To Play (or Bench) Your Top Talent

in the most competitive of sporting circumstances, there’s little room for playing favorites, those who’ve paid their “dues” or those who’ve shown the most loyalty. in some moments, teams must play their top talent in order to win. those who understand this often build a brand of excellence that pays current and future dividends. the exception would be a team that lacks discipline. yesterday, the philadelphia eagles football team (a disciplined squad) made the difficult decision of starting michael vick as captain of their offense— a convicted criminal on the redemption path. they did so while bypassing their franchise quarterback kevin kolb, stating that vick gave the team the best chance to win. vick delivered with arguably the finest game of his career in a resounding 28-3 victory. so, what sort of “future dividends” might the eagles cash? the top free agents now know where to go for a second chance, or where performance is king. do you run your business in a similar fashion? do you value other assets before talent? if so, which – and why?