Strength up the middle

With the dawning of a new baseball season, my eyes are getting itchy, my right arm sore and my knees creaky. These are all ways my body reminds me of the days I fashioned the Tools of Ignorance and drew most of my identity from that position. In fact, catching through little league, high school, college and summer leagues imprinted upon me my first real leadership lessons. As you follow this tale, you'll also perhaps see that I continue to wear some of this 'gear' for better and sometimes worse in my organizational roles.

It all started with the Ohio-born, mustachioed, prop-pilot gamer, Thurman Munson. Thurman (one of the great names in baseball history and one my wife didn't allow me to use to moniker my sons Sam and Henry) was my hero. His death was devastating to Yankee fans. I chronicled all the articles I could after his death like I would a fallen father. I found this two volume set recently and read through some of the old New York Daily News articles remarking at Thurman's innate leadership style and ability. Most world series winners have captains who led on the field and in the locker room. And, with baseball, the real leader on the field is the catcher.

The catcher sacrifices himself for the team time and time again. His main leadership skills hone in on three main qualities: vision, strategy and calm. Many may not realize, but baseball is the loneliest team sport out there. So often in baseball you find yourself naked with only your failures as clothing. Pitching is the worst of it as it's a delicate balance of sheer force, consistency and precision. Pitchers, all by themselves, out there on a ostentatious mound, are thwarted with pressures position players don't often feel, until, of course, they've dropped an easy out leading to 2 unearned runs. Suffice to say, digging into the batters box, glaring down some gas throwers, feels damn isolating, too. Catchers know this and exploit it to their advantage when calling pitches (yes catchers, the good ones, call the plays, not the pitchers who are merely trying to execute...which is hard enough). They also know when to soothe the aching souls of their battery mates.

When fashioned with the tools of ignorance, one does feel empowered, protected and strong. Good catchers take this sense of confidence and try and share it with others to galvanize the team as a whole. These skills and experiences are great training grounds for coaches and is why most managers were catchers.

Organizationally, I have sought out roles be it as Wynton Marsalis's tour manager or the COO of IM Creative or Abercrombie & Fitch's resident leadership coach where I could support the excellence and development of others. Sometimes, in these roles, I wished I had had some catcher's gear to protect me from the slings and arrows of culture building and truth bearing. Getting better, be it as a leader, pitcher or candle-stick maker is work, hard work when done with vigor and persistence. We all do it so much better, in my humble opinion, when we're armed with a battery mate, someone willing to sacrifice some of themselves for us (and, in turn, the betterment of the whole). I hope these thoughts make sense, as they do to me. Remember, I took some fastballs off the head for a spell there.

Happy spring.

John