Wisconsin made a valiant charge at the just concluded NCAA championship. Having beaten mighty, undefeated Kentucky, the Badgers were fiercely competitive against Duke, at one point taking a nine point lead in the second half. Their star player, Kaminsky, dominated Duke’s star, Okafor,for almost the entire game. But in the end, it was Duke’s bench that powered them to a brilliant comeback victory. Totally overlooked and unheralded Grayson Allen, who’d been averaging 4 points a game, ran off 16 in the second half to get the Blue Devils the lead and the all important momentum that carried them through to victory. As Duke’s coach pointed out, his team played with eight players (Wisconsin relied on its starting five).

How is your bench strength? Are you depending for success on a few star customers, executives, or employees? Or are you also cultivating your bench–looking for passionate role players, hungry future stars. Are you trusting them? Are you getting them into the game?