Leadership and Management – Moneyball: A Critical Analysis

This report critically analyzes the leadership and management styles portrayed in the movie Moneyball, with a focus on the character of Billy Beane. It evaluates the relevance of these styles in the context of the team and discusses leadership competencies displayed by Beane. The report also discusses the importance of setting a clear vision, effective communication and collaboration, managing change, problem-solving, and managing politics in effective leadership.

Running head: LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT – MONEYBALL
Leadership and Management – Moneyball
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Executive Summary:
This analysis done in this report is based on the movie Moneyball, there is an in depth
study of the leadership styles portrayed in the book by the characters. The readers are first
introduced to the movie and the plot of the story, then there is a critical evaluation of the
different styles of leadership and management portrayed by the characters in the movie,
mainly the main character Billy Beane. The report then addresses the most important
leadership styles from the movie and evaluates its relevancy in the organization, in this case it
will be team. The fourth section of the report talks about one of the leadership competency
that could be further developed in the characters chosen in this report.

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction:.......................................................................................................................2
2. Styles of Leadership and Management:.............................................................................2
3. Evaluation of Styles of Leadership and Management:......................................................6
4. Leadership Development Intervention...............................................................................8
5. Conclusion:......................................................................................................................10

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1. Introduction:
Moneyball is an American movie released in 2011, which was directed by Steven
Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. It is regarded to be one of the most seminal works written about
baseball. It is actually based on the book written by Michael Lewis who had put a lot of focus
on the innovativeness of the general manager of Oakland Athletics, Billy Beane (Lewis,
2004). This movie is based on the account of the team manager’s attempts to form a team that
was highly competitive (Moneyball, 2011). In the film, the manager along with the assistant
manager are faced with a limited budget for their team, and they are left with training athletes
with undervalued talent. The manager used a sophisticated method of sabermetrics
(Burroughs, 2018) in which the players are selected based on their on-base percentage while
not taking into account their perceived weakness. The reason the manager of the team chose
this type of method to select the players because he did not particularly like the way that
other managers paid more attention to the physical build of the player, rather than their
smartness about the game. This paper will focus on critically analysing the movie Moneyball
and the leadership strategies that are present within the characters depicted.
2. Styles of Leadership and Management:
Many have attested that Moneyball has great examples of leadership present in the
characters and also in the plot. The main motive behind the storyline of the movie is to show
that it is important to closely analyse the data present and find the important few that is able
to make a big difference and then put all efforts into perfecting those (Jing and Avery, 2016).
This movie puts into perspective what core of leadership really is, it is to find the 2-3 of the
most difficult challenges a leader faces, and then to create solutions for them which are
ground breaking.

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Before talking about how good of a leader Beane is, it will be useful to mention that
there are some terrible leadership qualities that Beane has expressed in the movie which are
important to take notice of. Beane brings Brand into a recruiter meeting, and this is the very
first time that Brand has been in a meeting since he joined as the assistant manager. Beane
walks into the meeting and proceed on without introducing Brand to the team, or even let
anyone know who he is and why he is there. This little instants portray two glaring blunders
in leadership style, lack of collaboration along with an equal lack in communication. Firstly,
the strategy that Beane and Brand have formulated has not been communicated to the rest of
the team, so while aforementioned two are trying to do one thing, the rest of the recruiting
team is trying to the other. This creates a disparity between the leader and the other members
of the team, because not knowing what the leader is up to is makes them unable to help the
situation, and they end up being an obstacle (Basran et al., 2018). Secondly, for a team to be
able to accomplish big goals, they need to have solid internal communication and teamwork
which will only be possible if there is mutual trust and respect among the team members. If a
leader is doing a poor job of being able to orient and introduce the new employees to the
team, it will negatively effect the team’s trust and respect towards the new employee.
Keeping in mind the things that a leader should not do, it will be interesting to now
see all the different aspects of leadership that Beane has gotten very right. One of the first
leadership qualities that the manager, Billy Beane, expressed was being able to set his
expectations from the very beginning. Beane says in movie that his goal is to take the team to
championship, and this is important because only the best leaders are able to understand what
they want to achieve and are able to set the appropriate standards for achieving it (Khan et al.,
2015).
Beane was able to turn the sport of baseball on its head when he introduced the out of
box thinking which focused mainly on advanced analytics used to identify the most valuable

