Over a long weekend in 2016, watching my son (then 9, now 17 ('25)) and his team experience the highs and lows of competitive baseball, I had a cathartic conversation with one of his baseball coaches over a 2-hour wait until they played again. We talked about baseball, the military, and everything in between. One thing he said to me I’ve known for as long as I can remember, but this time, it struck me and has been rattling around in my head. As we discussed baseball, he said, “You have to learn to love the process and not the result.”
Some background information: The Brewers selected this coach during the mid-90s, but he never advanced beyond the college level. From a young age through his early twenties, he received top-notch coaching and guidance on playing baseball competitively. Then, he served as the head coach for his older son's team and as an assistant coach for his younger son's teams, which included my son, sharing his expertise and wisdom to help shape these boys into young men.
Through the course of our conversation I could not help but think about the correlation to and lessons for developing leaders, whether aspiring or seasoned, the message was the same.
Developing the skills to play baseball is a paradox. It’s simple yet complex. Throw the ball, catch the ball, see the ball hit the ball, simple, yet it’s essential to have the right arm angle and body posture all in sync to throw a 96 mph strike or hit to the opposite field, complex.
Developing the skills to play baseball is much like developing the skills to be an effective leader. Simple, from the perspective that a leader has a title now and tells others what to do and they do it, but complex from the perspective that the leader needs to understand how to emotionally connect with each one of his or her direct reports and engage them on an individual basis to motivate them to want to do something on their own accord. The first perspective represents a result. You have a title and now tell people what to do. In contrast, the latter perspective represents the process. The process of learning about self, others, and the context in which one is leading.
To become a successful and effective baseball player, you must practice, adapt, experiment, experience failure, practice again, fail once more, try again, and continue practicing until you find a rhythm that allows you to consistently deliver results (though a career .300 batting average could be Hall of Fame worthy).
This looks like the same process a mentally tough, emotionally intense, ego-in-check leader would follow to develop their leadership skills. While it is true some are born predisposed to be great athletes, the same is true for leaders, however, the process remains the same, simple, yet complex. Add or expand to the complexity by thinking about a specific position, such as a catcher or, from a business perspective, an overseas assignment.
A leader must learn to love the development process, not the result. If leaders learn to love the process, they will likely get an even better result (At EDGE™, we believe in leveraging the 70-20-10 development process).
You can read a book about baseball and watch a video. Still, there is nothing quite like
going out to a diamond, experiencing baseball for yourself and going through the development process. The same is true for leadership; reading the latest NYT bestseller or attending a workshop does not make you a better leader. You have to practice, change, try something new, fail, practice again, fail again, try again, and practice again until you get into a rhythm where you can deliver results consistently. Can you succeed your first time out? Sure, you can, but don’t get complacent, cocky, and careless.
As one develops into a successful and effective leader or baseball player, you have to practice, change, try something new, fail, practice again, fail again, try again, and practice some more until you get into a rhythm where you can deliver results consistently.
Think about all the successful people in your life. They’ve ascended to their levels because they learned to love the development process. They learned that failure is okay if it turns into learning and a new beginning requires something else to end.
Whether you are a struggling small business owner or a highly successful athlete, you must learn to love the process. The process will be hard work in the end, but the payoff will be much more significant, and the result will be more rewarding when you fall in love with the process.
Chase's Head Coach on why we do this for our kids:
We do it for the excitement on our kids faces when they win a championship game. We do it because being part of a team is a valuable lesson. We do it because sometimes we lose and learning to lose gracefully is a valuable lesson. Lastly we do it because when down 7 runs, and nothing seems to be going right, perseverance, teamwork and determination made our kids successful. There are few other activities that teach kids these lessons outside of competition.
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