Hurdle-rate qualities, or what it takes to clear the first bar

"Most leadership jobs take a certain level of intellect. You don't need to be a Nobel Prize-winning candidate to be a leader, for sure, but there's a certain level of intellect that's required. I always look for integrity. I also look for authenticity, a person who's genuine."

Emotional quotient

"I look for a person who lives in the here and now and is willing to experiment, to challenge assumptions, and to really be a critical thinker. Sometimes you can get fooled into believing the words coming out of your mouth, and it's really important to challenge that."

The person, not their style

"By and large, there's really no set formula. There are so many styles that can be effective. When I was in school, it was, 'You want to be like this person or that person.' The reality is that style, per se, doesn't matter as long as it's not abusive or abrasive — and even that can work in fast-growth times, but as soon as growth starts to slow, people leave because they're not going to put up with it."

The particular skills and personality needed to helm a particular organization

"There are certain skill sets you need for a board or company. That could be experience in an industry or global experience. Probably the most important things in an interview aren't on the résumé; the most important component is the person, what defines a person, and whether he or she fits with that company or organization's culture. Does it fit with where that organization is in its lifecycle, whether turnaround, growth, or maintenance?"

Pattern recognition

"I have a hypothesis that the biggest contributor to success in leaders is pattern recognition. From all my experience, that is the key, driving factor. Leaders need to make decisions very quickly today. They have to be able to pull the trigger on big decisions, sometimes massive financial commitments, with very little information. That would have been scary to people 20 or 30 years ago, but people today have to make decisions very quickly. I prefer working with executives who are good at pattern recognition and can see things coming. Overall, leaders do make an enormous difference in any organization."

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Moment

Changing the rules of the game

Changing the rules
of the game

Jeff Beck (marketing '85) knew he was having fun again when he found himself in a St. Louis hotel ironing the shirt of Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Roberto Hernández.

It wasn't the ironing that gave Beck a boost, but rather that he was ironing for Hernández — a client (for the second time) of Beck and former Hokie baseball player Bean Stringfellow's Proformance baseball agency. Hernández was about to make his first start for the Atlanta Braves following his return to the Big Leagues in August 2016.

The moment was made even sweeter by the fact that Hernández was a critical part of the reason, back in 2012, that Beck and Stringfellow were forced to re-evaluate their business. After a great 2011, Proformance faced enormous adversity when Hernández was suspended from the game for pitching for the Cleveland Indians under the false identity of Fausto Carmona. He also left the agency, leading to some economic woes for Proformance.

Stringfellow and Beck had studied the book "Blue Ocean Strategy," which argues that success comes not from battling rivals toe-to-toe in a red ocean of competitiveness, but from creating untapped market spaces — blue oceans. They looked at how player salaries had exploded since they had started their business in 1992, and realized that the 5 percent fee of the 1990s is equal to less than 1.5 percent today. As a result, they could reduce their fees.

"We knew that was something the competition couldn't replicate," Beck said. "We just reorganized ourselves … This is not a gimmick." In fact, Beck said, one other agency has since adopted the same model. Players have been slow to gravitate to the new model, but are beginning to come around — including Hernández.