From The Editor | Sarah Nicastro | July Insider
I’ve just got home from watching my son Evan’s second-to-last baseball game of the season. He’s played soccer/football and basketball for years but decided just last fall to try out baseball – this is his second season, on a 12U team named the Mighty Ducks. Game after game we’ve watched him try with all he’s got to get a hit, but all season long that hit has eluded him.
He’s been walked numerous times (if you’ve not witnessed it, kid-pitch baseball at the 10–12-year-old age isn’t always smooth) but has struck out plenty. Striking out is hard, but I’d argue watching your young son strike out is even harder. Every game he goes in hopeful he’ll make it happen, but thus far he’s not had success (he did have a couple hits his first season, so I’m not quite sure what it’s all about).
As he heads up to bat, I hold my breath hoping for him he cracks one – just one! And tonight, with the season winding down, I was reflecting on a few things.
Staying Positive
One is how I handle “striking out” – how any of us, as individuals, deal with our shortcomings. I’ve been really proud of how Evan has stayed committed, focused, and generally positive.
Last week I recorded a podcast that I’m excited for you to listen to next month (if you didn’t see, we’re taking the month of July off from publishing new episodes) with rockstar union plumber, nonprofit founder, and tradeswoman evangelist Judaline Cassidy. She said to me that one of her mantras is, “today’s no is tomorrow’s yes.” But she was also clear that having that mindset doesn’t mean a no (or a strike out) is easy or doesn’t hurt. It does hurt, but she keeps going.
We talk often about how much there is to learn from failure – but in many instances, that learning isn’t automatic; it requires effort. It’s far easier to blame external factors than it is to look inward. Owning your strike out, reflecting on what you can do differently, and trying just as hard the next time takes character.
The Impact of Strong Leadership
But as I watched Evan’s game unfold tonight, I couldn’t help but think about the impact of how coaches (or leaders) handle failure and what that does to the morale (or culture) of the team. Leadership sets the tone, and the Mighty Ducks coaches have set the bar high.
They’ve stayed steady, offered constructive feedback, and have always maintained a positive tone. They’ve encouraged risk-taking and, when some risks inevitably fail, have celebrated the effort over the outcome – building confidence among these young kids to keep aiming high. Perhaps most importantly to my mama heart, they’ve offered endless, genuine encouragement.
Their leadership has had a ripple effect across the team that has been amazing to watch. These boys cheer each other on at every at-bat; Evan’s teammates have not once shown frustration at his striking out. Even when the bases are loaded and he’s the third out, they tell him good try and give him a high-five. They all do this for one another, celebrating each other’s successes and supporting one another through moments of failure. The result is a team where every individual feels they belong and an environment where everyone is comfortable trying their best.
While we talk a lot about it “being OK to fail,” leadership in action often doesn’t back up the words. In this podcast with Gyner Ozgul, CEO of Fortis Fire and Safety, we explore some of the “untold truths” of service leadership. We discuss the risk of avoiding failure, but also how some leaders inadvertently create more anxiety among the workforce with failure-is-ok platitudes.
Gyner says, “If you don't define the boundaries as a leader for that employee, you may think you're empowering them to go do something cool and, you know, do it on their own and learn. But what you're also doing in parallel is you're creating a lot of anxiety for that person.” Your team needs to know how success is defined, what parameters around failure will be tolerated, and how you’ll support them along the way.
While it’s been challenging for me to see Evan struggle to get a hit this season, it’s been heartwarming to see how the support of strong leadership has helped him grow.
Speaking of strong leadership, one of the initiatives I’ll be putting time into during our podcast sabbatical is the Stand Out 50 Leadership Awards. Nominations are open until July 24th; get yours in before it’s too late!
We’ll announce this year’s winners live from our London event on September 24th – we’ve booked a wonderful venue and will publish the agenda soon; save your spot to join us.