Moneyball is really not my kind of movie.
I am not into baseball and I do not enjoy an "all-guys" movie.
But, I made an exception and decided to give it a shot. And I am glad I did.
My weird reason being, in one of the podcasts I listened to, Malcolm Gladwell mentioned that the author he admired the most is Michael Lewis, the writer of Moneyball.
Moneyball is actually not about baseball. It is about change.
How everyone dreads it, how people like to stick to status-quo, how the odds are against change agents, how people oppose the change, why the stakes are really high for those who introduce change, why some adopt new methods and others don't.
I see that everyday in the world of technology and can totally relate to it.
Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), the General Manager of Oakland Athletics baseball team, is looking for a new strategy to bring victory to the team with the minimum budget provided to him.
According to him, "We're like organ donors for the rich. Boston's taken our kidneys, Yankees have taken our heart. And you guys just sit around talking the same old "good body" nonsense like we're selling jeans. Like we're looking for Fabio. We've got to think differently. We are the last dog at the bowl. You see what happens to the runt of the litter? He dies."
He meets Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), a math wiz from Yale, who uses statistical analysis to predict winning patterns.Peter's theory is to pick relatively unknown players, but who have techniques that can be used to their advantage to beat other teams. And, they cost way lesser than well-known players.
(Side note: Those of us in tech would draw an analogy to the use of data analytics in decision making. Most organizations even today don't use it to the extent that it can be leveraged.)
When Billy presents the selection of the players to his team, they all revolt. They have the usual excuses when anyone looks at disrupting the status-quo.
The other classic example is when Art (Philip Seymour Hoffman), the manager of the team, does not agree with Billy and does his own placement of players on the field. After multiple loses, Billy deals with this situation like a player of chess. He makes an excellent move by sacking some of the players that forces Art to pick the players Billy wants him to.
This is an instance of when you have to deal with someone who opposes the change and has the power to meddle with the situation. You will have to think creatively to get around that situation. And that is exactly what Billy did.
The Oakland As ultimately break the record for the highest number of consecutive wins in a major baseball series. They do not actually win the series.
But, it changed the way baseball is being played.
Baseball players were previously paid big bucks based on gut feeling, based on what people like, based on intuition. While all these produced some results, they were not as powerful as using data analysis to pick players.
This quote expresses the movie best "If you challenge the conventional wisdom, you will find ways to do things much better than they are currently done".
I am not into baseball and I do not enjoy an "all-guys" movie.
But, I made an exception and decided to give it a shot. And I am glad I did.
My weird reason being, in one of the podcasts I listened to, Malcolm Gladwell mentioned that the author he admired the most is Michael Lewis, the writer of Moneyball.
Moneyball is actually not about baseball. It is about change.
How everyone dreads it, how people like to stick to status-quo, how the odds are against change agents, how people oppose the change, why the stakes are really high for those who introduce change, why some adopt new methods and others don't.
I see that everyday in the world of technology and can totally relate to it.
Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), the General Manager of Oakland Athletics baseball team, is looking for a new strategy to bring victory to the team with the minimum budget provided to him.
According to him, "We're like organ donors for the rich. Boston's taken our kidneys, Yankees have taken our heart. And you guys just sit around talking the same old "good body" nonsense like we're selling jeans. Like we're looking for Fabio. We've got to think differently. We are the last dog at the bowl. You see what happens to the runt of the litter? He dies."
He meets Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), a math wiz from Yale, who uses statistical analysis to predict winning patterns.Peter's theory is to pick relatively unknown players, but who have techniques that can be used to their advantage to beat other teams. And, they cost way lesser than well-known players.
(Side note: Those of us in tech would draw an analogy to the use of data analytics in decision making. Most organizations even today don't use it to the extent that it can be leveraged.)
When Billy presents the selection of the players to his team, they all revolt. They have the usual excuses when anyone looks at disrupting the status-quo.
The other classic example is when Art (Philip Seymour Hoffman), the manager of the team, does not agree with Billy and does his own placement of players on the field. After multiple loses, Billy deals with this situation like a player of chess. He makes an excellent move by sacking some of the players that forces Art to pick the players Billy wants him to.
This is an instance of when you have to deal with someone who opposes the change and has the power to meddle with the situation. You will have to think creatively to get around that situation. And that is exactly what Billy did.
The Oakland As ultimately break the record for the highest number of consecutive wins in a major baseball series. They do not actually win the series.
But, it changed the way baseball is being played.
Baseball players were previously paid big bucks based on gut feeling, based on what people like, based on intuition. While all these produced some results, they were not as powerful as using data analysis to pick players.
This quote expresses the movie best "If you challenge the conventional wisdom, you will find ways to do things much better than they are currently done".
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