Results Versus Skills: What the Super Bowl Teaches Us About How to Win

At this time every year, with 17 weeks of regular-season NFL football behind us and the Super Bowl just a few days away, I’m reminded just how similar sports organizations and your company are.

No, your company probably doesn’t offer five-year, $120 million contracts. But it knows how important it is to hire the right people with the right skills, just like the management teams of the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks know how important it is to draft the right players with the right skills.

(First off, let’s get something straight: I hate sports clichés. I promise not to use words and phrases like “hike,” “handoff” and “dropped the ball” unless I’m talking about a ball company—which I won’t be.)

Impression v. Impressive Results

Both hiring and drafting require a balance between skills and results. In a LinkedIn blog post, “Let’s Fix It: End the Talent Shortage by Hiring for Results, Not Skills,” Lou Adler writes that many companies are looking for candidates whose resumes impress, not ones who will actually get results. The NFL seems to have been looking for a mix of both skills and results: According to NFL.com, of the projected starters in this year’s Super Bowl, only 12 were first-round draft picks, and another 12 were undrafted free agents. (Historically, most first-round draft picks end up having decent careers, but roughly one-third of them end up busts.)

Getting to the Super Bowl

Clearly, the Super Bowl doesn’t care what’s on your “resume” or whether you were a first-round or a fifth-round draft pick. Your skills matter only insofar as you can deliver wins. Players and teams get to the Big Game through one thing: their results—their performance—during the regular season. An excellent performance on the biggest stage in all professional sports (at least in America) will give one team the right to take home the coveted Vince Lombardi Trophy.

So, as a hiring manager, ask yourself: Are you looking for skills or results? Skills may get the job done, but a candidate who gets results is the kind of winner your company needs.