Winning Is Not Everything
I wrote an essay (link) last year on baseball success and organization culture after I had the opportunity to personally listen to Mr. Jeff Luhnow, then General Manager of Houston Astros Baseball team, on organization transformation.
Bringing home a championship is a dream for any sports team, but Houston Astros winning the 2017 World Series baseball championship was extra sweet by lifting the spirit of the city shortly after the disastrous flood which devastated a large part of the city.
The memorable baseball season, the championship, the illusions they created were gone out of the window with the baseball commissioner report this week on the cheating scandal and subsequent firing of General Manager Jeff Luhnow and field Manager AJ Hinch. This is the organization that pioneered the use of high-tech cameras at every possible level for data analytics. Apparently the use of technology did not stop there but went to illegally stealing signs from opposing teams. It is also ironic that the scandal broke out two weeks after I included the book Astroball by Ben Reiter in my latest recommended reading list.
After being fired, Mr. Luhnow stated that he accepted responsibility for all the cheating that occurred on his watch, then proceeded to explain how he was not a cheater and had no idea what was happening. He said if he had known, he would have stopped it.
It is hard to take Luhnow at his word at this moment, given that the Astros front office had quite publicly prioritized the gathering of information above all else. It is simply hard to believe that Luhnow, as the man in charge at the top, could be completely in the dark for three years without any inklings of what was going on. As famously popularized by President Harry S Truman, leadership means “The buck stops here”.
When winning becomes not just everything, but the only thing, it takes leadership to articulate that sometimes it is not about win or lose, but simply about how you play the games.
It is time for us to again reflect on the leadership lessons learned.
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Baseball success and organizational transformation (7/16/2018)
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5 年Very well said and I agree. It takes away from the point of competing. Wining is not everything but the unity and team work is the reward. Liked your article, thank you.
Purchasing and Supplies officer
5 年Who remembers what happened in 1988 in Seoul in the 100 metre race dash? The contest was squarely between bro Ben Johnston and Carl Lewis and the latter cheated by doping. He won the race at that time but a few days latter the victory was grabbed away from him after he tested positive for steroid. Carl Lewis grabbed the victory and true to that effect cheating is not the best way of winning a race
Leadership blogger, Aspiring Writer, Photographer, Marathon Runner
5 年Just as I had speculated, Luhnow probably knew more than what he admitted. According to this latest report, “there is more than sufficient evidence to support a conclusion that you knew—and overwhelming evidence that you should have known—that the Astros maintained a sign-stealing program that violated MLB’s rules.” https://sports.yahoo.com/explosive-new-details-emerge-about-the-astros-cheating-scandal-000636683.html
Devoted to Energy
5 年When it crosses the line, it is never winning. Where the line is depends on one’s faith.