Jon Daniels, general manager of the back-to-back American League champion Texas Rangers, said there is no easy route to success.

“There are no shortcuts,” Daniels said to a packed Lone Star Auditorium. “There is not a magic formula. You have to win with people, build from the bottom and have payroll flexibility.”

Daniels spoke in front of a standing-room only crowd Wednesday afternoon with about a quarter of the crowd wearing Texas Rangers T-shirts. Daniels said it is important to have a good plan of action and surround yourself with a lot of good people.

“We are not reinventing the wheel,” he said. “We had a group of guys that bought into the plan that we laid out and found success from developing from within.”

He said having people surrounding you who buy into the same ideas gives a person the best chance to be successful. Daniels explained if everyone works toward the overall goal, each person is going to have the ability to help one another out.

Daniels’ success of turning around the Rangers organization did not come just overnight, he said.

“There were a lot of things that we had to overcome on the way to where we are now,” Daniels said. “We had to recommit ourselves to an overall plan.”

The Rangers, who were near the bottom of the standings for the earlier part of the last decade, had a high payroll and a lot of change in important positions of the team. Between three owners, four club presidents and three general managers, the team had the wrong mindset, Daniels said.

“For the last three years, we have had success on the field,” he said. “In the past, the organization built a team that was win now instead of the future. One thing we talk about all the time is that there are no shortcuts. You have to find value in the industry for not only now, but for the future.”

He said the scouts, coaches and himself are only as good as the people who make the recommendations on players who are scouted.

To anyone aspiring to follow his path into sports management, Daniels told the crowd to follow the passion it has. He said people need to communicate well, network with others and get to know everyone while also being students of the sport they want to have a career in.

“Major in common sense,” he said. “Play as long as you can, know the game as much as you can. Be around the game as long as you can.”

Daniels advised students who aspire to get to his position to take classes on entrepreneurship, no matter what subject the class is talking about, whether sports, business or anything else in between.

“Don’t be afraid to rock the boat,” Daniels said. “Don’t be afraid to swing and miss. When everyone else went safe, we went the other way.”