PHOENIX -- Here's what you get when you ask baseball people to name the executives -- or the organizations -- they most admire. You hear about mentors and friends and role models. You hear about men admired from afar for their reputation and body of work. You hear about those who inspired with their management style, charisma and insight.
One thing you do not hear is a consensus. Ask that question to a dozen people, and you're likely to get that many answers.
Theo Epstein is obviously extraordinarily admired after leading both the Red Sox and Cubs to World Series championships. Current Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski's name comes up frequently. So does Royals general manager Dayton Moore.
And Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro holds a special place in the hearts and minds of his peers. Not only did he build what is widely viewed as a model organization in Cleveland, but his Indians became the cradle of future GMs.
Among the executives who can trace at least some of their baseball lineage to Shapiro's front office: Derek Falvey (Twins), Mike Hazen (D-backs), Neal Huntington (Pirates), David Stearns (Brewers), Chris Antonetti (Indians) and Ross Atkins (Blue Jays).

Shapiro got his start with the Indians in 1992 when then-Cleveland GM John Hart hired him as an assistant in the club's baseball-operations department.
Hart is highly thought of among baseball executives as well, with a resume that includes overseeing a consistent winner in Cleveland and now starting anew in Atlanta as team president John Schuerholz's choice to be the Braves' president of baseball operations.
"It's no coincidence that John Hart and John Schuerholz are close friends," said Indians president Antonetti. "I had the opportunity to learn firsthand from John Hart and see how he led, and follow that up and work alongside Mark for so many years. They care deeply about people, and [they both] want an organization that stands for more than wins and losses."
And virtually everyone interviewed for this story offered a tribute to Schuerholz. During a 50-year career in the game, he built respected organizations in Kansas City and Atlanta, and this summer, he'll become just the 30th executive to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
"I saw John at the Winter Meetings and told him, 'You're the standard we all strive for,'" Antonetti said. "It wasn't only the success the Braves had on the field, but the way John led an organization and how inclusive he was and how he valued the contribution of every single person across the organization.
"If you talk to the people who worked for John and with John, they felt a connection to him, they felt a connection to the Major League team and they felt there was a purpose to their work. To create that type of environment within an organization, in addition to winning on the field, is something we all strive for."
In putting a punctuation mark on that thought, Antonetti added: "It always comes back to people. That's in life as well as the game of baseball. It's no secret it's about people. We're not producing widgets. There are people that make decisions within an organization. There are people that help players develop. And then there are the players themselves that have to go out and compete and produce. They're human beings just like the rest of us."
Mariners manager Scott Servais said one of the common threads running through the best organizations was a culture in which everyone feels respected and empowered. How that culture is born is what separates the game's best executives and their gift for hiring good people and giving them the freedom and resources to do their jobs.
"The Cubs do things a certain way," Servais said. "The Rangers do things a certain way. The Yankees and Boston have done it a certain way. When I mention those teams, they play a certain way, and that's kind of what I'm trying to instill in our team. That's the culture we're trying to instill in our team. We want to play a certain way, and hopefully here in the near future, we'll have success tied to it. People will say, 'Yeah, that's how Seattle does it.'"
Epstein has certainly created that kind of culture with the Cubs, first in building the franchise methodically through player development, then in hiring men like GM Jed Hoyer and manager Joe Maddon.
One Cubs scout, who asked that his name not be used, said he had heard Epstein and Hoyer quote his reports during staff meetings. This told him that they valued different viewpoints and considered them.
Another Cubs scout told of what amounted to training sessions as Epstein and Hoyer outlined the skills they valued most from players. In that way, they're striving to make sure that, as Servais said, the Cubs would play the game a certain way from the bottom of their player development system all the way through Game 7 of the World Series.
"From my perspective, you try to look at a number of different organizations and a number of different executives and learn something from all of them," Brewers GM Stearns said. "Clearly, what the Cubs and Indians have built over the past couple of years is a model for many of us to learn from and to see how they've done it -- both from a product standpoint and an organizational-culture standpoint.
"I experienced part of that in Cleveland when I was there, and it left a lasting impact. I have no doubt one of the reasons they've had so much success is because of the culture they've developed.
"It's a culture of collaboration, a culture of innovation, a culture of welcoming new ideas and of discussion and debate. They've had that for a long time. It started well before I was there, probably with [former Indians executive] John Hart and then Mark and Chris and Mike [Chernoff, current Indians GM]. A lot of us have benefited from that and learned a great deal."
Dombrowski was 32 years old when the Expos promoted him to GM in 1990. He has overseen the Marlins, Tigers and Red Sox since, and he has built a winner at every stop, crafting a reputation of smart decisions as well as honesty in dealing with other clubs.
"Dave's relentless," Moore said. "One thing I've noticed about him through the years is he's relentless at dotting the I's and crossing the T's. He's had great relationships with his managers. He's had great managers. He's been able to attract people that want to work for him. And he's always won."