Image you were recruiting your new head of sales as hard as many NBA franchises were recruiting LeBron James.  What if the competition was so stiff for your new project leader that six or eight companies in your market were planning on making an offer to her?  Would you behave any differently during the recruiting process?  Would you change how you communicated to your current work force?

I’m about as far from an NBA analyst as you can get, but it seems to me the reason LeBron James chose to play for the Miami Heat next year was because he believed that was the place that best met his objectives.  He may have disciplined himself to go through the Ignation process of discernment, but I’m guessing he just believed it was right for him.

So when you’re recruiting (or keeping) that next division manager, project leader or head of sales, they’ll probably use the same decision making process as LeBron.  Salary and compensation will probably be comparable and then it boils down to whether the prospective employee believes in you and your organization.

Is it easy to believe in you?  Do you have a habit of making and keeping commitments?  Does the operating model of your business make sense?  Does your current staff feel empowered?  Do employees and prospects believe they’ll be rewarded if the company does well?  Does anyone believe in your vision?

Sometimes we overanalyze why we lost a key employee or why someone made the choice to join another company.  Before you get caught in analysis paralysis, check to see if you are believable!