Glue Guys
Episode 42 The Mercenary Dilemma
Glue Guys

Episode 42: The Mercenary Dilemma

Glue Guys

Episode 42

The Mercenary Dilemma

Shane Battier, Ravi Gupta and Alex Smith are the hosts of Glue Guys, an exploration of their favorite lessons from the worlds of sports and business. We cover why chasing championships is viewed more favorably than chasing money, why commitment to a mission builds stronger cultures than personal loyalty, and how the scarcity of talent impacts recruitment decisions.

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Show Notes:

(00:00:00) Welcome to Glue Guys

(00:02:34) Chasing Championships vs. Chasing Money

(00:09:21) When Loyalty Backfires

(00:13:38) The Homegrown vs. Mercenary Teams

(00:26:17) Loyalty in Business and Sports

(00:39:18) Team Dynamics and Individual Roles

(00:42:34) The Downside of Transactional Hires

(00:44:27) The Importance of Timing in Hiring Decisions

(00:47:28) The Role of Talent and Scarcity in Hiring

(00:55:23) The Concept of Crucible Moments

(01:01:44) The Challenge of Managing High-Talent Individuals

(01:09:58) The Reality of CEO Compensation

The Mercenary Dilemma

What Do You Chase: Championships or Money?

Alex
What athlete do you most identify with a single city and therefore like their team?

Ravi
Yeah.

Alex
Right. In all of sports, is it Kobe in LA? Right like.

Ravi
Is it Jeter in New York? Yes.

Alex
You know, is it all the sports most identifies with a single team and city?

Ravi
We should go through that. But I think that then the question, though, of course, like you said, is: what does that mean that somebody stayed with that city and does that mean that they were loyal? Right. And I think then you get to another question which is loyal versus transactional, you know, and I think that cuts across a bunch of stuff.

Shane
Oh, boy.

Alex
For sure. Well, it's—and I'm not saying, I mean, he's not like this at all, but it's funny, you know, Russell Westbrook's bounced around to how many teams the last eight years.

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