Moneyball Meets Business: The Playbook for Driving Performance

Coming up in today’s edition:

1. The Moneyball Blueprint: How the Oakland Athletics baseball team defeated the New York Yankees with a fraction of their budget

2. High-Performing System: How to apply the Moneyball principles to your business

3. Million Dollar Question: To focus on the metrics that matter in your team

1. OAKLAND ATHLETIC’S UNIQUE APPROACH TO PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS

The Moneyball story is more than just a baseball tale. 

This iconic film about Billy Beane and the Oakland Athletics baseball team (The Oakland A’s) captured the minds of millions back in 2011.

The reason?

Many of us face that same daunting challenge that Billy did when he took the helm as a General Manager of Oakland.

How do you compete against industry titans (in his case - the New York Yankees) who have 3x of the resources and payroll at their disposal?

Rather than throw up his hands, Beane and his assistant Paul DePodesta took a radical approach.

They looked beyond traditional baseball statistics and leaned on advanced analytics to find hidden value.

The Results?

A 103-win season in 2002, the longest winning streak in the American League that year (20 games), and a seismic shift in the sport.

I’ve broken down how they did it in five steps:

1. Data Over Gut Feel

In traditional baseball scouting, decisions were often made based on subjective impressions.

Scouts would look at how “smooth” a player’s swing appeared or how fast they ran a timed 60-yard dash.

While these qualities might look impressive, they didn’t necessarily lead to wins.

Beane’s team realised that a player’s on-base percentage (OBP) was a much stronger predictor of success.

• OBP measures how often a player gets on base, whether via hits, walks, or getting hit by a pitch, which correlates closely with runs scored.

Despite this, many players with high OBP were overlooked because they lacked flashy attributes.

By focusing on the data that truly mattered, e.g. how often players reached base, Oakland consistently found underappreciated players.

It wasn’t about how a player looked in a uniform or how hard they swung; it was about their real, measurable contribution to the game.

2. Find Undervalued Talent

The Oakland A’s didn’t have the budget to sign superstars.

Instead, they identified players whom other teams undervalued.

For example, Scott Hatteberg, a former catcher, had an excellent OBP but was considered a defensive liability behind the plate.

• Beane signed him for a fraction of the cost of a traditional slugger.

• Moved him to first base.

• Where he posted a .374 OBP ranking (well above the league average).

Similarly, Chad Bradford, a sidearm reliever with an unconventional pitching style, was ignored by other teams despite his stellar performance against certain types of hitters.

By adding players like these, the A’s built a roster that collectively outperformed far more expensive teams.

The takeaway?

Don’t just look at the talent everyone else is chasing. Seek out the unpolished gems—the people, processes, or strategies that deliver results but don’t get the spotlight.

3. Innovate Within Constraints

At the time, the Yankees’ payroll hovered around $125 million, while the A’s managed with roughly $40 million 🤯

This enormous gap meant Beane couldn’t simply buy talent. He had to think differently.

Constraints forced Oakland to innovate.

Without money to compete for traditional “star” players, they had to extract every ounce of value from each dollar.

This meant not just focusing on player performance, but also reconsidering how the entire organisation operated—from training regimens to how they evaluated potential trades.

In the business world, we have many constraints:

• Limited budgets

• Tight deadlines

• Small teams

They can feel like a handicap.

But they can also lead to game-changing innovation.

By embracing their constraints, Oakland created a repeatable, sustainable system for success.

4. Trust The Process

The A’s faced heavy resistance, both inside and outside the organisation.

• The media questioned whether statistics could really replace experience.

• Fans were unsure if the results would ever turn around.

• Old-school scouts dismissed the new approach as “nerd nonsense” like in the clip below 👇

Yet Beane and DePodesta remained steadfast.

• You have to maintain an unwavering self-belief in your idea. They did.

• They trusted that their system would yield results. It did.

The 20-game winning streak in 2002 was a vindication of their process.

It showed that even when critics doubt you, sticking to a well-thought-out plan can pay off.

In your business, trusting the process means having the courage to stay the course, even when results aren’t immediately visible.

Whatever happens in your team, maintain 1) consistency, 2) discipline, and 3) faith in the system you’ve built.

5. Create Lasting Impact

The Oakland A’s didn’t just win games; they changed how baseball thought about winning.

Their success inspired other teams to adopt data-driven approaches, turning what was once a fringe concept into a league-wide standard.

Today, every major league team has an analytics department.

The way players are scouted, signed, and developed is fundamentally different than it was 20 years ago.

By being the first to lean into these ideas, the A’s gained an edge—but the lasting impact is how they reshaped the sport.

2. IMPLEMENTING THE MONEYBALL BLUEPRINT

The principles that worked for the Oakland A’s can work for your team too.

Here’s how to adapt them step by step:

1. Identify Key Metrics:

Take a hard look at your existing performance indicators.

Are you measuring what really drives success, or are you focused on vanity metrics?

For example, instead of just tracking revenue, consider metrics like customer retention, lifetime value, or conversion rates.

Find the numbers that truly correlate with sustainable growth.

I talked about how to create your North Star Metric like AirBnB in this post. 

2. Challenge Conventional Wisdom:

Are you hiring people with the most impressive CVs, or are you finding the ones who consistently deliver results?

Question the long-held assumptions about what makes someone valuable.

Maybe it’s not the flashiest salesperson who drives the most revenue—it’s the steady performer who retains clients year after year.

3. Hunt for Hidden Value:

Who on your team is being overlooked?

Is there someone who doesn’t get the recognition they deserve but consistently meets deadlines, maintains quality, or solves tough problems?

Highlighting and empowering these individuals can transform your team’s overall output.

4. Maximise Your Resources:

Limited budget? Small team? Tight timeline?

Instead of complaining about constraints, use them as a framework for creativity.

• What processes can you streamline?

• What unnecessary expenses can you cut?

Constraints don’t have to mean sacrifice—they can lead to smarter, leaner operations.

5.  Commit to Continuous Improvement:

Don’t stop at implementing a new system.

Track how it’s working, adjust as needed, and refine over time.

Oakland didn’t just implement a new strategy once; they constantly tweaked their approach as new data became available.

The same goes for your business: keep learning, keep experimenting, and keep improving 🚀

3. ONE MILLION-DOLLAR QUESTION

This question forces you to look beyond the obvious and explore opportunities you might otherwise ignore.

When you zero in on the metric that really moves the needle, just like the A’s unlocked the power of on-base percentage, you gain the clarity to make decisions that are smarter, faster, and more impactful.

MY TOP FINDS OF THE WEEK 🏆

For Your Performance

• Lebron James 🏀 40 years old, the NBA’s all time scorer and yet he is still training by himself in an empty arena before anyone arrives - DEDICATION (Video)

For Your Team

• Kobe Bryant 🏀 How can you make your practices more competitive than the game (or your pitch/presentation/launch etc) (Video)

For Your Health

• A radical approach to your daily eating habits to help you live longer (Video)

Hope you enjoyed this week’s tactics. I’ll be back next Sunday with a new lineup 👋 - Alex 

P.S. Did you get something useful from this email? Do me a solid by sharing this link with 1 newsletter pal… 🙏

P.P.S. If you’re ready to take your leadership to the next level and gain personalised guidance tailored to your team’s needs, the Elite Team Leadership Programme is your next step. Join a community of senior leaders and founders, where you’ll receive expert training, actionable support, and the accountability needed to unlock your team’s full potential.