I like your thoughts on business measurement, but I’m surprise that you left out the greatest stat measurement of them all in the business world–executive compensation. C-level execs are paid based on seemingly irrelevant metrics like stock performance and short-term profitability. It’s as if I gave Battier a contract that, instead of $15M over 3 years, was $100K for every point scored.

Didn’t know that hoop folks were embracing plus/minus, which has been a staple stat in hockey for as long as I can remember. Same concept, except it only applies to even strength goals. It is a good indicator of who is making positive contributions, since the goal isn’t the score, but who scores more.

But while plus/minus works well in sports with continuous play, well defined rules, and flat org. charts, I’m not sure how well it moves to the corp. world. Yes, results are important, but the added complexity, along with few number of “even strength situations” can make it tough if there was a plus or a minus going on.

But managers can learn from sport coaches. The team can triumph over a star individual, and to build a good team a manager needs to put the right people in the right roles, that are clearly defined and executed. And if you don’t have the parts to fulfill your approach, you need to adapt to use the parts you got.