Lisa Desatnik
Laughter Is Powerful
Leadership Lessons Learned From Cincinnati Reds
The news was the talk of Cincinnati. Heck, it was the talk of baseball fans throughout the country. Last week, our Cincinnati Reds announced Bryan Price as their new manager.
It is a role with huge expectations. After all, his predecessor led the Reds to three 90-win seasons and three playoff appearances in the last four years, their best stretch of success since Sparky Anderson managed the Big Red Machine in the 1970s. But Cincinnati got knocked out in the first round of the postseason each time according to ESPN.
Although he is considered one of the best pitching coaches in baseball, Price has never managed at any level…at least formally.
Here is where this news caught my attention. And particular, one article in our Cincinnati Enquirer written by C. Trent Rosencrans.
Rosencrans points out that, although Price may not have on his resume a MLB management title, he has in every sense of the word been managing others with great thoughtful leadership skills.
Rosencrans shared this story of how Price’s words encouraged a former manager with whom he worked to quit focusing on a past mistake by giving the manager the perspective he needed to shift his focus from dwelling on his past weakness to moving forward and toward new opportunities.
“I remember one time on the bench, I sent someone with a 3-2 count, and I was debating whether to do it or not and it was a strike-’em-out, throw-’em-out, and two innings later, I’m still kind of beating myself up for it,” recalls Bob Melvin, who had Price as his pitching coach in both Seattle and Arizona. “He looked at me, he said, ‘You know, you’d probably be better served to let that one go because it was a couple of innings ago and there’s not much you can do about it right now.’
“And he’s absolutely right, he handled it the right way, he got me past something that I should’ve gotten past earlier, and he did it in a diplomatic way that wasn’t cantankerous.”
Absolutely, in the business world that ability to inspire your team members to want to do more, achieve more, be more is all of the makings of an effective leader. Price had this to say when asked about his skillset…
“I think always as the pitching coach, you’re always the most ready guy on the bench to understand when a pitcher is tired and when a guy needs to come out of a game and who matches up best, who needs a confidence boost to come into a game in a certain game or certain situations,” Price told Rosencrans. “Those are all things you do as a coach, as a manager it’s just larger. It’s a larger scale.
The fact that Price comes from a pitching background doesn’t bother Reds outfielder Jay Bruce.
“I believe that different people respond to different ways of coaching and teaching and I believe he has the personality where he notices that and he does whatever’s necessary to get through to that person,” Bruce said. “I believe managing in baseball goes back to managing personalities. Everyone up here can play, they’re here for a reason. The better you manage personalities and you understand how to get the most out of that person, the more successful that person’s going to be.”
Here in lies the bigger lesson for all of us – in our workplaces and in our communities. How often is it that those in charge of recruiting base decisions upon people’s titles? As leaders, how much time do people take to really get to know the strengths of those on their team to bring those qualities to the forefront? How often is it that, instead of looking at past experience, we look to find a person’s potential and we seek ways to bring that out?
And from Price, we learn to let mistakes of our past not dictate our actions in the present and future, and we learn that to get the best from those we manage, it is best to manage from the standpoint of setting our team members up for success.
Everyone has their own unique gifts and perspectives. When we don’t take the time or interest to learn about those gifts, then we all miss out. This week, my challenge to you is to look to find those strengths in those around you. And celebrate them.
Join Me At Bark Out Against Battering This Weekend
This Saturday, bring your favorite pooch with you to Washington Park (across the street from Music Hall) for the 4th Annual Bark Out Against Battering Pet Fest, for some fun trick-or-treating (just for the dogs) and other activities. I’ll be there with a booth so if you come, please stop by and say hello!
The event runs from 11 am until 2 pm and is a partnership between the YWCA of Greater Cincinnati, Women Helping Women, Washington Park, and 3CDC. There will be a pet parade, pet photo booth, animal adoptions and a costume contest.
Funds raised by the event will help support the Domestic Violence Shelter’s efforts to work with the SPCA in removing the worry women have, by assisting in providing protective shelter for pets during the women’s stay in shelter. That’s a great cause.
For more information about the YWCA, other Domestic Violence Awareness Month events, and ways to help abused animals please visit: www.ywcacincinnati.org , www.womenhelpingwomen.org , www.spcacincinnati.org
A note about dogs and costumes: If you dress your dog in an outfit, please make sure your dog is comfortable. Your dog will communicate that with his body. Some signs of a happy dog are: a relaxed body; fast, vigorous tail wag; loose lips or even open mouth with loose tongue; rhythmic panting. There are many creative ways you and your dog can look great for Halloween and have fun together!
Wearing costumes can be very stressful to many dogs and a stressed dog can be more likely to become reactive. If you try to put clothing on your dog, watch your dog’s body language. Some signs that your dog is not comfortable include: his tail may be down, his body may be tight, he may have a tense mouth, you will see the whites on the sides of his eyes, his ears may be back, he may yawn or lick his chops. Please click here and here for more body language signs.
If your dog is showing any signs of stress with a costume, an alternate option is to try a simple bandanna or Halloween themed collar instead.
Everyone Has The Potential For Greatness
The Children’s Home Of Cincinnati Gets New Fitness Equipment
There are so many reasons why kids need to be active. Among the benefits are physical and mental exercise, practicing positive social skills, and a sense of accomplishment and fun.
Now, just as The Children’s Home of Cincinnati is becoming more involved with integrated healthcare efforts, it has opened a brand new fitness equipment park for the children in its care. It was funded by a grant from The National Recreation Foundation. The park was assembled by students from The Children’s Home Ready Set Work! program and staff from the Facilities team. It has a variety of equipment including pull up bars, step ups, rowing machines, chin ups, leg presses and more.
“Our new park will allow our students and staff to focus on physical health and well-being in addition to mental health. Students will even be able to see their progression and set goals for themselves through their own personal fitness tracker,” Kenna Goodrich, PR and special events coordinator for The Children’s Home of Cincinnati told me.
Founded in 1864, The Children’s Home is a Cincinnati nonprofit organization with more than 20 programs and services to guide young people and their families facing social, behavioral and learning challenges toward successful functioning in their homes, schools and communities. Over 6,600 children and their families were served last fiscal year.
Who will be using the new fitness equipment? Kenna told me, “Students, ages 13 and up, and staff will all be able to use the equipment. This includes students from The Children’s Home Upper School and Partial Hospitalization programs specifically. The Upper School and Partial Hospitalization are two of our on campus programs. They will get to use the park during gym class. Many of the children we serve suffer from trauma and are therefore experiencing different types of learning, social and behavioral vulnerabilities.”