Who is the Alan Shearer on your team?

If you want to get the best out of your people, you need to bring in exceptional individuals who can inspire the whole team and raise everyone’s game.

This lesson was shared with me recently by former England manager and BigChange ambassador, Kevin Keegan. Throughout the course of his career, he has carefully balanced his headhunting strategy with his commitment to nurturing homegrown talent.

“If you’re going to recruit talent, they have to bring something to the party that you haven’t got,” he told me during our last mentoring session. “When I fetched Alan Shearer for a world record fee to Newcastle, all the others got a boost. 

"People think ‘Wow, he’ll be in the same dressing room as me’. Young players get the opportunity to learn what makes him so special. They saw that when he got on the pitch, a switch flicked on, and he was a professional who was all about scoring goals.“

He bought Shearer for a record-breaking ￡15m - ￡28m in today’s money – which proved to the whole team that he was backing the future of Newcastle United, and doing everything in his power to help the team win the league.

Greatness begets greatness, as the saying goes, and Shearer had an incredible impact on the team: in 1996, the year he joined, he finished as the top Premier League goal scorer, and Newcastle United narrowly missed the top spot in the league that year. To this day, Shearer holds the record for the number of goals scored in the Premier League: he totalled 260 during his career.

However, it is important to show your existing talent that they too can become superstars. Keegan explained that he never lost his focus on existing players within the team, even while scouting for new talent. He always made sure he attended reserve team games, he said, and took the time to speak to players who showed improvement so they knew they would get a chance to shine.

“You have to give everyone a chance,” he said. “Give them the tools they require and the opportunity, and if they don’t make it, they can’t come to you and complain that you never gave them a chance.”

At BigChange, I am passionate about internal promotion, and we invest heavily in giving all our colleagues the support they need to develop and succeed. There are countless examples of individuals who have grown alongside the organisation. People like Johann Levy, our CTO, who has been with us since the beginning and has mastered new skills every year. He is an example of a homegrown superstar, who has risen to every challenge we have faced as a business.

But I also never shy away from bringing in top talent, as we did with Jo Godsmark, our COO. She has been a breath of fresh air here at BigChange. Since her appointment in 2019, she has helped to professionalise areas of the business and get us match-fit for the future. Other new signings are Paul Witter Network Managing Director and Adrian Hope our new Customer Success Director.

I am so proud to say that I believe that we have at least one “Alan Shearer” in every single team across the company. These people are not only driving growth, they are helping their colleagues to learn and progress. As Keegan noted in our last meeting, “You know you have a player with unbelievable ability when they not only have talent but also want to pass it on to others.”

Have you got enough Shearers in your organisation? 

Watch episode five by clicking on this link Secrets of Leadership