“What’s going on in general society first happens in sports,” Bruce Rumpf, CEO and President of Job1USA, told me. I must have sounded skeptical so he explained.
Jesse Owens and Jackie Robinson
In 1936 the Olympics were held in Nazi Germany. Jesse Owens, an American track star who also happened to be African American, was the target much of Hitler’s racist propaganda. And yet, despite the racial epithets and the constant presence of the swastika, Owens won four gold medals in front of Hitler.
In 1947 Jackie Robinson broke the colour barrier by becoming the first African American player in Major League Baseball. As a result, today we find people of colour in all areas of business, including running for president of the United States. But it happened in sports first.
Don’t Forget Women
Bruce then mentioned the Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. This legislation did not specifically mention sports, but it is best know for the impact it had on sports as it relates to women. Title IX resulted in high schools and colleges making the same opportunities for sports available for women as well as men. Since the enactment of Title
IX, women have not only had an expanded role in the sports arena, but have expanded their role in business. Women can be found in management, on boards of directors, as CEOs and yes, running for president of the United States.
Bruce was starting to convince me.
Take a Swing
But there’s more. At one time baseball teams would draft a kid out of college or high school and he’d stay with that team for his entire career. He’d retire wearing the same jersey he started his professional career in. No more. Last season, 60 percent of all Major League Baseball contracts were for one year.
Our parents’ generation, and many Baby Boomers, started their careers expecting to get a gold watch when they retired 40 years later, from the same company. But no one today expects to stay with one company their entire career. Few people expect to stay with the same career. And entrepreneurs are starting to think like sports teams. “What players do I need today to get a team on the field?” More and more, short term contracts are becoming the norm.
I was convinced, but Bruce wasn’t done with sports. He pointed out that in baseball, if you get one hit out of every four at bats, you’ve got a respectable batting average. If you hit one in three, you’re a star. No one freaks out because they made a bad swing three times out of four. It’s just part of the game. Bruce asserts business is the same. “Every day is practice until you make a decision,” Bruce said. “You can make one good decision out of four and still make good money.”
Too many people worry that every decision they make must be the right one, must be perfect. If a baseball player did that, and worried every swing had to be perfect, he’d never get a hit. I think that’s true of business. If you never make a decision, never try, you’ll never get a hit either. It’s better to miss a few, but take more swings.
Okay Bruce, you’ve convinced me. The next time I’m trying to predict what will happen in business, I won’t go to the business section. I’ll grab the sports pages and see what’s happening there.
Andrea J. Stenberg