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quality of the players, instead of the traditional belief held by scouts. After setting the
expectation, it is important for an ideal leader to be able to identify the problem blocking his
success, and look for effective solutions to tackle the problem (Nawaz and Khan, 2016). A
clear strategy and metrics is what helped the players in the team do what was needed the
most, and also helped guide them on how to work with each other and together as a team. A
successful leader is able to give the team members an important role to play in something that
is much bigger than just winning one game, and helps them be a a part of something that will
make a difference in the future.
Beane has many constraints that he faces in the movie, one of which is the low budget
that is allotted for the team, the manager of the team being able to control his players, and
then the players who are all controlling their own behaviour. “You’re not solving the
problem. You’re not even looking at the problem” (Moneyball, 2011). Beane says this in a
meeting with the other scout manager for the team who only think the problem exists within
the line-up of the team. Beane refutes all the claims made by the other associates, one of them
being Grady Fuson, of the team by saying that the fundamental problem does not lie in the
quality of players in the team, it all matters on how the team will be made into good players,
so that the goal of winning the championship can be achieved. A great leader is someone who
is not focusing on short-term goals, but is able to think of the bigger picture and how the
problem can be fixed for the long term and be able to break the problem down to find the best
solution (Asrar-ul-Haq and Kuchinke, 2016).
There is a pivotal scene in the movie where it can be seen that the assistant manager,
Peter Brand, telling Beane that the team’s goal should not be to buy the right players, but the
goal should be to “buy wins” (Moneyball, 2011). This is important in the movie because it
shows the leadership skills present in Brand as well, and his conclusion about what the main
goal of the team should be shows the views that he is able to redefine problems and find new

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solutions for it. This strategy is not popular because it is evident that many baseball teams do
not think this way, but Brand was able to identify that this was going to be the best way to
move this team forward, regardless of how others have been doing it.
Identifying the problem does not only lie in the overall plan of action that Beane
wants to take on, but also in the players being chosen for the team. It is always very probable
for someone to realize that there are certain members of the team, who are not buying into the
ethos of the team, and is not being able to or does not want to support the principle behind the
strategy (Mah’d Alloubani et al., 2015). This instance came for Beane when he and Brand
were sitting in the office trying to muster up a strategy to use when firing a player from the
line-up. Brand first makes his fake attempt at firing someone and is tied up in the emotional
side of the story presented by Beane who is posing as the player needing to be cut. Beane
then says that it is important to not let emotions guide the integral solutions to problems, and
be blunt, straightforward and most importantly, doing it with respect.
The team would not be able to proceed in their long journey to success if Beane and
Brand had both been unable of having any patience (Sudha et al., 2016). The initial six weeks
of the season were incredibly bad for Oakland, it was as if nothing was going right but Beane
stuck to his strategy and his vision despite having everyone around him criticise his methods.
Beane needed to implement major changes in his team, and for that, it was imperative that he
remain patient, as it will be the best players that will take extra time to shine.
Organizations that have built a strong tradition and a history can sometimes make it
very difficult for the adoption of the new approaches, which will generate better results.
Moneyball is one of the greatest examples of Kouzes and Posner’s leadership behaviour
called ‘Challenge the Process’ (Kouzes and Posner, 2018). When the three players got taken
away from Beane’s team, he was determined to replace these players with someone who can

