How We Choose to Lead
40 years ago, okay, let us say 42 years ago, I tried out for and did not make my high school JV baseball team as a first-year student. I made it all the way to the last cut (back then there were three cuts). I was devastated. Baseball was my love. I grew up idolizing the likes of Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell, Dusty Baker, and Ron Cey during an amazing era of Dodger baseball. I “hated” Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, Pete Rose, George Foster and the entire Big Red Machine. And the San Francisco Giants? Forget about it! The point is, I loved baseball and played it whenever I could, so it was a tough pill to swallow when I didn’t make the team.
Fast forward to today, okay, yesterday. Due to the rain soaking the field, my son Jack’s freshman baseball team game was postponed. Shortly thereafter I got a text from him, “I’m going to catch someone’s bullpen today so could you still bring my glove?”
The Choice
After he got home, I asked him how the bullpen session went. “Good,” you know, the typical one word answers a 15-year-old gives. As usual, my wife always gets more information out of him. Later in the evening she let me know that Jack was not catching a bullpen for one of his teammates or for one of the JV or Varsity pitchers. He was catching a bullpen for a classmate who did not make the team this year. He played with Jack on the winter ball team which is essentially the “spring training” team for high school baseball. He and Jack were talking, and he told Jack that he wanted to work on pitching because he is determined to make the team next year. Jack was happy to help.
Having been in the position my son’s friend was 42 years ago, this story struck me right in the heart. My son is not even aware of what he did for that young man yesterday and moving forward. He very easily could have said no or worse yet, not continued the relationship because his friend did not make the team.
He is not looking for recognition or being motivated by a prize, he is doing it because he values relationships and wants to help (and he would probably be mortified to know I wrote about it). As we grow older, so often, these simple acts of kindness are forgotten or undervalued from a leadership perspective.
Whether or not he realizes it, he made a choice to lead yesterday in a powerful way.
How do you choose to lead?
