OK, I know that is a quaint term but I want to talk about those elder statesmen (and women).

The NY Yankees, as chronicled in Driving Mr Yogi, invite past Yankee legends to spring training to help and reinforce culture.

The Cleveland Indians are paying former long ball hitter Jason Giambi, who once made $20mm a year, $750,000 this year. What can a past his prime 42 year old do for that salary? Plenty. He is a part-time player and a full-time mentor. He contributes to the culture and atmosphere of learning and excellence. He brings experience and a winning attitude. He brings that “it” factor that not every player has but every player responds to.

In an era where stats and figures seem to rule every decision this argues for those intangibles. So hard to measure but so important to have. Geno Smith watched his stock go down in the recent NFL draft. Behind the scenes reports suggest his stock was falling before draft day as he failed to dive in and fully engage when he visited teams. Rather than show he was a roll your sleeves up leader he showed he was above the rest, which he isn’t and he paid the price. I hope he learns the importance of real leadership and that it is about more than touchdowns and and X’s and O’s.

Joe Maddon, Tampa Bay Rays Manager, has a lifetime in baseball and he says “the way you feel when you walk in the door is as important to our success as anything we can possibly do coaching anybody on this field.”

Employees retire and you lose critical skills and expertise. I contend there is a better way. Why must the old model of retirement still hold when most all other models from the last century are outdated. The other day we toured Gettysburg Battlefield and our guide (who drove our car, talked for three hours, and was outstanding) was 85 years young. His grandfather fought in the battle! We learned so much from him. Whart

I challenge you to find a way to keep learning and to transfer knowledge from those oldtimers in ways you have never done before. I know firms who are doing it and they are reaping rewards.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 4th, 2013 at 1:10 am and is filed under Excellence, Leadership. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.