Management by Baseball Winners
Even if you don't like baseball, you have to stay with me (wait...did I just say those three words - don't and like and baseball - in succession?). Lou Brock once beautifully stated, "Baseball is the background music to America....the melting pot begins to examine itself and see all its jewels, its treasures." That's a beautiful sentiment, one that Jeff Angus has taken a step further. Mr. Angus long ago recognized that management within the game of baseball is the perfect model for which to teach managers outside of baseball (business, government, nonprofits, etc). For (I think) about three years now Jeff has been letting us peak into his unique world of consulting using his blog, but now we FINALLY have something to hold, something to coddle while getting our fix - the book Management by Baseball, and today we're giving away 20 copies.
In Mangagement by Baseball, aptly subtitled The Official Rules for Winning Management in Any Field, Jeff Angus takes you around the bases....hmnnn, that sounds bad....Jeff Angus explores each base....nope that's not good either. OK, In Management by Baseball, Jeff Angus briliantly assigns the four major qualities any manager must possess to the four bases on a baseball diamond (technically three bases and a plate). And like baseball where you must round the bases in sequential order, managers must master the corresponding skill sets in order.
I want to introduce the four "bases", and then focus on one particular chapter that perfectly demonstrates the fluid practicality and intelligence Angus offers, as well as his brilliant use of examples and storytelling.
1st Base - Managing the Mechanics
Every manager must master operational management before they move on to any other skill set. This is the nuts and bolts, the every day decisions. Baseball skippers have hundreds of decisions to juggle on a daily basis, from line-ups to in-game tactics like stealing. They have to master time management - when to insert a new pitcher (Hello Grady and Gardenhire) or call for a pinch hitter. They have to devise training techniques and transform research into strategy. You'll learn from baesball's masters of operational management as well as from those who commited terrible blunders.
2nd Base - Managing Talent
Great baseball managers know how evaluate and motivate players, and when and how to hire and fire them. These are the keys to success over a long season, and you'll learn how to apply baseball's models to your business (more on this later).
3rd Base - Managing Yourself
This is pretty straightforward. Great baseball managers will confront their own habits, biases, and strengths to overcome preconcieved notions. You get to boost your own skills by reading about baseball's best and worst at coming to grips with emotional and intellectual blind spots (like if Rob Dibble is on your team, wrestling him in a fit of rage is probably not the best strategy in the world).
Home Plate - Managing Change...and Driving It.
A baseball game can change in the blink of an eye, forcing managers to adapt quickly to significant change. If you can learn from baseball's best (or avoid baseball's worst), you'll have a significant advantage over the competition.
Chapter 5 - Scouting and Signing Your Players: Hiring
Right of the bat in chapter 5 comes a great exaple of how managers outside of baseball have a clear advantage over in game managers. Davey Lopes had the dubiuos honor of taking over a Milwaukee Brewer that was like 1 and 5342 in the last decade. He once said, "If you don't have the horses, you're not going to get into the playoffs." Well, Lopes was given a "pack of mules", so no matter how much he outmanaged Bob Brenley, Dave Burba wasn't going to outpitch Randy Johnson.
Nonbaseball managers have the ability to inject themselves into the hiring process at an early stage, working with HR departments to devise the right hiring methods to find the best people. If you don't do this, you're HR department is bound to act as a "gateway to nonexcellence", meaning you'll be relying on guys named Mike Buddie, James Mouton, and Kevin Barker.
A second part of Chapter 5 uses Tom Peters' idea of "best sourcing" to discuss the model baseball uses to recruit and retain talent. Basically, instead of relying on one source or model to find all your talent, you need to "diversify your talent search to acquire the best available anywhere, because if you don't, your competitor will." In doing this, you are able to find the most appopriate talent for the upcoming task.
More importanty than finding that talent is keeping the right talent at the right time. For instance, instead of keeping one of the best left-handed hitters in baseball in David Ortiz, the Mariners really believed they needed 28 games of Dave Freaking Hollins for the stretch run. So instead of Big Papi, the Mariners got a guy who probably should have just retired after his 1993 mullet days hanging out with Mickey Morandini, Kevin Stocker, and Pete Incaviglia.
The Dodgers once decided to protect a good dozen players over Roberto Clemente. What!!!? And can you believe that someone let Johan Santana enter the Rule 5 draft.
This is getting a bit lengthy, so let me just say that the rest of the chapter somehow connects Malcolm Gladwell to Doug Glanville, offers Tony Phillips as a model, and somehow manages to include Java Programming and ZZ Top in the same sentence. It is, in fact, the perfect chapter.
Jeff Angus is a real gem who has written one of my favorite books in years. Yes, I'm a baseball geek, but Jeff writes in such a clear and precise way as to allow even those uninterested in baseball (which I still have a hard time understanding) to become great managers. If you don't believe me, maybe you'll trust Tom Peters, who just made Jeff a "Cool Friend". And if you don't believe me (Jeesh) and you don't believe Peters, well then, I don't know what to tell you.
And make sure to check out Jeff's Blog here. Like the book it's very well written, offering great baseball examples that are sure to help you become a better daily manager, and has many real neat pictures and pretty colors.
Also, make sure to check out these sites. I visit them daily. They're chocked full of useful baseball information - written and researched by people way smarter than myself - and they were both kind enough to link to inBubbleWrap today.
-Baseball Think Factory
-David Pinto's Baseball Musings
-Wayne Hurlbert's Blog Business World.
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