What are They Thinking?

Too frequently, the sports headlines report on the infidelities of athletes and coaches.  The pain is always self-inflicted.  Such is the case the past week.  First, we have the former Arkansas Razorback coach, Bobby Petrino,  involved in a motorcycle accident where he broke four ribs among other injuries.  He reported that no one else was involved.  Surprise, surprise, he later admitted that a former Razorback volleyball player he just hired was with him and that he was involved in an "inappropriate relationship."  This appears to be code for an affair.

Next up to the plate is one Ozzie Guillen, the new manager of the Miami Marlins.  As many of you know, Miami is the home of many Cuban immigrants whose families fled Cuba to avoid Fidel Castro's regime.  Guillen, whose team plays in Little Havana, said he loves Castro and admires the fact he has been in power so long.  He has been suspended five games by the team.  It should be an interesting season in Miami.

Finally, new Boston manager Bobby Valentine decided prior to the season that he will appear weekly on the Michael Kay radio show.  No problem except that the show is in New York and Michael Kay does the TV broadcast for the Yankees.  Does this seem odd to anyone else?

The interesting thing about these three men is that they all have brought baggage with them to their roles.  Petrino walked out on the Atlanta Falcons mid-season, Guillen shoots his mouth off regularly and Valentine has worn out his welcome in many places.  An old boss of mine said "what you see early is what you get."  Those that have hired these men knew what they were getting and will be paying the consequences as long as they are under contract. 

We make these decisions daily as leaders.  Everyone has baggage (I suppose), but how much are you willing to accept for the good of the organization?  How many expense reports are going to be falsified?  How low will morale go?  What is the cost of "winning" in your organization?

Great organizations build a culture and a team dedicated to winning the right way.  In each case, the organization involved in hiring these men are taking short cuts.  In some cases it works-in all cases however, there is a price to pay.  Build the right way-one person at a time to develop a culture of excellence.  Mercenaries won't do it.  You don't want people saying - "What are they thinking" about your organization.

A Vote of Confidence

Last night, the Phillies were struggling to score runs.  I'm afraid this will be a common refrain in 2012.  An interesting thing happened however.  In the 10th inning, with two men on and two outs, Manager Charlie Manuel allowed rookie second baseman Freddy Galvis to bat.  Galvis is hitless for the season and doesn't look like that streak will end soon.  He allowed him to hit even though there were big left-handed bats on the bench.  Unfortunately, he struck out and the Pirates won the game in the bottom half of the inning.

At first I scratched my head. On second thought, it was a stroke of genius.  Charlie Manuel is a very underrated manager.  I think what Charlie stated with his actions is Young man, this is your job.  Don't worry about looking over your shoulder.  Give it your best shot.  Charlie knows it's a long season and this vote of confidence may help in the development of a struggling rookie.  The move may pay dividends in September.

It's easy for us to do it ourselves and not let the new person have a chance.  Sometimes you have to fail to ultimately succeed.  Charlie Manuel knows this-but many of us don't.  It's hard to watch someone fail.  It's harder to know that they might but let them try anyway.  We get better through experience and repetition.  We learn by being put into difficult situations.  Baseball is no different than life.  Think about it the next time to give out an assignment or fail to delegate.  After all, it's better to try and fail than to never try at all.