BASEBALL

Apr

2021

Baseball Leadership

As I write this I am gearing up for my son’s baseball season. I volunteered to be an assistant coach, but ended up becoming the head coach. Fortunately these are nine and ten year old kids who I can’t mess up too bad. (My baseball career was not very long as a child)

Quite honestly my greatest concern is teaching them how to pitch which is not my area of expertise. As I think about baseball I see a parallel to leadership. Those more familiar with baseball may see many more than these I mention.

Catching

When I helped my sons learn how to catch a ball I would be excited if they caught one. The real challenge was when they threw the ball back to me. I had to move all over the place to catch what they were throwing.

As leaders we are in catching mode. Our door is open and an employee enters with a new challenge. We check our e-mail at the end of the day to see we must deal with an unexpected issue before heading home. Similar to chasing a five-year old’s throws, we have to adjust rapidly to catch the problems that come our way.

This is part of leadership, but if we are not careful we end up only catching and reacting. We can fall into squeaky wheel leadership if we are not wise. What can we do to counteract this?

Throwing

Just like catching a five-year old’s throw can be an adventure so can teaching him or her to throw. I remember teaching a three-step process: scarecrow, step, throw. This was a very intentional directed plan. When they followed it the ball was on target otherwise . . watch out!

The biggest determinant of accuracy throwing was where they focused their eyes. Leadership is no different. As the day, week, or month begins are you aiming at a clear target? Do you have a plan for how you will be proactive and get ahead of problems?

As leaders we initiate the “throw” to keep the ball moving in the direction of our goal. The first step in accurate leadership throwing is knowing where you want to go. Just as the eyes direct the throw, our vision directs the organization or team we lead. Do you have a clear vision so you can make accurate throws?

Fielding

This is beyond my baseball coaching expertise, but there are times we shift the players in the field. Maybe there is a left-handed batter so we have to shift the outfielders and possibly some infielders. As a leader fielding is strategy.

Challenges come that we catch and deal with. Vision guides our offensive direction of the organization or team. Fielding is when we reorganize our team or adjust our strategy to the unforeseen. This is how we position ourselves to catch and throw in a way that keeps us on top.

How are you doing as a leader in these three areas? Do you have a clear vision? Are you positioned well to proactively address problems? Maybe you need someone to help you think into your vision or strategy as an individual or with your team. If so, contact me for a thirty-minute thinking partner session at no cost to you. Keep playing the game well and lead well.

Mar

2019

Leadership Lessons from a Former MLB Player

Only a year or two ago the man I was sitting across from in the office of his sports performance business had been in the dugouts of teams such as the Padres, Diamondbacks, Angels, and Astros. There was nothing but humility and a genuine authenticity that I sensed in him.

Over a year ago he and his business partner, who had been his trainer when he played, opened ProX in Westfield, IN. This facility exists to help athletes of all sports develop athletic performance, strength, and skill. I was not there to learn about their sports performance or even Mr. Thatcher’s career in baseball. We were there to talk about leadership.

After learning a little about his professional career in baseball and his business we discussed his three keys to leadership. As he talked, Joe drew from his experience in sports and the example of those who led him. At the core of his leadership are three principles that helped him realize his central theme.

Respect of Teammates

Three principles guided Joe as he sought to gain the respect of his teammates and guide him as he seeks to maintain the respect of those he leads.

Consistency

As an athlete he attempted to always be consistent both in performance and attitude. Having spent years around athletes personally, I understood how moody inconsistent players can be a drain and difficult to respect. While leading his organization, Joe strives to be consistent in his performance as an example to those he leads and bring stability to the organization.

Hard Work

In athletics as well as any other pursuit in life those who work hard gain the respect of their peers and colleagues. Joe served as a reliever in his baseball career and his consistent hard work earned the respect of the All-Star players that surrounded him. As the leader of his organization as those around him know he is working hard for the entire organization they respect him and often strive to work at a similar level.

Put the Team First

Baseball is a team sport and the pitcher must trust those behind him every time he throws the ball. When the pitcher takes the mound he can be concerned about his stats or the team’s result. This idea ties into Jim Collins concept of a level 5 leader in his book Good to Great. Collins describes a level 5 leader as an individual with great drive and humility. Both are required of a team player who gets results. A pitcher or a CEO that gets results has the drive to get the work done, but the humility to realize the team or organizational goals are the highest priority.

We explored a little more in detail what putting team above self looks like in an organization and he mentioned three practical areas:

Employees – consider their needs
Laid back environment – they need to get results, but are creating a people first atmosphere
Family First – trust your employees to get their work done until given evidence otherwise and allow them space for family

Before concluding our time Joe shared a common leadership principle he learned from Buddy Black (Padres manager) and AJ Hinch (Astros manager):

Hire the best people you can and let them do what they do best . . . stay out of the way . . . provide what they need and let them run with it.

Joe values embracing the journey which helped him during his baseball career and will continue to help him as a business leader. What about you? Are you putting your people first as you try to align them with your organizational or team vision? Is your example one worth following? Do your principles or your emotions drive you? Take a minute and reflect on your leadership at work and home and write down one step you can take to grow your leadership and therefore your results. Need help thinking into your leadership results then contact me for a no cost to you one on one coaching session. Keep leading well.

Nov

2017

Overcoming Failure

Every year October rolls around and we have the World Series. This is baseball’s version of a world champion. Two teams have played hundreds of games and earned the right to compete in a seven game series to see who the best team is that year.

Baseball is a fascinating sport because you are considered a very good batter when you fail more times than you succeed. Imagine being in a job where if you are successful 4 out of 10 times you are considered extremely successful. Maybe this is true even in business in some arenas. Maybe this is true in parenting and our other personal relationships.

What causes the baseball player to enter into a slump? They start believing and playing a mental tape that says they are never going to hit. Author Maxwell Maltz in his book The New Psycho-Cybernetics states: “A mistake is just a mistake. We must use rational thinking to achieve perspective, to rise above these paralyzing mental hazards.” Maltz is asking if we allow the negative “failure” tape to continue to play or do we choose to replace it with a positive tape that will help us change direction?

When the baseball player lets one strike-out get to him then he has not taken the time to coach himself and not allow that one strike-out to define him for the entire game. Maybe a salesperson continues to get “no” after “no” and therefore begins to believe no one will ever buy from him. Will this become a self-fulfilling prophecy? Possibly. What if instead he decides to picture himself closing multiple deals? As he envisions that he will then start acting as if success will happen and it begins to.

Obviously there are many things in life we cannot control, but we can control our response to what life brings our way. Will we choose to let mistakes or failures define us or use them as opportunities to learn and grow? In his book Failing Forward leadership expert John Maxwell provides a helpful comparison between failing forward and backward.

Failing Backward	Failing Forward
Blaming others	Taking Responsibility
Repeating the Same Mistakes	Learning from Each Mistake
Expecting Never to Fail Again	Knowing Failure Is a Part of Progress
Expecting to Continually Fail	Maintaining a Positive Attitude
Accepting Tradition Blindly	Challenging Outdated Assumptions
Being Limited by Past Mistakes	Taking New Risks
Thinking I am a Failure	Believing Something Didn’t Work
Quitting	Persevering

Whether it is something in your personal or professional life, are you failing forward and growing? Are you replacing the negative thoughts with positive thoughts? Do you need to take a risk that may be a failure, but ultimately lead to success? Whatever you are facing the reality is you will not have an opportunity to succeed unless you take a swing.