Leadership on the Field of Play

I almost just left this entire page blank.   That’s the easiest way to approach this topic.   I am a pretty old fart, so I have lived through a variety of iterations of what passes for “politically correct” across multiple decades.   They are as wildly different as hairstyles and clothing preferences over the same period of time.   The ancient Romans summed it up best: De gustibus non est disputandum, “In matters of taste, there is no dispute.”   Simply put, it is what it is.   Live with it and adapt to it. Or pay the price. One might be tempted here to digress into discussions about gender, ethnicity, physical appearance, and the like.   I am not tempted.   Of course I could regale you with tales of what used to pass as acceptable behavior in the workplace (and elsewhere).   The simple fact is that it doesn’t matter.   Things that might have been customary, tolerated, or otherwise okay are like runway fashions:   one day they ...

Yogi Berra is quoted as having said, “In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is.”   A lot of life is like that. It all looks pretty straightforward from the sidelines.   But when you cross on to the field of play, theory is just that.   What matters is what is happening in the game, whether it be baseball or big business.   Over a forty-year career my experience has been that this is how leadership works.   There is a rich literature on leadership, and probably as many theories on leadership as there are authors of books and articles. This blog, as you may have noticed, is not about theory.   It is about doing. Theory is by and large neat and clean. Practice is often chaotic and messy. Leadership does not come from a structured, step-by-step formula for success. It comes in large part from what you experience daily on the field of play, be that in the office or on a baseball diamond, and how you respond. I was...

As a leader you will often be cast as a principal in the battle between good and evil.   This may take the form of Marketing vs. Finance or IT vs. HR.   You will need to discern who are the good guys and who are the bad guys and make the right calls for your organization.   Sniffing out the nefarious from the benign is only as difficult as you make it.   If you focus on the territorial battles and money grabs, it can be hard to tell the noble causes from the more self-serving.   So here a few guidelines. The difference between noble and less noble depends upon which side of an issue you are looking at.   For example, Marketing will tell you that a major investment in that area will reap great financial returns.   Finance will respond that the investment is highly speculative and could end in disaster, like many of Marketing’s schemes often do.   But focusing on this battle could cost you the war.   The real issue is not which department ...

For every action, there are innumerable possible reactions (with apologies to Sir Isaac Newton).   This is a basic law that applies to virtually every decision you and your teams make.   That’s why it’s important to consider the big picture before you take action.   What appears to be a solution to a local problem can have unanticipated ramifications on a larger scale.   For example, I ran an institution that was composed of many satellite units.   Every decision made at the corporate, central level had an impact on the operations at those satellite locations.   On more than one occasion (many more) I received calls from the field asking what idiot made a particular call on business operations.   Whoops, that would be me.   For instance, centralizing all HR functions was a great cost-saving move for the organization.   But it was incredibly inefficient for local operations that needed the ability to move quickly in hiring staff.   And i...