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title: Team Building: How to Use Moneyball at the Office to Build Great Teams
description: Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t, his exhaustive study of great teams and leaders. He holds Nucor up as...
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author: Eric Barker
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article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:54:28.084Z
article:section: Ideas
og:title: Team Building: How to Use Moneyball at the Office to Build Great Teams
og:description: People are not a company’s most valuable asset.
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twitter:description: People are not a company’s most valuable asset.
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# Team Building: How to Use Moneyball at the Office to Build Great Teams

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by 

[Eric Barker](https://time.com/author/eric-barker/)


## Eric Barker


Jul 25, 2014 4:01 AM UTC

by 

[Eric Barker](https://time.com/author/eric-barker/)


## Eric Barker


Jul 25, 2014 4:01 AM UTC

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t, his exhaustive study of great teams and leaders.

He holds Nucor up as a prime example of perfect team building. **These guys were so devoted they chased lazy employees out of the factory.**

Via [Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0066620996/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0066620996&linkCode=as2&tag=spacforrent-20):

---

> “”

---

**And the best people are worth it.**

Yes, they’re that much better. There are Michael Jordans in every industry.

Via [Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths And Total Nonsense: Profiting From Evidence-Based Management](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591398622/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1591398622&linkCode=as2&tag=spacforrent-20):

---

> “”

---


Office workers are no different.

Via [Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths And Total Nonsense: Profiting From Evidence-Based Management](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591398622/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1591398622&linkCode=as2&tag=spacforrent-20):

---

> “”

---

And the above is probably just worthless and depressing information to almost everyone reading this.

You know why?

## **Most people don’t work with the top 2 percent**

You’re probably shocked some of your co-workers can dress themselves and find the door out of the house in the morning.

With good reason. A lot of people are just plain _dumb_.

Via [Competitive Advantage Through People: Unleashing the Power of the Work Force](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/087584717X/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=087584717X&linkCode=as2&tag=spacforrent-20):

---

> “”

---


This is why team building can be a nightmare and most advice is useless: **Everyone says “get the best” and that’s rarely an option.**

What’s a far more realistic approach?

**_How do you find diamonds in the rough?_**

How can you do [Moneyball](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393324818/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0393324818&linkCode=as2&tag=spacforrent-20) in the average workplace and find the undervalued players who already surround you?

## Look For The Round Peg In The Square Hole

[Research](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2013/03/interview-nyt-bestselling-author-dan-ariely-talks/) shows we give too much weight to individual personality and efforts and [too little to context](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2012/04/whats-the-most-effective-way-to-change-you-be/).

**Put an A player in an impossible role and PRESTO! — watch them become indistinguishable from a C player.**

**This is what the investigative commission realized after the Columbia space shuttle tragedy — NASA was so badly organized that it made good employees into poor performers.**

Via [Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths And Total Nonsense: Profiting From Evidence-Based Management](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591398622/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1591398622&linkCode=as2&tag=spacforrent-20):

---

> “”

---


**Look for the obviously bright people who are struggling in spots where they’re all but set up to fail.**

**When you’re team building, those are the people you want to steal.**

This is how Brad Bird made the Pixar film “[The Incredibles](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004I654UI/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004I654UI&linkCode=as2&tag=spacforrent-20).” He targeted the brilliant but floundering.

In an interview with [McKinsey Quarterly](http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/innovation/innovation%5Flessons%5Ffrom%5Fpixar%5Fan%5Finterview%5Fwith%5Foscar-winning%5Fdirector%5Fbrad%5Fbird) he said:

---

> “”

---

And with that he made a great movie and helped keep innovation alive at Pixar.

## He Makes Ten Times As Many Errors? PERFECT!


You might want to consider that employee who makes ten times as many errors.

Seriously.

**Teams that reported 10 times the number of errors had the best leadership and best coworker relationships.**

Via [Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths And Total Nonsense: Profiting From Evidence-Based Management](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591398622/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1591398622&linkCode=as2&tag=spacforrent-20):

---

> “”

---

Huh?

Everybody makes errors. These teams actually reported them all. So they learned. And got better. And trusted each other.

**The real danger was the people who were sweeping errors under the rug —** **_but those are the people who got the best reviews from bosses_** **.**

Via [Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths And Total Nonsense: Profiting From Evidence-Based Management](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1591398622/ref=as%5Fli%5Fss%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1591398622&linkCode=as2&tag=spacforrent-20):


---

> “”

---

We rarely get the obvious A players.

But the true A players are not always obvious.

**Join 45K+ readers.** Get a free weekly update via email [here](http://eepurl.com/o6uAD).

Related posts:

[10 Research-Backed Steps To Building A Great Team](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2013/07/great-team/)

[Checklist: Are you doing these five things to be more effective at work?](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2013/01/checklist-effective-work/)

[What 5 insights can you learn from the best book on management ever?](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2013/03/insights-management-book/)


_This piece originally appeared on_ [_Barking Up the Wrong Tree_](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/)_._

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