“I'm an encourager…I think you know somebody needs encouragement if they're breathing.”
That’s Mike Matheny, manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, talking to Fresh Air’s Dave Davies about his approach to running a ball club. Not for Matheny the gruff, tough guy who sets in the dugout grunting, pointing and spitting. Matheny, a former catcher who played 13 years in the majors, calls himself a “servant leader.”
Servant leadership is a school of leadership to which I subscribe in my writing, teaching and coaching. Servant leadership puts the leader in a place where he does what the organization needs him or her to do. The opposite of command and control; servant leadership is empower and encourage.
According to Matheny, “[T]he real impact that I'm able to have and anybody on our club - and especially our staff - is able to have is the in-between time. And that's in the clubhouse. That's when we're traveling on the road. That's when we're in our practices…” as well as other places where the team gathers.
I would put Matheny in the Jim Leyland school of baseball management. Leyland managed in the majors for thirty years, notably for the Pittsburgh Pirates, (then) Florida Marlins and lastly the Detroit Tigers. Leyland – it is said -- made it a point to meet with every one of his players everyday. Doing so would allow him to know how his players were eating, sleeping and feeling…all of which would affect they way they played.
As Matheny puts it, “And I truly believe in the old saying that nobody cares what you have to say until they know that you care.” This is something he practiced in 2007 as manager of his then 10-year old son’s baseball team after he left the game. Lessons he implemented then form the basis of his new book, The Matheny Manifesto. And he’s still in contact with many of those youngsters writing letters of recommendation on their behalf to coaches and college admission boards.
The heart of Matheny’s story is the commitment to putting yourself in a place where you can do the most good for those you lead. “Management,” wrote Peter Drucker, “is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” Rising executives subscribe to “doing things right” managerially; exceptional executives practice “doing the right thing” leadership-wise. The former focuses on administration; the latter focuses on people. To succeed, you must do as Methany does: do right by your people so they can do right for the team.
Servant leaders are those that seek to make a positive difference in the lives of others. Professional baseball, as many have noted, is a lot like life, or at least work life, because the players are together so much, as much as eight months or more a year including spring training and playoffs.
Not every manager can emulate a Matheny or a Leyland but good leaders in my experience are ones who make savvy administrative decisions in part because they know their people so well. They know what they can, as well as what they cannot do. They also know how to encourage them when they are down, or rein them in a notch if they are going solo too much without benefit of data or support. These leaders see their roles as in service to the organization, yes, but on a gut level they see their leadership as a responsibility to bring out the best in others.
Sounds simple and it is; putting it into practice requires discipline as well as the willingness to let your stars shine while you stand in the wings clapping for them.
