The Cross Over Movement Blog

One of my goals with this site and the book is to educate consumers. Many parents tell me they do not know what to look for in an AAU program or individual trainer. To change the system on the grassroots level, the change must start with the way consumers spend their money in the youth basketball marketplace, and my hope is that better educated consumers see value in the long term, training-oriented approach I advocate.

This morning, I read this in Robert Sutton’s Weird Ideas That Work:

“By listing ideas that people believe are wrong or misguided, and then reversing them, people follow a different cognitive path than usual to reveal beliefs, theories and evidence about what the company ought to do…in doing so, people may notice gaps between what they believe is right and what they actually do.”

He recounts his consulting work with one company:

“To help them think about the kind of company they wanted to be, we developed a list of what they believed were the worst characteristics of several key competitors.”

I decided this might make an interesting experiment. Imagine we are starting a new AAU program. In the comments section, I invite any comments listing the worst things other programs do and any wrong or misguided ideas on can think of. Please do not mention names of programs or individuals. This is not meant to be a session on criticizing others, but a lesson on what consumers (coaches, players or parents) want in a progressive program. If the comments are too negative or mention names, I will delete the entire comment.

Thank you for your participation.