Category: Life

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Tom Seaver’s lessons for every aspiring professional

I know that holding up sports figures as role models is fraught with peril, but you could do a whole lot worse than emulating my childhood sports hero, even (especially) in your career:

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In my practice, I work with executives and companies that are seeking ways to improve their performance and effectiveness.  The sources I use in my work can be found in my experiences, my post-graduate work, my training as an executive coach, and numerous research studies, articles and modern management books. 

But honestly, Tom Seaver provided some simple and clear examples of professional behavior for all of us:

  • Intimately know your competitors’ strengths & weaknesses before taking the field.
  • Objectively evaluate your own performance and make adjustments.
  • Highlight the value in the contribution of your teammates.
  • Arrive early, rested and prepared for your days’ work.
  • Constantly evaluate / moderate your own emotional state during the game.
  • Grade yourself critically on consistency and form.
  • Focus on your game and your performance overall.
  • Talk about performance.  Always.
  • Show respect for your competitors – especially the greats.
  • Be happy with your achievements, but really cut loose and celebrate when the whole team wins.

Yesterday we lost Tom Seaver at the age of 75.  As a kid growing up in the early 70s in a NY suburb, Tom Seaver was everything to me and my friends.  We read every article we could find about him in newspapers, magazines and books and fought for number 41 on every baseball team we played on (I only got it twice).  When he pitched, we watched him on television, and on rare and very special occasions, saw him play in person.

It is clear that he had some God-given natural gifts (he often spoke of being grateful for his talent), but it was his focus, work-ethic and habits that turned him into one of the best and most consistent performers of all time. 

I had a few friends who respected him but felt he was “aloof” in interviews and later as a commentator.  I always looked at it differently.  I like to think that Tom was always preoccupied with performance and with excellence. 

Rest in Peace, Tom Seaver. 

Thank you for being one of my best teachers growing up, even though neither of us knew it at the time.

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Happy Independence Day

There is common ground out there yet.

On this July 4th, let’s recommit to the original idea of equality set forth 244 years ago and create more common ground in this country through action and kindness.

It may be the most recognizable sentence in the American English language: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Deep in our souls, this rings true. And, like the teachings of the great religions of the world it is deeply virtuous…but it is also aspirational. The men who conceived of these ideas were as imperfect as we are now, but we owe it to them and to all others who sacrificed to make this experiment work to keep pushing for the aspirational goal of equality that they set for us.

A common theme of our times is that we cannot move forward together because we are fundamentally divided.  So we must fight to find common ground – and service is a very effective way to find that common ground. We generally do not see people deeply involved in performing a service engaged in partisan debate. They are too busy acting. They may be pushing a disabled car to safety, rescuing a child in deep water, feeding hungry people, giving directions, aiding the sick, caring for older people, counseling refugees, fundraising for charity, shoveling snow off the roof of their church or any number of organized (or ad hoc) gestures of kindness. It is through acts of kindness that we can find a way unite. 

Kindness + Action = Citizenry 

Happy 4th.

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From a person I never even knew… comes a timely reminder

A Quick Thought for a New Year’s Resolution.

I was running errands with my Dad this week and we made a stop for gasoline.  While the tank was filling, I found myself gazing at the funeral home across the street and thinking about how difficult it can be to lose a loved one around the holidays.  I noticed that the parking lot was mostly full and wondered about the person that these visitors had come to honor. 

On my drive home that evening I had some time in traffic to think about the day when I am the person lying in repose in the front of that room.  The finality of it.

When I leave this world, I will be taking with me:

The “Composition of Me”:

  • The memory of the thousands of relationships that form “me”
  • All of my opinions and biases
  • All of my worries and stress
  • The memory of every movie I have seen and every book I have read
  • The memories of all the great games I have seen and all of the games I have played in when I was young
  • My memories of the world, voyages, business trips, vacations, and of growing up near New York City
  • All of my accomplishments, licenses, promotions and titles
  • The knowledge of how to do the jobs I have done in my life

Also, the “Unshared Gifts” I will take:

  • All of the ideas I have yet to act on.
  • All of my intentions to do good and kind things, that I have not done.
  • All of the love that remains in my heart.

All of these perish when we leave this world.  Gone.  None of it will be backed up to the cloud or recovered.

I suppose the people who come to the funeral home can testify to the part of me that remains behind.  My impact on them and the other people in my life will be all that survives.

Maybe this is a good thing to have in mind on the doorstep of a new year and decade.

I am using this little experience to influence my resolution this year:

  • Less focus on the perishable “Composition of Me”.
  • More focus on minimizing the “Unshared Gifts” by giving these things now:
    • Showing up more for people
    • Trying to listen more and to have a kind word
    • Sharing adventures with others as often as possible
    • Working on being a good example
    • Sharing that love a little more
    • Putting some of those ideas and intentions into action to maybe do some good
  • We don’t get to choose when we go.
  • We can choose how we use our Gifts.
    • But only while we are blessed with the time to choose.

To the person who was being honored this week at that funeral home across from the gasoline station on Long Island: Thank You. 

You had one more gift to give a stranger that you didn’t even know about:  You made me think.

I wish for all a New Year and a Decade that is full of Peace, Good Health and Time to Share.