Strategic planning’s blind spot: The Rodman Factor

Paula Rauenbuehler

Guest Columnist

September 8, 2025

It’s strategic planning season, and leadership teams everywhere are staring at spreadsheets full of resource requests:

• More staff
• Bigger budgets
• New technology
• Better systems 

Sound familiar?

Even if you’ve read “Who Not How” by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy, and love its core principle – “focus on who can help you achieve your objectives instead of figuring out how to do everything yourself” – this is the time of year when that thinking might disappear.

We default back to the same mindset:

• What do we need?
• How do we get it?

But what if you looked at your team through a different lens – a lens which leadership expert Jack McCullough calls the Rodman Paradox?

What NBA legend Dennis Rodman can teach us about strategy 

Rodman didn’t hit the highlight reels.

He wasn’t the first pick for billboards.

He didn’t lead the Chicago Bulls in scoring or steals.

What he did was simple and rare: he dominated rebounds and played relentless defense.

Five championships and a Hall of Fame career – all because he owned his niche and his teams built around it. 

McCullough’s paradox is this: “Your most strategically valuable player might not be your flashiest performer. They might not be the loudest voice in meetings or the one crushing visible metrics. But if they walked out tomorrow, you’d feel it immediately.”

Now, take that concept into your strategic planning session.

Instead of obsessing over roles, org charts and headcount, what if you started by asking:

• Who are our Rodmans? 
• What do they dominate and practice relentlessly?
• And how do we use their strengths to win?

From the court to your conference room

Take a local business owner who got tired of hearing neighbors complain about what their downtown was lacking.

While others talked about how things “used to be better,” this entrepreneur decided to be part of the solution.

They leveraged their existing skills and network to create something that would draw people back to the heart of their community – proving that sometimes the best person to solve a problem is someone willing to act, not someone with industry experience.

That’s a Rodman-quality move: seeing what others don’t, and leveraging unique strengths to make something happen.

This reminded me of how often great strategy comes from people you wouldn’t expect.

The quiet ones who rarely share in meetings.

Then BAM – they do, and it shifts everything.

Your organization likely has people like this, but you may never see them if your planning process focuses only on titles, job descriptions and budget lines.

Why strategic planning defaults to ‘how’ instead of ‘who’

Here’s the trap most organizations fall into during planning:

• Identify gaps
• Calculate costs
• Request resources

In other words: If we want to do more, we need more – more people, more money, more tools.

That thinking can create two problems: 

1. Delays execution while you wait for approvals, funding or the perfect hire.
2. Blinds you to hidden potential already on your payroll – capabilities that could accelerate your strategy without adding headcount.

I saw this firsthand with a regional organization under pressure to increase results.

Leadership’s instinct?

Ask people to do more of the same with less. 

But when they slowed down and asked different questions, they discovered something powerful: an employee who’d been quietly stagnating in her role – but who had untapped passion and strategic thinking skills. 

Once leadership had a real conversation with her, they realized she was not only ready but eager for bigger challenges.

She became a key driver in the very initiatives they thought they needed new hires for.

The person they did hire to support the new role elevated the mission even further.

This wasn’t about adding resources.

It was about being resourceful first, then adding better resources.

It’s what I call a blinding flash of the obvious (BFO).

So often, the best resource is so close we cannot see it. 

But when you see it, BFO.

Applying ‘who, not how’ to strategic planning

Sullivan and Hardy gave us the mindset.

Strategic planning is where it matters most.

Here are some ways to start spotting your Rodmans – the people whose unique capabilities could make or break your next big initiative:

Look beyond roles to capabilities

Who sees patterns and possibilities?

That operations manager who always anticipates roadblocks?

That accountant who connects easily across teams?

Strategy needs them more than their titles suggest.

Natural problem-solvers and opportunity-spotters

They might be on the front line or in back-office support, but they’re the ones who notice what others miss.

People who make things happen

Like the aforementioned entrepreneur, some people just know how to turn ideas into action.

They may not have every skill, but they create momentum.

Relationship-builders and bridge-makers

Strategy often depends on alignment – internally and externally.

Some people have a gift for this.

Who came to mind as you read these questions? 

How could you optimize their contribution to the business?

The application gap 

So, why don’t we do this more often?

There are three typical reasons:

• We plan by org chart, not by human capability. Committees look at positions and budgets, not hidden strengths.
• Budget cycles reward new spending. It’s easier to justify a new hire than to explain why you’re restructuring existing roles.
• Activity feels like progress. Adding headcount looks bold – even when it’s just expensive procrastination. 

The gap between knowing “Who, Not How” and understanding how to apply it during strategic planning is where organizations lose their edge.

From knowing to doing: Strategic deployment

Once you’ve identified your hidden assets, how do you use them?

Design roles around strengths

The finance person who is great with customers – maybe they become your customer insights lead.

The production worker who thinks like an engineer – put them on process improvement.

Build teams around complementary capabilities

Your operational excellence project might need a systems thinker, a connector and a detail-oriented finisher.

Create development that moves strategy

Instead of generic leadership training, give stretch assignments that both grow talent and deliver on your plan.

This isn’t about promotions or big org changes – it’s about intentionally aligning strengths to strategy.

Zero-based talent planning: A catalyst for change 

Here’s a simple mindset shift: Plan talent the way some organizations plan budgets – zero-based.

Instead of assuming last year’s structure is the starting point, ask:

• If we were building the team from scratch to hit these objectives, how would we deploy the people we already have?
• What capabilities exist here that we’ve never tapped?
• Who could grow into strategic roles if given the right opportunity?

This can free you from patterns that don’t serve your strategy and help you see assets hiding in plain sight.

What got you here won’t necessarily get you there.

The real competitive advantage

Organizations that master this don’t just plan better – they execute faster.

They don’t wait for perfect conditions or the perfect hire.

They leverage what they have and create momentum others can’t match.

The truth?

Your biggest strategic advantage probably isn’t more resources – it’s being more resourceful.

Your Dennis Rodman might be working third shift.

Or running a small department.

Or sitting quietly in a role that doesn’t use their best capability. 

The question is: When planning season hits, will you see them?

Bottom line 

Strategic planning isn’t just about setting goals and allocating budgets.

It’s about unlocking the human capabilities you already have – and deploying them where they matter most. 

Because the game isn’t won by unicorns.

It’s won by the right mix of players, doing what they do best, at exactly the right time.

What’s your next move?