This week I wrote about Paul DePodesta, the man who left the Mets to run the Cleveland Browns. To understand his unlikely move, you have to understand how he thinks about life. It explains why he’s an assistant professor of bioinformatics and dabbled in venture capital. Read the story here. Here’s an excerpt:

To explain DePodesta, Josh Byrnes wants you to ponder the Warriors. Note that they hired Steve Kerr even though he had never coached before. And that a big strategic change he made in the NBA Finals was to suddenly put Andre Iguodala into the starting lineup despite bringing him off the bench the entire season. And then consider that the move was spurred by the advice of a young staffer and that it was explained through several types of data and persuasive argument. Then recognize that the Warriors won the NBA title, in part, because of it last June. Igoudala, who averaged 16.3 points, 4 assists and 5.8 rebounds, was named the Finals MVP after the Warriors disposed of the Cleveland Cavaliers in six games.

“In some ways, all of this sort of outside the box stuff, you’re just trying to get the best ideas and information moving within an organization and then have them flowing freely without these blind spots,” Byrnes said. “That’s the spirit of Paul, as opposed to he’s found the secret sauce. He’s always sort of pushed the best ideas and information to the surface.”