Russell Wilson in 2012 was a 3rd round draft pick for the Seattle Seahawks, who was told he was too short, to slow, and did not have a strong enough arm to be a starting QB in the NFL. He was projected as a career backup at best. Today he is a top 10 Super Bowl winning QB. The question is how? How did so many people get it wrong and what can staffing learn from this huge mistake

What happened to the NFL with regards to Russell Wilson, is the same thing that happens to staffing every day. Relying only on stats, without understanding what is behind the stats. Meaning Staffing, like the NFL tries to gather so much information about candidates and even current employees, that they get overwhelmed, or they put so much stock into the information, they do not bother to find out the why of the information, and as a result they lose out on potentially great candidates or employees. 

Data without understanding the meaning behind it, is a recipe to mistake. You need to understand the why behind the information. Sometimes things are not what they appear to be. Sometimes there is a reason a candidate might have left a company, or not met their goal, or written their resume a particular way. 

In addition to the why, it helps to understand the how. Not so much the how of the information, but the how they can help or fit into your company and group.  This was one of the reasons why Seattle took a chance on a too short, 3^rd round QB. Because they asked how this QB might fit into their game plan. The same goes for staffing. Instead of figuring out how and why to exclude them, try thinking about how and why to include them. 

In this day of talent shortages can we really afford to be like so many in the NFL and rely just on the analysis and data or should we take a page out of the book of the Super Bowl champions and find out why and how.