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be equally good. This is where the distinct difference in the interpretation of ‘good’ to Beane
and to the spectators and commentators arises. For Beane, a player is not good only because
his income is high, but if they are able to establish their skill in one aspect so that they can be
best at.
3. Evaluation of Styles of Leadership and Management:
Peter Brand is the assistant manager of the team and is portrayed as being a statistical hot-
shot, the movie begins by Beane putting Brand in charge of choosing the players for the team.
Brand does this by shutting out the elite players and deviating from the ways of many
experienced scouts. It was not surprising to see the team not being able to succeed in the
beginning, but through their shared thought of the strategy they want to implement, they are
able to keep the strategy close to their intentions (Amanchukwu et al., 2015). It was important
for the team to be focusing on their perceived success to be able to create good chemistry in
the team. Billy refuses to accept any suggestions from his scouts and the assistants of the
team that is based on the old way of thinking. He resists any sudden change that is suggested
by the other scouts, and forces himself to make any decisions prematurely without having a
proper plan first. Commonly, many leaders surrender in the face of a conflict and are
motivated to solve it by any means necessary, resulting in a rash decision being made.
Leadership competencies are a set of leadership skills and behaviours that ensure an
incredible performance (Andriukaitiene et al., 2017). Organizations will be better able to
identify and develop more generations of leaders if they used the competency-based approach
to leadership. Many organizations are able to determine which positions at certain levels that
require some specific competencies to enhance performance. It is important to note that the
skills that are required for a particular position may vary depending on the specific levels of
leadership that is present in the organization. By looking at the competencies held by an

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individual and then comparing it to the skills that is necessary for them to become a leader,
companies will be able to make more informed decisions during the process of hiring and
developing leaders.
Measuring Billy Beane against the competencies required by someone who runs and leads
the organization (team), it will be easier to determine how good of a leader he is or is not.
The first competency that this paper will address is Beane’s ability to manage change. It can
be said that he is good at this because he did not just decide to give up when he was faced
with the challenge of a lowered budget and unavailability of quality players. Instead of giving
up, he decided to completely change his approach in order to achieve what he had first set out
to get, a championship. The second competency is testing whether the individual is able to
solve problems and make decisions (Giles, 2016). Throughout the movie, Beane can be seen
facing numerous hurdles such as the players not being motivated enough, or having the coach
blatantly not follow his orders. Beane solves this problem by adjusting his style and having a
chat with all the players and the coach as he describes what is going on in his mind and what
he is expecting from everyone. He also uses another tactic where he approaches another
player of the team, Dave Justice, and convinces him to step up and be a leader for the team
whose intentions will tally along his own. Taking Justice under his own wing, and making
him the advocator for Beane’s plans to the team also displays another competency of being a
leader, this is managing politics and being able to influence others (Mau, 2017).
Being able to set a vision and then working out the strategy is one of the biggest
competency to being an individual that is able to lead others and the organization. Beane
definitely proves himself as such an individual as he tries to take his team to success. After
the Yankees had bought three star players from Beane’s team, he decided that it was time to
innovate and adopt a new strategy. It can be seen in the film that Beane overrides the
decisions made by his scouts on the recruiting of the new players because his main motive is

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to get players that can simply get on the base, even by walking if necessary (Norzailan, Yusof
and Othman, 2016).
The other competency that will be looked at his Beane’s ability to enhance business skills
and overall knowledge (Chatzoglou et al., 2017). As Beane’s team slowly starts climbing out
of the division basement, they are able to post a 20 game winning streak which has never
been accomplished by any baseball team. Other teams quickly start adopting Beane’s cost-
saving strategy which reflects the great positive outcome from his much criticized concept.
4. Leadership Development Intervention
Leadership development interventions help close the gap between the qualities of
leadership that exist today and the qualities of leadership that will be required for the future.
There are three main areas that leaders are required to develop in – establishing direction,
securing commitment, and building the capacity that is required to succeed (Day and
Dragoni, 2015). Establishing a direction will help a leader inspire a vision at a personal or at
the team’s level. Mastering this discipline will create a direction forward to address the
necessary conflicts arising from the different groups of the stakeholders; in this case, it would
be the other scout managers. Securing people’s commitment would meant that the leader is
able to develop a greater self-awareness when it comes to establishing his relationship skills
with the other members of the team (Storey, 2016). This will ensure that the personal impact
of the leader is able to positively influence the ability of others. This will also give the leader
a better understanding of the team dynamics to create a culture of trust and accountability
amongst the members. Now addressing the third discipline of leadership development
interventions, building capacity in teams and in organizations will help the leader in
recognising the factors that prove its own performance. This means that the leader has to

