Get A Clue, Lou!
Or what Professional Baseball Can Teach Professional Managers
Dateline: 04/30/98
The other night I found myself yelling at my television again in pure frustration. As I watched my favorite baseball team go down to defeat again in the ninth inning I couldn’t believe that a highly-paid, experienced manager could make such blatantly idiotic misjudgments. It was all the more distressing because my spouse, a comparative baseball novice, could also see the obviousness of the manager’s mistakes and also knew the correct alternative.
After the game had ended, and I cooled down again, it hit me. There are a lot of similarities between baseball and business. I mean the game of baseball, not the business of professional baseball, has a lot in common with real business.
Don’t write this off as “Monday morning quarterbacking” or another just attempt to force a sports metaphor to fit as an allegory. The more I thought about it, the more I was struck by the comparisons.
As a management consultant I advise business managers on the best ways to get the most out of the limited resources they have at their disposal. We deal with production problems, personnel difficulties, and aggressive competitors. The only difference between that and the advice I was giving the baseball manager was that he couldn’t hear me screaming at the TV.
I encourage you to look at these things and see if they fit your favorite sports team too or, even better, how they apply to your business.
Part 2 My assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of a professional baseball team as it conducts its business of playing the game.
Part 3 My recommendations to the senior management (manager and coaches) of the baseball team on how to improve the effeciency, quality, and profitability of their operation.
Part 4 My apology to those of you who are not sports fans.
John Reh--
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