"Everyone needs a coach!" That is how Bill Gates starts his TED Talk. We talk about gamification. What we really need to do is treat business like sports. Hey, the NFL is seeing record revenues, which means they must be doing something right.

The best athletes have a team for success - coaches, trainers, mentors, nutritionists, business managers, etc. What do we offer the best developers or engineers or even salespeople?

One other thing sports does is understand a talent pipeline. The NFL didn't get religion on concussions because a few retirees committed suicide. It got religion on concussions because mothers were preventing their sons from playing Pop Warner, which is the farm league for football. When that farm dries up, no new players for the NFL. They had to take drastic action.

That isn't the lesson though. The lesson is that if you want top talent, businesses need to get involved in education, which is the farm for talent.

What happened to Junior Achievement? It was a big deal when I was in high school.

Instead of Internships, how about Apprenticeship (as Cory Foy explains at IGNITE Tampa)?

How about scholarships and summer programs?

How about getting involved with home schooling programs?

The thing about apprenticeship, internship, JA and other such programs is that it is about coaching talent or mentoring talent. People need coaches. (Bill Gates says that especially teachers need coaches.)

Either act like a coach to get your talent or be prepared to run your business without much talent/