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make sure that the members of the teams have the skills and the resources required to deliver
success.
Beane was able to establish a very compelling direction he wanted to take his team
towards. He has been able to develop an inspiring vision where people were able to see for
the first time that the team members do not need to have a million dollar income to be good
sports player, as was proven from the members in his team. He was able to make quality
decisions given the limited resources that were available to him and go forward in the way
that would address the concerns by the scout managers, along with the other critics of his
method. He was able to align his strategy and goal with the culture of the team, and push
them forward to optimizing their full potential (Peachey et al., 2015). A great leader is able to
work with the existing talent and skills held by the current team members, and recognise
which factors to put extra concentration on.
One area of competence that Billy Beane was not able to fully accomplish was being able
to secure people’s commitment. Beane started to implement sabermetrics without anyone’s
approval in doing so, and when the team had performed badly in the beginning of the season,
there was an onslaught of scorn from everyone. His own coach refused to listen to Beane’s
methods and kept starting the game with their one star player despite direct orders from the
higher executives of team management (Moneyball, 2011). The fans and the commentators
all refused to see things from the point of view of Beane, and solidly showed their support to
the coach’s decisions. Securing people’s commitment is not something that Beane sticks
closely by, because the second that he sees someone who is not contributing in his growth, he
will get rid of them. This might not be the best way of dealing with a problem, but it is the
way that Beane has decided to proceed on with his plan.

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Billy Beane is not out to create a personal impact on his team, but is more concerned
about wanting to change the dynamics of the game itself. This can be looked at as somewhat
a selfish attempt to prove people wrong; however, this is bettering the lives of many and
changing an old-age thought of how the sport works. Going back to the movie, everyone had
thought that it was all Beane’s fault that the team was not performing well and not because
the tactic of putting the one star player out to start first. To prove these people wrong, Beane
fired the star player from the line up in the last second which pushed the coach to change his
game plan and follow the one proposed by Beane and then after the game, he fired the coach
as well.
A great leader is always looking for ways to improve his or her own coaching and
mentoring skills, which for Beane in that instance was to just hire someone who was going to
be better for the job and for the team morale. His entire thought process behind wanting to
implement sabermetrics is so to make sure that people are not being paid because of who they
are, but because of the talent they possess. It is said that a innovation can only be driven when
one is clear about what they wish to accomplish, and not allow themselves to be stuck in a
cycle of how things are always done (O’Boyle, Murray and Cummins 2015).
5. Conclusion:
Leaders are supposed to be empathetic and the untiring cheerleaders of their teams, and
they are required to connect to the members of the team. It is them who are held accountable
in the end when the team morale is down after a loss, and also similarly when the team is
doing good as well. Leaders are supposed to frequently communicate with their team
members in order to ensure that there are no problems within the group. Frequent
communication also helps push the team to be able to achieve a lot more than they think they

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are capable of, a great leader pushes their team members towards making risky decisions and
supporting them the entire way.
Watching the movie, many more in depth requirement of what a good leader should be
comes out. Beane is not the ideal leader who everyone should follow, but he does possess
many qualities that should inspire others who want to do not want to do things the way they
have been doing and wants to break the chain. With the idea of sabermetrics that Beane
implemented on his team, it saved a lot of other teams from this experimental risk and now
they are being able to adopt the same tactic even though they criticised it in the beginning.

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