Viking Hats & Baseball Bats The Turnaround Mindset & The Cincinnati Reds

Any business, team, family, heck even, and especially churches and non-profits, can be backed up into a corner and face an existential threat to accomplishing their mission. Think of those close calls you have seen in your own experiences, whether they be businesses that were about to go bankrupt or individuals who were down on their luck but got back up and turned things around.

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Yes, leaders of turnarounds have grit, and many other strengths of skill and character, but to pull off a true come-from-behind turnaround, that requires something more than just good skills and strategy.

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Turnarounds and comebacks require what I coined in 1990 as the Turnaround Mindset. After interviewing dozens of turnaround CEOs I noticed a pattern. They all agreed that creating a mindset of hope and potential was foundational to the turnaround.

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This year we are witnessing a mojo in baseball that is quite rare. It’s different that the domination of the Big Red Machine of the 1970s, or other great teams.

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…as Joe Morgan once told me, “We on the Machine went out there with an attitude of ‘just how bad can we kick their @$$, let’s not just win, but let’s absolutely beat the $#!% out of them!”

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But this year is different. This is a group of mostly much greener, young guys on a team that doesn’t necessarily have as wide and deep of a pool of talent as the Big Red Machine, but this team has what they are literally referring to as a distinct “mindset.”

As Reds’ catcher Curt Casali recently said “…when a team whups you, you want to give it back to them. That’s pretty much our only mindset right now.”

In the last 50 years, there have only been two other teams with more come-from-behind wins than the Reds have had with their 31st comeback win in their 87th game. Only the 2004 Yankees and 1999 Indians, had more with 34.

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What makes up the turnaround mindset and how can you use it in work and life?

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1.???HOPE - Foster a culture of never giving up, and always having hope of success, no matter how far behind you may be, you must truly believe that there is always the possibility of success.

2.???STRATEGY & TACTICS – have an innovative set of tactics and strategy that leverages your strengths while exploiting the competition’s weaknesses.

3.???ENERGY IN EXECUTION – the leadership must set fire to the soul of the team with a powerful faith in the possibilities expressed with an energy that is contagious and encouraging.

4.???CULTURE – leverage both practices and symbols that depict what is powerful and unique about your culture. Notice the impact on the Reds team from their after-game celebrations or the donning of the Viking hat and fur cape after home runs.

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I wonder if the boys in red got some inspiration from another local ruddy leader with a powerful turnaround mindset, Joe Burrow. Whether it’s the Reds, Joe Burrow, or any team, once the turnaround mindset takes hold, nothing can stop that team, family or even a city.

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With the Turnaround Mindset, hope reigns supreme, and great things are about to happen.

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Regardless of what happens to my team this year, they’ve inspired many. The question now is, who can you inspire and what can your team achieve, with the Turnaround Mindset?

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Mark Faust is an advisor on corporate growth and turnarounds and the author of three books on the turnaround mindset. Call for a complimentary copy.

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