It is baseball season, and the boys of summer are out in full force!  For those that grew up loving America’s Pastime this is music to your ears.  However, for many this statement doesn’t carry the same amount of weight it once did.  That made us think, wonder what things business professionals and business owners can learn from baseball.

The Good:

  1. Time is not your measurement for success, the results you realize during that time are. A baseball game can going into extra inning after extra inning and into the morning hours, with the longest game ever being 8 hours and 25 minutes with still only one winner.  The results that you strive for often take longer than you had hoped, but when you reach your goal no matter how long it takes, it is well worth it.

 

  1. Failure is a part of success and most successful people fail much more than they succeed. An MLB player that succeeds only 36% of the time at the plate is a hall of famer!!  When you are in your own “field” worried about failure, remember what you should learn from baseball and take another swing.

The Bad:

  1. Baseball has failed to adjust to the times that ask for shorter and possibly less games, that the younger audiences of football, and basketball thrive on. By fighting change, baseball has lost its place as the most popular sport in America.  You don’t have to change your business for each new short-term fad or technology, but you have to be at the forefront of lasting changes or risk being left behind.

 

  1. Your past success is no guarantee of future success. Baseball’s leadership and old guard has relied on the history and the previous unparalleled success of the sport as a reason that it hasn’t needed to adjust.  If you think that you can’t learn from baseball, ask yourself how many of your new prospective customers care about your previous success.  How many potential employers care about all the things you once did, if you can’t perform today?  If you allow yourself to be complacent future success will slip through your fingertips.

 

The next time you catch a game, take a second to think about all the things you can learn from baseball, the good and the bad.