For years, Major League Baseball has been taking hits for the way its games dragged on. It has been losing viewers by the droves, even for marque events, like the World Series. While it has been easy to throw baby boomer rants about youngsters with miniscule attention spans, the truth was that fans of all ages were turning off the games. It was time for change. All that was needed was someone to push through those changes, and that person was Theo Epstein.
Epstein’s problem was that baseball has one of the most conservative fan bases imaginable. The rules are sacrosanct. Any change disrupts time-honored traditions that will destroy our venerable national pastime. He also had to convince the players. How could they adjust their batting gloves for the 10th time, or meander around the mound, if they had to be ready to bat or pitch in 15 measly seconds?
But push through the changes he did. A clock now determines when the batter must be in the box, and when the pitcher must deliver to the plate. Violations result in a ball or strike. Some said it would never work. One player predicted the clock would have to be abandoned within two weeks. But here we are into the first week of the season, and the clock is going nowhere. The games are quicker and more enjoyable to watch.
Epstein might have been the prefect catalyst for altering the rules. He was the wunderkind General Manager who led the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs, two teams desperate for post-season success, to World Series wins. He epitomized a youth movement in the sport and had overseen drastic changes in how games are managed, and players evaluated. As a consultant to the Major Leagues in respect of on field matters, he had the power. If anyone could convince the hidebound to move it was him.
Baseball is not alone in being resistant to change. If, as Albert Einstein said, “[t]he measure of intelligence is the ability to change”, most come up short. That is true for huge enterprises like Major League Baseball, companies, both big and small, as well as us puny individuals. Even Al didn’t quite measure up, spending over 30 years of his life fruitlessly searching for a unified theory in physics.
At least MLB did something. The corporate graveyard is filled with companies that were on top and then tanked because they could not alter what they were doing to meet new challenges. It wasn’t long ago that Blockbuster was the go-to source for films to watch at home. Had they been better run they would have seen that the days of physical DVD’s were numbered and used their name recognition to usher in the streaming world, but it didn’t happen.
As much as CEO’s like to paint themselves as visionaries, and are paid as if they are, most are sloggers who have climbed through the ranks via their management skills, not their foresight. Making fundamental changes to business operations is not only a professional risk, but a personal one as well. It is the type of risk that few of these multi-millionaires are willing to take.
Those that do take the risk tend to drag the rest of the business world with them. As annoying as Jeff Bezos is, and as maddening as Amazon can be, they have forced all other retailers, both big and small, to rethink how they get their products to the public. Vendors can no longer rely on a prime spot in a megamall to capture customers. They must adapt to the technology, and re-envision how, and if, those stores can compete in a digital world. There is no longer a choice.
A catalyst can also be an antagonist. It is difficult to imagine the achievements of the American space program without the Soviets. The threat of the USSR advancing in the exploration of space prompted the investment of time and money that led to the July 1969 landing on the moon. I doubt if the United States would have made that commitment otherwise, even though advances in propulsion technology made the timing right. We needed that catalyst.
It’s not just businesses, or governments. Most of us have trouble identifying when it is time for a change in habits. It’s one thing to have change forced upon you. It’s another to admit that the way in which you have been doing something for years has passed its expiration date. Most of us are creatures of habit who dread breaking with the familiar and comfortable, even when we know that it no longer works.
The list of changes that we know we should make, but don’t, are legion. There is always weight and fitness. There is all that time wasted in front of the TV. There is the general inertia that stops us from engaging in the world as we should, whether it’s keeping in contact with friends, or volunteering our time to help others.
As with CEO’s, very few of us are seers. We are stuck with suppositions about what the future will hold and what that will mean to us. We know there are alterations that should be made, but that makes it no less complicated. It is very easy to talk yourself out of changes that, in retrospect, were obvious.
That is why a catalyst is often needed. Maybe it’s someone like Theo Epstein. A person who speaks with authority, either personal or professional. Doctors can certainly get your attention, but so can friends, even if it only by example. Seeing someone you know and respect take control of their life can be a spark to act similarly.
These may be obvious truths, but they are ones that I have to keep repeating to myself again and again. Change involves risk, and I can be very risk averse. The drive to inertia runs deep. As bizarre as it seems, seeing citadels of orthodoxy like Major League Baseball move forward helps spark action. In fact, I think I will lay down on the couch, put on the Phillies game, and contemplate where to go next. Sounds like a plan.