Would you let Derek Jeter play Outfield for your team?

It’s November 2000 and the New York Yankees just finished beating the New York Mets for their third World Series victory in a row. Their best player is a Shortstop named Derek Jeter who just finished one of his best seasons by hitting?.339.

Let’s just imagine for a second that after that season, Jeter was starting to feel like it was time to leave the Yankees and join a new team. He’s a 4x World Series Champion, he’s been in the top ten of MVP voting on multiple occasions, and he’s a perennial All-Star. He is without a doubt one of the best players in baseball and he would make any team that he joins instantly better.

So he picks up the phone and calls the Seattle Mariners. He tells the Mariners that he’s interested in coming to Seattle and that he would love to join their team. At this point in time, Alex Rodriguez is their shortstop, and he’s coming off a MVP like season. The Mariners think they have their shortstop of the future and they’re committed to trying to resign him at that position. (Spoiler alert: Rodriguez had other plans).?

The Seattle Mariners tell Jeter, “we’re sorry, we have a shortstop already, so we can’t sign you.” Jeter replies, “no problem, I can play outfield for you and I’m happy to make that switch.”

The Mariners, short sighted as an organization and often missing the mark on talent notify Jeter that they’re not interested in letting him play the outfield because, he’s never played the outfield before.?

Jeter is stunned as he thinks he has the talents to play there. Plus he’s a 4x champion, he instantly would make their lineup better, and he believes his athletic skills would work in the outfield. The Seattle Mariners disagree as he’s never proven himself out there, and he’s never actually handled the outfielders glove, the space to roam, judging the flyballs, and they question his arm strength because again, they’ve never seen him play out there.?

Jeter is shocked. He ends up staying with the Yankees. They go on to appear in 3x more World Series, winning one of them. He goes down as a 5x champion, a first ballot hall of famer, and one of the greatest baseball players in the history of the sport.?

Ok, so this never happened. Jeter never called the Mariners, nor did he ever want out of New York. But, what if it did happen? What would you say as a Seattle Mariner fan? Well, I am a Seattle Mariner fan and I would be livid if I learned of this dream scenario. Why would you turn Jeter down?

The truth is, this same type of conversation happens every single day inside of companies like the one that you work for. This happens in two different scenarios.?

The first scenario is the most common. Let’s say your company posts a job for an Enterprise Sales Manager. They open the recruiting process, begin to collect resumes, start screener calls, etc. Somewhere along the way, they find a candidate that they think has enough talent to get through to the hiring manager. The hiring manager is specifically looking for someone with experience leading or working inside of an Enterprise sales function.?

Then, a candidate with 10+ years of experience working in inside sales for a B2C company rises to the top of the resume pile. They have all the skills on paper and the experience of hitting sales goals. They know sales process language, and they’ve used your systems in the past as well. They also have glowing reviews from sales folks who have worked for them previously. But then the hiring manager pulls this move… “sorry, we’re only looking for candidates who have worked in Enterprise sales.”

“Mr. Jeter, we know you would be a complete asset to our team, but we’re worried about your ability to play the outfield for our team.”

The second scenario happens inside the walls of your company, with your own leadership team, and with recruiters that you know very well. This scenario is where you are contemplating leaving your current role for an adjacent one. Perhaps you’ve been in Program Management and you want to move more into a Sales Operations role that has a heavier focus on data and or systems that you may need to learn. At this point, you’ve been a top performer as a PM, each year your reviews return positive results, but you’re ready to try your hand at something new. You apply for the role, you get through to the hiring screens as a courtesy because your company wants to give you a chance to grow, and then they deliver the dreaded news.?

“Mr. Jeter, we really would like you to continue playing Shortstop, because we already know you’re an All-Star in that position.”?

The absurdity of this is that every company, every hiring manager, and every department has been guilty of this. Even I’ve been guilty of it in the past. It’s a prime example of not seeing the forest before the trees and being so short sighted on immediate gains, rather than investing in long term talent.?

At this point in my career, I care more about investing in talented people and adding them to my team, rather than being concerned if they have immediate experience in the role. If you have talent, you should be able to adapt and join any team, any function, any role, and be a hit from day one.?

Please remember this the next time you post a role. Think to yourself for a second, “would I let Derek Jeter play the outfield for me?”

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