What the Phillies-Dodgers Series Can Teach Us About Business

Monday, Nov. 2, 2009 | 12:32 p.m.

Those of you who know me know that I am a huge baseball fan and that my favorite team is the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers had a very good team this year but once again were bounced from the playoffs by the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies are a better team than the Dodgers -- they are more experienced, have veteran players and are well-coached and managed. Not to discount the Dodgers, as they are just one or two years away from being the next Phillies team.

There are a number of things that can be learned from this year’s Phillies-Dodgers series. Many things that happened both inside and outside the lines can be translated to business.

The season is a marathon, not a sprint. One of the things that the Phillies and the Dodgers recognize is that they are both in it for the long haul. Both teams are built to be contenders for many years. Even though it is tempting to put together a team to win one game or series, this is not a sustainable strategy. A wise man once told me, “It takes 10 years to be an overnight success.” Business requires a good balance of experience and youth. The Phillies have it. The Dodgers are on their way to getting it. While the Phillies are not an old team by any stretch of the imagination, the Dodgers are one of the youngest teams in baseball. This youthful exuberance is great for the long term, but businesses with this formula often find themselves, just like the Dodgers, making mistakes in crunch time. These mistakes are valuable to a business if the business learns from them. Only time will tell if the Dodgers will learn from theirs. The Phillies certainly have.

It takes patience and time to build a winner. It takes patience to be a business owner. Too many business owners want every thing to work perfectly immediately and don’t give the business enough time to settle in to its processes and work flow. Both the Phillies and the Dodgers have stuck with their game plans. Even though Jimmy Rollins was in a terrible slump, Charlie Manuel stuck with him, and he produced the most dramatic hit of the series and perhaps the entire post-season. The Dodgers’ formula has always been great bullpen pitching, and if they they stick with this core group of young hurlers it will pay dividends for them. Stick with the long-term vision for your company. Stay true to what you believe and give it time to gel.

We get the same pitch thrown to us until we learn how to hit it. For many years, Ryan Howard had the reputation of being unable to hit a curve ball. He could hit a fast ball out of most parks in America, including Yellowstone, but the curve ball was his nemesis. Consequently, he did not see very many fast balls. Once he learned to hit the curve ball, he became one of the most feared hitters in baseball today. Matt Kemp is the Ryan Howard of a few years ago. Once he learns to hit the slider away, he will dominate most pitchers. In business, we are presented with challenges every day. As we learn to deal with them, similar challenges seem to dissipate or become less significant because we know how to face them. The key is to continually learn from these challenges and correct our business deficiencies.

You must capitalize on your opportunities. One of the traits of a successful business is being opportunistic. The same can be said of the Dodgers and Phillies. Were it not for capitalizing on Matt Holliday’s miscue in the Divisional Series, the Dodgers never may have had the chance to face the Phillies. In the League Championship Series, the Phillies were more opportunistic than the Dodgers, turning every lead-off walk into a run. When opportunity knocks, the good businesses answer.

You must win the ones you’re supposed to and an occasional one you’re not. Winning game one at home is incredibly important in the playoffs. Your regular season record determines home field advantage. You are expected to win the first game at home. Unfortunately for the Dodgers, they were unable to win the games they should have won. The Phillies, however, showed that to win a playoff series, an unexpected win is key. The same is true for business. When you are interviewing for work as the favorite, you must close the deal. And to be really successful, the underdog needs a win now and then.

I’d like to hear from you:

• Is your business built for the long term?

• Have you developed a system of learning from the challenges you face?

• How have you fared at closing the deal as the favorite? The underdog?

Until next time …

Craig