, should consider as they seek to be excellent.  The first post of this series is titled "The Power of Reinforcing Strategic Choices with Repetitive Symbolic Acts." 

We are overdue in shifting the conversation from "talent management" to "talent development."  Some may view talent management as "an organization's commitment to recruit, retain, and develop the most talented and superior employees available in the job market."  This implies that talent management should be focused on "the most talented and superior employees."  What about those not recognized as "the most most talented and superior?"  Do organizations risk losing something by focusing on those not evaluated to be in the top performance tier?  That answer is a definitive yes.

While some are good at identifying talent, no one has a lock on identifying top talent even with the emergence of human resource algorithms.  In keeping with the basketball theme of this two-part series, one example is the emergence of unheralded Jeremy Lin with the New York Knicks during the 2012 basketball season.  Another more current example is the Gulf Coast University basketball team who just became the first 15th seed to reach the Sweet 16 of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.

While there is something to be said for growing top talent, talent development should also focus on providing an environment for people who may not be recognized as "top talent" to not just succeed, but to bring out their best when opportunities are presented to them.

What makes Owen Groesser's story even better is that he "missed his next two shots before making another 3-pointer on his way to finishing with six points."  This is far from being a story about raining successive three-pointers in a basketball game.  Peel back the layers a bit and you'll find that it's really a story about providing the environment and opportunities that enable ordinary people to achieve great things.

After the game, Owen's mother talked about how she and her husband raised Owen.  "We just took the attitude of 'Let him conquer the world if he can.'  We'll expose him to whatever we feel is appropriate and if he succeeds, awesome. If not, then we'll be there to catch him."

What an awesome statement!  It reflects the aspirations and challenges that parents have in caring for their children.  It also reflects the talent development ethos (the guiding beliefs or ideals) that managers and leaders should have.

As leaders and managers, we should aspire for our employees to achieve great things.  Tweak Ms. Groesser's statement a little to apply to the people in your organization: "We took the attitude of 'Let them conquer the world.'  We'll expose them to whatever we feel is appropriate and if they succeed, awesome. If not, then we'll be there to catch them."

We need to provide not just positive environments but also empowering networks for our people.  This is one of our most significant responsibilities.  Owen didn't just benefit from the mechanics of shooting a basketball. He benefited from a nurturing network provided by his family, coach, team, and school that encouraged him to stretch himself, to take chances, to dare to do great things.

Likewise, we also need to know our employees' strengths and weaknesses.  Design and undertake actions that will stretch them, reinforce their strengths, and strengthen their weaknesses.  Owen's coach, Jeff Howell, clearly recognized the importance of Owen's differences and the attitude Owen brought to the school's basketball team - a great reflection of the "Hire for attitude, train for aptitude" mantra.  He made sure that Owen was an integral part of the team.  He even designed a play for Owen, appropriately called "The Owen," that played to Owen's strengths and was run when Owen entered the game.  It accounted for his first basket.

We sometimes tend to focus on those who are extraordinarily talented.  However, Owen's story is one about how someone "some may consider unordinary was given an ordinary chance and, together, became something extraordinary."  While we often talk about diversity in terms of racial and ethnic differences, it's important to recognize that diversity also refers to different backgrounds, experiences, viewpoints, and abilities. 

It's clear from Owen's fans at this game that the students at Van Hoosen Middle School and his teammates had already learned the value of not just appreciating but leveraging Owen's diversity and talents well before this game.  Owen's game performance reinforced those values.

What this learning and richness and its ripple effects will mean to Owen and his fellow students in future years should not be underestimated.  The people at Van Hoosen are richer because of the diversity that Owen brought to his basketball team and the support network that enabled him to drill those three-pointers.  "What Owen has given back in return is far more valuable in a time when the country needs stories like this."  In one of my favorite Wall Street Journal stories about the value of diversity, Robert Menschel, a senior director at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. stated:  "You don't learn anything from ... sameness."

If you want to see the value and joy of diverse abilities in action, you don't need to travel to Rochester Hills, Michigan.  Find out where there are Special Olympics events in your local area and go watch these athletes in action.  Better yet, volunteer to coach or help officiate any number of Special Olympics sports in your area.  You'll be richer for it and may even learn something that you can apply to your workplace.

  
Challenge your people.  Know their strengths and weaknesses.  Just like Owen's parents, coach, and school did, focus on talent development (vs. management), set them up for success (recognizing that they "[they] can't do epic by [themselves]") and give them their shots - yes, shots. Plural.