





Spring has finally arrived, and with it came one of my favorite pastimes — following Major League Baseball. As a baseball fan I am geographically challenged. My favorite team has always been the Los Angeles Dodgers, but I have spent my entire life living in the Midwest. Being a Dodger fan living in the Central Time Zone means that most of the games start about the time I should be going to bed. Thanks to satellite TV, now it is fairly easy to catch any game. During my youth I had to rely on an easy-to-conceal transistor radio.
Believe it or not, I have come to realize that listening to all of those West Coast games earlier in my life provided important training for my current job. Evenings now find me juggling time zones in order to connect with my Asia team. Always trying to score that major hit on a project.
This season will have a new and very personal twist because my nephews have invited me to join their fantasy baseball league. There was no way I could turn down the challenge from these guys whose ages range from 13 to 30. I have to admit that the thought of having to take time to manage my roster on a daily basis was a little intimidating. But, even with that concern, I accepted the challenge, and now that I am in, winning is all that matters. The trash talking started on draft day back in March and will continue until October.
Once the regular season was under way, it occurred to me that managing a fantasy baseball team has many similarities to the business world. (I do hope my nephews are paying attention here.)
The first thing that you need to decide is your business strategy. Are you going to pursue power hitters, players that hit for average, good speed and fielding or pitching? For those of you keeping score, my strategy is great pitching coupled with players who are otherwise well rounded. Once your strategy is set, you draft your roster and fill it with the best players available. Then the fun really begins as you manage your business (I mean team) to keep your healthy and productive players active.
The first few weeks of this season had me scrambling every day to adjust my roster in order to keep my business (team) competitive and “on the field.” If I was not paying attention, I could go days without having all of my team members contributing. I could not count on my competition (those bad nephews) to inform me of my competitive disadvantage. In fact those nephews are counting on me being distracted by things like work and IAMC.
There are hundreds of similarities between sports and business. The business world is full of sports jargon. The reason is simple — someone is keeping score, and we all want to be on the winning team. My nephews may have thought that I would be too busy to compete with them this summer. They forgot that I will be applying all of my business tools in this fantasy baseball competition.
Have a great summer.
Doyle Shea