Leadership Lessons of R.A. Dickey

We live in a time of great leadership deficit. Our economies are adrift and our corporations rudderless. Politicians, worldwide, have largely proven unequal the task. So, how odd to find a compelling leadership presence in full-bloom on a grassy-field in Queens. This summer, at least for a brief spell, New Yorkers have been treated to the spectacle of both great athleticism and great leadership in the form of a veteran, journeyman knuckleballer: R.A. Dickey.

Sports mimics life, that’s part of their appeal, and much of what makes them so memorable. Think of the London Olympics and its moments of high triumph – Gabby Douglas and her march to gold; even the last place finish in single sculls by Niger’s Hamadou Djibo Issaka, a considerable victory of sorts– as well as the bleak moments of despair: the failure of Jordyn Wieber to make it into the all-around women’s gymnastics championship finals; the fall of Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang; and Oscar Pistorious’ finals disappointments in the both the Olympics and Paralympics – all of which remind us of our own triumphs and failures in daily life. And, who could ever forget Derek Redmond’s father running with him to finish the 400 meter race in the 1992 Olympics?  All of these examples have the power to provide us with lessons that we can take to heart in order to become stronger, better, more effective in whatever it is that we do.

Great teams struggle with adversity in sports as in business – think of the New York Yankees this year and all of their injuries, yet they still made it into the postseason. The Baltimore Orioles have come back after 14 years of being dismissed as “losers”, and have “regained” their own stadium from fans of neighboring powerhouse franchises. The Cinderella story of the year must be the Washington Nationals, who not only had their first winning season in nine years [when they were the Montréal Expos] but are in the postseason for the first time in 32 years [also as Montréal].  On the other hand, as in real life, great teams sometimes can be also taken by surprise despite (or maybe because of) their talent, as happened only this past weekend with  the American Ryder Cup team. Again, lessons to be learned for application far from the field of sports.

For many of us, this summer, it has been R.A. Dickey who has best illustrated the power of leadership in a time of malaise; which is certainly an apt description for the fortunes of the hapless Mets that he is employed by. Despite yet another catastrophic season, Dickey has risen to the heights of professional achievement as a baseball pitcher, with a 20 winning game season, and has done it in a manner displaying leadership skills that we can all take lessons from.

According to the leadership scholar Warren Bennis, the role of a leader involves several masteries, the first of which is the ability to cut through all of the distractions around us and gain our attention:

• Dickey’s thoughtfulness about his profession is what makes him stand out: Take a look at his interviews, they are not full of the throwaway lines about “the team” about “trying hard”, etc. of the sort we see on every post-game interview show. Instead, Dickey is thoughtful about his craft and about his role in pursuing success: “For me, there’s been this steady metamorphosis from just surviving, to being a craftsman, and then, ultimately, the hope is to be an artist in what you do.”[1]

He grabs your attention with his thoughtfulness. You understand immediately that what he is speaking about, and the way he is saying it, is the very stuff of leadership. This is all about recognizing talent, pursuing excellence, not being afraid to speak about in a sophisticated yet inspirational way, and then working to ensure that that talent is fulfilled. And, he’s a professional; this is his craft and he takes it seriously. Consider how he approached the very touching face-off with Adam Greenberg, the player who was knocked unconscious in his first at-bat seven years ago, and never appeared in another game before last night’s symbolic at-bat. While many in the media were hoping for a “fat pitch,” so that Greenberg would get a gratuitous hit, Dickey saw it through a professional’s eyes, and recognized that the ultimate compliment would not be to gift Greenberg, but to take him seriously: “He’s a big leaguer. I’m going to treat him like a big leaguer. That’s why he’s here. I would hope he wouldn’t want anything less than that. That’s certainly how I’m going to treat him. So if he comes up, he’s going to get a steady dose of my best. Whatever that is.”[2] And, of course, he struck him out with three pitches.

We also look to our leaders for the capacity to dream – to create visions that inspire us all. I’ve argued in this column before that successful innovators dream bigger than the rest of us, and that innovative firms deserve innovative leaders.

• Dickey has dreamt big in a sober fashion: Dickey himself has spoken about his dreams and his trials and the way that they’ve intersected; and yet he’s done this with a healthy dose of humility that reminds one of Jim Collins’ “Level 5” leader: “I certainly have a big imagination and I dream big, but I couldn’t even dream this narrative up. It’s really kind of supernatural for me and I’m just trying to be in the moment with it and really enjoy it because I’ve also been on the other side of the coin. I got picked up off the trash heap, the scrapheap. And so, that gives me a very unique perspective. Although I’m trying to hold it as lightly as possible, I certainly am aware as how fantastic it has been.”[3]

 Leaders make choices; take risks. Talk to any group of executives and most likely you will hear a desire for thoughtful decisiveness on the part of their leaders; the capacity to weigh the options and make the choices; the ability to rethink a situation – or themselves -- and change course if necessary.

• Dickey’s success is about making hard choices: Dickey is 37; and his path to success has not been an easy one. “Journeyman” is a term that is often used to describe players such as he; good enough to stay in the game, but not necessarily reliable enough to stick with any one team for very long. Essentially, he reinvented himself by mastering the knuckleball – a pitch so unusual that at the moment he is the only active big-league pitcher throwing it  – and this was done at considerable personal risk.  Even today, after his 20 winning game season, there are whisperings that some won’t consider him for the Cy Young trophy because of the exotic nature of knuckleballers. Such a choice was not easy; according to The New Yorker,  the choice of adopting the knuckeball was made only when “…I came to the end of myself that I was able to embrace it.”[4] Yet, he made the choice and reinvented himself in a way that should inspire us all.

And, finally, as the late student of leadership Sumantra Ghoshal was fond of saying: “Leaders act like leaders.” Bennis suggests that they have “mastery of their self”, they know who they are and what they stand for; they are authentic!

• Dickey is an original -- authentic: He may be the only 20 game winner in history to author a serious book, and not only his autobiography which was extremely transparent about a troubled childhood and the sexual abuse he suffered as a youngster, but also of children’s books as well. He is an avid reader, in a sport not known for its reflective habits. According to The New Yorker, Dickey spent the summer reading the likes of: John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men”…; Chaim Potok’s “The Chosen”…: Bill O’Reilly’s “Killing Lincoln”…; and William Saroyan’s “The Human Comedy”….[5] And, he’s thoughtful and reflective. He’s been there, and done all of this, and has the capacity to reflect on what it means and share those lessons with the rest of us. Leaders do this. Noel Tichy has spoken of “teachable moments” which make leadership possible by sharing experiences in a way that others learn from them, and Dickey’s observations are full of them.

 This is not so much about baseball as it is about life. As in the great baseball movie The Natural, it is about a seriously gifted young man who succeeds against unimaginable odds. But, R.A. Dickey is not Roy Hobbs. Unlike Hobbs, Dickey’s performance this year has been more than just baseball; it has been about leading, and he has provided us with an illustration of the sorts of leadership traits we all can aspire to master, sports or not.