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Management By Baseball

Saturday, July 08, 2006

What can we learn from the management styles of Ozzie Guillen and Dusty Baker??

Author Jeff Angus says that Guillen is a "remarkably good manager." He also says Ozzie is aggressive and self confident. He demands loyalty from his squad and gives his loyalty back in return. Angus says that Ozzie uses the "Management by Walking Around" style. Guillen doesn't sit in the office and just go to meetings with managers. He gets out into the clubhouse and talks to all his players every day.

As for Dusty.... Dusty is having his problems right now. Angus says the players he has here are not the type that respond to his style as they did when he was in San Francisco. He says Dusty is dealing with something called the "Law of Problem Evolution." Basically as time goes on--- the more problems that remain are problems that he can't fix.

Some good things about Baker--- He's a trickster. He knows how to manipulate the media. He's also good at getting players to try their hardest and not make a lot of mistakes.

Jeff Angus is an active management consultant specializing in work for entrepreneurial organizations. He's been an award-winning manager and director in large and mid-sized organizations.

He's currently a Contributing Editor at InfoWorld, a leading weekly publication that covers technical and business analysis of key solutions and technologies that benefit large organizations. He writes the management column for CIO Insight, and a weekly column on sabermetrics (scientific baseball statistics) for The Seattle Times.

His consulting focuses in three areas: coaching failing managers and departments, knowledge management and change management with clients in business, government, & non-profit sectors. While his work is concentrated in the entrepreneurial sector, he occasionally does "Red Adair" jobs for larger organizations that have failed completed or incomplete projects that were done by large global consulting companies.

He's currently promoting the May, 2006-release Management by Baseball: The Official Rules for Winning Management in Any Field (Harper Collins), and doing corporate presentations and event speaking on the MBB theme.

Angus was an aide for the U.S. Senate Small Business Committee and a legislative researcher for a U.S. Senator. He reported on baseball for both the Associated Press and United Press International, and was a sportswriter for the Seattle Sun. His commentaries on political economy and business evolution have appeared on the op-ed pages of many papers, including The New York Times, The Baltimore Sun, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and The Seattle Times. He's been a regular opinion columnist for InfoWorld, InformationWeek and Knowledge Management. He's been a professional radio broadcaster for stations in California, Ohio and Washington.

He was Director of Marketing Operations for Farallon Computing, a $45 million computer company, where he managed a group of 23 people and a $5 million budget. He founded and was Director of the InfoWorld Test Center, and was Director of Strategic Consulting Services for Lighthouse Consulting Group. He's worked in agriculture, manufacturing, transportation and services, and has work experience in the private, public and non-profit sectors.

Angus is a member of SABR (the Society for American Baseball Research). SABR's mission is to foster the study of baseball, to assist in uncovering the history of the game, to promote the distribution of baseball research, and to stimulate interest in baseball. SABR, which is pronounced "saber" and whose acronym is the root of the word sabermetrics (mathematical tools to analyze baseball), is about more than stats. Many members pursue narrative history and other specialties.

Angus makes public appearances at trade shows (including Comdex, Australian MacWorld, Portable Computer Expo) as a presenter and panel member, appears as a guest on television (such as the public television business show, Serious Money and Dolan's Unscripted), and frequently appears as a guest on radio shows to talk about MBB, management and technology.

Businesses Should Adopt Baseball-Style Employment Contracts and Free Agents, He Says

Management consultant and sports writer Jeff Angus is the author of the new book, "Management by Baseball: The Official Rules for Winning Management in Any Field" (HarperCollins), exploring how baseball's workplace and management lessons can benefit anyone in any business or other organization.

"Management By Baseball" shows what people in business can learn from the techniques of noted managers, coaches and players. Present-day examples include: Joe Torre and Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees, Rick Peterson of the New York Mets, Dusty Baker of the Chicago Cubs, Ozzie Guillen of the Chicago White Sox, Bill Bavasi of the Seattle Mariners, Lou Piniella formerly of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Billy Beane of the Oakland Athletics, Mike Scioscia and Bill Stoneman of the Anaheim Angels, Brian Sabean of the San Francisco Giants and many more. [Contact BOLDE Communications for a complete list.]

"Management by Baseball" looks at a variety of business and career lessons. They center around four "bases" or skill sets - "Managing the Mechanics," "Managing Talent," "Managing Yourself" and "Managing Change."

Angus says baseball's practice of requiring its players to commit to teams for an agreed-upon length of time can work better for corporate America than the prevailing practice of "at will" employment, where both employee and employer can terminate their relationship with little notice.

He writes in the chapter, "Scouting and Signing Your Players:" "When an organization spends $35,000 looking for, finding, interviewing, selecting, and making an offer to a person it hopes will be one of their best programmers, or one of the best critical-care nurses, or one of the best long haul truck drivers, why does it strive to work out an at-will set up with her?" A baseball-style, enforceable contract, he believes, would not only be more cost-effective. It would be a more equitable arrangement for both the employee and the company.

In addition to his book, Jeff Angus can discuss sports and business lessons offered by the 2006 baseball season, as well as what noted CEOs, politicians and other newsmakers can learn from baseball - and other topics in the news.

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