The Dailies

Word of the Day

Sophistry (n., SOFF-iss-tree)

Something that sounds plausible but is ultimately incorrect and misleading. Sophistry has taken many forms over the years, from "It's just over the next hill." to "The earth is the center of the universe." to "Santa brought it to you!"

Gif of the Day

TagsAnimalsAlligatorsGolf coursesSurprised much?Eeny meeny miney moe, catch a gator by the...tailRapid exitsNonchalance

Link of the Day

Matt Waldman's NFL Draft Guide

Yes, it's sports; don't check out. Matt Waldman's NFL Draft guide is a staple of early April. Waldman is a freelance writer for a University of Georgia magazine with a background in management and music. He started the draft guide because he believed that his princples of evaluation and process improvement could map well to the inexact science of the NFL Draft. He only scouts a few positions but looks carefully at the players, trying to determine how their skills will translate to the next level. It's a good process, and Waldman has had a lot of success projecting players who are overlooked.

But what separates Waldman from others (beyond his approach) is his thoughtfulness. His draft guides are exhaustive because of his carefulness, and he often provides helpful illustrations to show his point. Take this example from a recent quarterback discussion (note: one adult word):

At the end of her first week with our group, I had a follow-up meeting with her—something that was customary for me to do with new staff in her role. She was notably more relaxed in this meeting than the one we had at the beginning of the week on her first day.

When I ended our Friday meeting, she stopped at the door, turned around, and sat back down in the chair.

“I have to tell you something.”

“What’s that?”

“You are NOTHING like people think outside of your team.”

“How should I take that?”

“Oh, it’s a good thing. Your team loves working for you. They all think you’re nice, they believe you value their ideas and effort, and everything is so smooth around here,” she said. “But everyone else in this building is scared shitless of you. They think you’re mean and crazy.”

After I stopped laughing, I asked why.

“People see you come downstairs and you often appear angry. They say you’re often talking to yourself. Some talk about you going into the director’s office and yelling at him and if you yell at your boss and you’re still here…he must be scared of you.”

My boss was far from scared of me. I did this once and I knew I had the relationship with the guy to have this kind of interaction without ruining things there.

Showing my commitment to winning through a refusal to lose instilled a belief in my team and they began to exhibit similar qualities.I made lots of mistakes as a leader, but I had enough good moments to know that effective leaders motivate and execute.

DeShone Kizer exhibits these two skills from the pocket against Michigan State. The first place is about walking the talk.

If you want no-hype, thoughtful scouting reports for players, Matt Waldman is where to go. If you want analysis that integrates musical analogies as well as business ones, Matt Waldman is where to go. If you want to learn how to evaluate something carefully, Matt Waldman is where to go (check out the videos below). If you want to do this while supporting a charity committed to ending child sexual abuse, Matt Waldman is where to go (and he's donated proceeds for all ten years he's put out the guide).

We've learnd a lot from Waldman, but it's the other elements to his work that keep us coming back.

TagsSportsNFL DraftMatt WaldmanEvaluationManagementMusicMasters of a craft