Chapter Five: The ‘Best’ Person for the Job

Chambers et al. (1998) (working for McKinsey & Co) famously declared that the ‘war for talent’ was upon industry. A war in which, talent would be the arbiter of success and sustained competitive advantage. As a result, organisations, now compete, for the best employees, the best athletes, and the best executives. For some organisations, this has taken them towards a business model which nurtures and promotes talent and career opportunity from within. For others, a model predicated on importing the best talent from outside of their organisation, with implications for searching and monitoring a global database of prospective leaders. The financial rewards and prestige associated with success in elite sport have meant that sports owners and their boards employ multidisciplinary teams of staff to assist in the recruitment, development, and retention of the most talented individuals. Globalisation has meant that the task of finding the ‘right’ person has become more of a challenge (despite access to a global talent pool). McKinsey & Co’s original statement (war for talent) was intentioned to highlight concern regarding the impending demographic challenges of a decreasing supply of post-baby-boom workers to meet workforce demands. Talent, however, is in short demand, in part due to pervasive reach of globalisation. The globalisation of the world economy means that talent is now traded in an open marketplace with fewer restrictions and more incentives than ever before (Tana, 2016). There is also growing evidence that sports team owners are prepared to look ‘outside’ of the sports industry to find their next CEO. After decades of impressive growth fuelled by seemingly endless increases in the value of media and sponsorship rights, the global elite sports industry is now faced with concerns regarding changing patterns of consumption, particularly amongst Gen Z. Younger generations appear to have greater expectations towards content: it needs to be highly personalised, engaging, interactive, and shareable. To make things more complex, younger generations are used to having content at their fingertips. The sports industry is now currently experiencing a period of transition, one that has been accelerated by the Covid-19 crisis. What is acutely needed during this period of disruption are ‘talented’ leaders whose broader technology, entertainment, retail, and consumer industries may offer value to the ‘new normal’ of sports. According to research published within Sri’s ‘Trailblazer Report’, sports leagues are highly amenable to hiring CEOs from other industries, with eight cross industry leaders being appointed by major sports leagues since 2015. The most popular pathway was from the media and entertainment sector, which produced four of these CEOs. Chase Carey transitioned from 21st Century Fox to Formula 1 and Rahul Johri went from Discovery Co to the Indian Premier League.