Start With How You Win: Business Strategy Before You Hire
What's this episode about?
Your business strategy should decide who you hire. Before you define values, roles or competencies, you need a clear answer to how your company wins. This episode uses the Toronto Raptors' switch-everything defence, the 2018 Kawhi Leonard trade and Treacy and Wiersema's three value disciplines to show how strategy shapes the salesperson you actually need.
Key takeaways
The order matters: business strategy first, then values, then roles, then competencies.
The Raptors' switch-everything strategy drove who they drafted: long, versatile, high-effort players who could guard anyone.
Every strategy has a trade-off. Hire for one thing only and the gaps show up fast.
Treacy and Wiersema found market leaders win by focusing on operational excellence, customer intimacy or product leadership. Each needs a different kind of salesperson.
If a strong candidate is built for a different strategy, pass, or change your strategy on purpose.
Full transcript
This is Hiring Without Regret. I'm Ashley Wesley.
Raptors, 2019 champions. You knew that was coming.
And yes... last episode I said "finally, behaviour and personality." I heard it too. We'll get there. But there's one more step first, and it's the one owners skip.
Here's my call for today. You can't pick your values, your roles, or your people until you know how you're going to win. Strategy first. Then values. Then roles. Then competencies. In that order.
So let's talk about my Raptors in 2021. Masai Ujiri and his front office had a very clear idea of how they wanted to win. Long, athletic, relentless on defence. At one point the roster didn't have a single player taller than six foot nine, and Nick Nurse could put out lineups where everyone was at least six seven.
Why does that matter? Because offences love the pick and roll. You set a screen, the defenders get tangled up, and suddenly your guard has a slow big man on him, or your big man has a small guard. That mismatch is the whole point.
But if all five of your players are long enough to guard anybody... you just switch. The screen buys you nothing. The play the other team spent all week practising doesn't work.
That's a strategy. And look what it did to hiring. That summer they drafted Scottie Barnes fourth overall. Six foot seven, a wingspan over seven foot two, and a pre-draft profile full of words like length, versatility, and effort. One reporter covering the team summed up the organization in three words... versatility, length, hustle.
See the chain? The strategy was "switch everything." That strategy needs certain values... effort every possession, and nobody too proud to guard the other team's best player. Those values shape the role, and the role tells you the competencies. Guard multiple positions. Talk on every switch.
Now, the honest part. That roster was light on playmaking. Plenty of length, not enough guys who could run the offence. A year later they finished ninth and lost in the play-in. Strategy tells you what you need. It also tells you what you're giving up. Hire for one thing only, and the gaps show up fast.
Here's another Raptors strategy call. Summer 2018. The team is coming off a franchise-record 59 wins, and the front office decides it still isn't good enough to win the East. So Masai trades DeMar DeRozan, arguably the greatest player in franchise history, a guy who'd reportedly been told he wouldn't be traded, for Kawhi Leonard. One year left on his deal. No promises he'd stay.
It cost them DeRozan, and the way it happened hurt. Strategy doesn't make decisions painless. It makes them clear. The strategy was "win a title now," so they needed a different player. They got a parade.
And remember Jerry Colangelo from last episode? His strategy was to respect the international game instead of assuming American talent would win on its own. That's why Kobe became a distributor. The strategy decided the role before anyone picked a player.
So what does this look like in your business? Two researchers, Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema, found that market leaders usually win by being the best at one of three things. Operational excellence... reliable, competitively priced, easy to buy from. Customer intimacy... knowing a niche so well you tailor everything to it. Or product leadership... having the best, newest thing.
Each one needs a different salesperson. Operational excellence wants discipline, speed, and follow-through at volume. Customer intimacy wants patience, curiosity about the client's business, and relationships measured in years. Product leadership wants someone technical, comfortable with risk, excited to sell something nobody's seen yet.
Same job title. Three completely different hires. That's your Looney question from episode one, answered at the level of the whole business.
So what do you do on Monday?
First, write one sentence. How do we win? Not what you sell. How you win.
Second, pick the two or three values that strategy needs, and check them against the values you wrote down after episode two. If they don't match, one of them is wrong.
Third, only then write the role and the competencies. And if a candidate is brilliant but built for a different strategy, pass. Or change your strategy on purpose, not by accident.
Next episode, behaviour and personality. This time I mean it.
Know how you're going to win before you decide who you need.
Quick note. This is general information, not legal advice. Before you change how you hire, run it past an employment lawyer. I'm Ashley Wesley. See you next time.
Frequently asked questions
How does business strategy affect hiring?
Your strategy defines what the business must be great at, which determines the values, roles and competencies you need. A company that wins on low cost and reliability needs different salespeople than one that wins on deep client relationships or leading-edge products.
What are the three value disciplines?
Treacy and Wiersema described operational excellence (reliable, competitively priced, easy to buy from), customer intimacy (tailoring offerings to a precise niche) and product leadership (leading-edge products). Leaders typically excel at one while meeting industry standards in the other two.
What kind of salesperson fits my strategy?
Operational excellence tends to reward discipline, speed and follow-through at volume. Customer intimacy rewards patience and long relationships. Product leadership rewards technical depth and comfort with risk. Start by writing one sentence on how you win, then hire against it.
Work with Ashley
Ashley Wesley is a Fractional Sales and HR Executive and retained-search partner based in Guelph, Ontario. He helps owners connect their business strategy to the sales roles and leaders they hire. Learn more at ashleywesley.com.
References
CBC Sports. (2018, July 18). Raptors, Ujiri betting on themselves with acquisition of Kawhi Leonard. https://www.cbc.ca/1.4752018
CBS Sports. (2021). Back in Toronto, the Raptors are the same, but different: Taking the temperature on a team in transition. https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/back-in-toronto-the-raptors-are-the-same-but-different-taking-the-temperature-on-a-team-in-transition
ESPN. (2025). Basketball Hall of Fame: How LeBron, Kobe and the scars of 2004 led the Redeem Team to gold. https://africa.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/46136362/basketball-hall-fame-lebron-kobe-scars-led-redeem-team-gold-2008
NBA.com. (2023). 2023-24 season preview: Toronto Raptors. https://api-hub.nba.com/news/2023-24-season-preview-tor
Rose, A. (2021). Raptors have interviewed FSU's Scottie Barnes. Sports Illustrated. https://www.si.com/nba/raptors/news/toronto-raptors-scottie-barnes-interview-pre-draft
Sports Illustrated. (2021, July 30). Despite draft night surprise, it's easy to see why Toronto fell in love with Scottie Barnes. https://www.si.com/nba/raptors/onsi/news/toronto-raptors-see-potential-in-scottie-barnes
Treacy, M., & Wiersema, F. (1993). Customer intimacy and other value disciplines. Harvard Business Review, 71(1), 84-93.
TSN. (2018, July 18). Raptors roll the dice on Leonard. https://tsn.ca/raptors-roll-the-dice-on-leonard-1.1142098
Disclaimer: This episode and page provide general HR and business information, not legal advice. Employment law turns on the specific facts and changes over time. Before acting on anything here, confirm it with an Ontario employment lawyer.
