Zack Greinke recently won the coveted Cy Young Award in baseball and will rise to fame and get a lot of well-deserved attention. However, the author in this Huffington Post article points out that Greinke has been treated for Social Anxiety Disorder (he’s a shy-guy) and dreads having to deal with fame, attention, publicity, etc.
The baseball world is on pins and needles because Greinke might be the rare superstar who gets a chance at New York or Boston when he reaches free agency. But truthfully, the Royals (Greinke’s current small-market team) might be able to retain Greinke for well below market value, since Kansas City is a place that’s more comfortable and low-key for someone who fears the public eye. The author argues that small-market teams could take advantage of personality testing on potential draft picks, screening for signs of introversion; if two pitchers are identical in skill, a team like the Royals or Pirates could choose the homebody over the gadfly.
I have not yet come across a hospitality company that truly bases hiring decisions on personality test results. Sure, we ask about experience, skills, and dabble in personality-type behavioral questions, but no one has implemented a professional and legitimate personality testing component that directly affects hiring decisions. If small-market baseball teams could potentially benefit from hiring introverted shy-guys, wouldn’t hotels and restaurants benefit from the opposite?
Read the article here.
