I am currently in the USA on a family holiday. Being a sports nut I have taken the opportunity to see some sporting events that I haven’t experienced before. The first was an ice hockey game between the Anaheim Ducks and the LA Kings. Unbelievable skill and toughness. The second was a Major League Baseball game between the LA Angels and the Texas Rangers. Apart from being a great contest and spectacle, it reminded me about the need to take risks in order to succeed, especially in leadership.
in 1927 Babe Ruth broke the world record for home runs. In that same season he also lead the league in strike outs. For those of you who don’t understand what that means, he basically smashed the ball out of the park more than anyone had ever done in history. At the same time, he failed more than any player that season. He literally swung and missed more than any other player, yet he hit more home runs than anyone else.
The lesson for leaders is simple. In order to succeed we must be prepared to fail. We have to expect that not everything we do or we encourage our people to do will work. We should encourage experimentation and we need to be OK when things don’t work out. If we play it safe, things might be OK but we won’t reach any great heights.
The highlight of the Angels vs Rangers game was seeing in action the highest paid MLB player of all time – Mike Trout who just signed a $430 million contact with the Angels. With loaded bases and with two strikes to his name, he swung hard, hit the ball out of the park and won the game for the Angels.
