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What is a quote from Moneyball that describes Billy Beane as a smart or great general manager?

One quote that describes Oakland Athletics' Billy Beane as a smart general manager relates to his resourcefulness.


Moneyball highlights baseball's financial landscape. Teams that play in large media and consumer markets like the Boston Red Sox or the New York Yankees are part of baseball's upper class because of their financial position. At the same time, small-market teams like the Oakland Athletics are at a competitive disadvantage because they lack financial resources. In order for Oakland's general manager Billy Beane to put forth a quality team, he had to be resourceful. He had to harvest data and look for value where he could find it.


This was not the only part of his daunting task to make Oakland a competitive baseball team. Beane also had to communicate his vision to athletes and executives who were operating under outdated paradigms. This required a specific skill set that makes him a great general manager:  



It was hard to know which of Billy's qualities was most important to his team's success: his energy, his resourcefulness, his intelligence, or his ability to scare the living s**t out of even very large professional baseball players.



In Moneyball, Billy Beane's greatness as a general manager is not only his ability to judge talent through sabermetric analysis. He is resourceful in the way he conveys this methodology and approach to athletes and baseball scouts who are mired in a philosophy that was not going to work under Oakland's financial reality. Sometimes, he has to lead by example. Other times, he has to use direct force and intimidation to make his point.


Beane's resourcefulness comes from being a former athlete and now seeing reality as an executive. Straddling both worlds enhances his resourcefulness. This unique skill set is a significant reason why he is seen as a great general manager.

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