Training analysts like athletes

My good friends over at Aurora WDC have recently made a major coup in engaging Dr. Craig Fleisher to run their training program. Craig and Aurora WDC will be leading a very essential effort that is far overdue – to attempt to train analysts as well as we have figured out how to train professional athletes.

That may seem like a weird juxtaposition. After all, what has football got to do with competitive analysis? According to Dr. Fleisher, more than we would suspect. Nobody expects a person to perform the complex tasks of being a running back based on natural talent alone – there are dozens of coaches and performance experts there at every step to teach principles, give hints, and make recommendations for improvement. Tapes are reviewed. Lessons are learned and recycled into the next iteration of training. All of this goes into the science of creating top-performing athletes.

To the analysts of the world, I say, why not us? How is it that we are being that people playing baseball are so far ahead of people managing world-class organizations? Strategic and competitive analysts almost never receive the kind of conditioning associated with somebody like the St Louis Cardinals’ Albert Pujols. For Pujols, he’s a performer who must execute a set of tasks in a constantly shifting environment – is that so different than providing intelligence around yet-another product launch? He reportedly spends hours reviewing tapes showing his stance versus different pitchers. How many strategic analysts review completed projects to see what weaknesses need improvement in different settings?

Did I mention Pujols makes north of $25 million a year?

If we were as diligent about our craft, might we not see similarly stellar results? (OK, we might not get eight-digit salaries, but still.)

Either way, Aurora is making a statement with their new program, one that is in the right direction for a world in the midst of a major transformation.

It’s time for more training. For all of us.