So, the question becomes, “What does it take to be a leader?” It is my belief baseball, as an individual sport in a team concept, emulates life in the business world.
Rosalinda Torres, Business Coach and Consultant featured on TED talks, defined a leader as “someone who is constantly improving by “determining [their] effectiveness.”
In baseball and in business too many of us tend to let someone else determine our effectiveness. We wait and react versus proactively improving by recognizing the issue and making a change on their own. It is my belief our decision to wait until someone says something positively or negatively is based upon an emotional panic state where the changes we make are based upon trying to solve Outcomes versus Actions. This ineffective approach drives us to try to make everyone happy trying to do everything. Reacting to anything anyone blurts out versus using our own knowledge to determine what approach may make the most sense. Thereby clouding our vision of what to do with each hiccup we have and whatever focus we may have had drifts away next thing you know, we are trying to solve things we cannot control.
In baseball our focus becomes:
“If I don’t hit I won’t play!”
“If I can’t get anyone out, I won’t pitch!”
“If I continue to make errors I won’t touch the field!”
Breathe…. seek the answer within, Grasshopper.
Instead of looking for resolution from someone else, spend valuable time understanding what it takes to accomplish whatever you need to get done!
I agree with Ms. Torres belief great leaders seek understanding from a diverse knowledge base and when they find that nugget, they are willing to take risks. With those risks comes effectiveness. Hey it doesn’t hurt to have a mentor either; or at least finding someone who can help you find what you already know.
- Take a few minutes to check out Rosalinda Torres website “Coaching and Consulting.”
- Want to understand hitting? Check out, “Hitting is Simple…Have You Figured it Out Yet?”
- Maybe you need to mentally change how you play the game. Consider, “Plan to Win…A Success Guide for Athletes.”
- Read Malcolm Gladwell’s Outlier and find out what it takes to become an Outlier in the game of baseball.
So determine your effectiveness, take risks and become that Great Leader of YOURSELF.
Until Next Blog,
Al McCormick
