Hiring free agents (and others)

The noise created by the San Francisco Giants signing former Oakland A's pitcher Barry Zito for $126 million over seven years may seem to be a product of major league baseball's parallel universe; where salaries are viewed more as a way to prime the overall revenue pump than to reward personal productivity.

Sign a big name player, history shows, and the benefits begin before the games are even played. Season ticket sales go up, logo merchandise sales go up, fans' spirits rise and all to the benefit of obscuring what might still be wrong with the team overall. That will play out later, one the season starts.

But as specific as these elements seem to be linked to the idiosyncratic economics of major league baseball, they are just as much a part of the real world in which the rest of us live.

The factors leading to a decision to extend the offer, anticipate its effect on the team and calculate the added burden of heightened expectations among fans differs little from the factors that affect the way most businesses approach hiring. The persistent fretting of how new people change a culture, raise the already high demands of customers and change the economics of personnel by adding new people are key factors facing any business when it seeks to add to its team -- and at any level.

o When a colleague resigns, they leave a hole that must be filled. Even if it comes from within (and it should whenever possible), it creates a domino effect which merely moves the "hole" around.

o When opportunity arises, new resources -- people -- need to be added, not just anywhere, but in jobs and at a level that makes sense to the team already in place. The positive effect of expanding is quickly undone if it is perceived as coming at the expense of a current colleague's opportunity to advance.

o When good people present themselves absent a need or opportunity, there ought to be a way to add them to the team, with the understanding that the return on that investment must, in part, offer a short-term return. New colleagues who don't add to the mix come to be seen as a "bad bet" and, as they might say in baseball, bad for the clubhouse.

o And when we need to fill the special spot with a big-time performer, there is robust retained search industry to serve in ways quite similar to players' agents. These are the signings or hirings that get all the attention, but they are only a part of a proper mix.

Recruiting needs to be as persistent a corporate function as career development. Even here that there is only a little divergence between Major League Baseball and rest of business. The free agent signings make the biggest splash, but championships are won by developing talent in their extensive farm systems (of which college baseball is an affiliated part).

A new CEO, lured from a bigger or competing or better run company, can boost the share price, but it is the persistent recruitment and retention of quality people that will make the options pay off.