Thoughts on Seabiscuit: Leaders Give Second Chances-- sometimes more

Early in the story, we find that the Trainer (Smith) "knew he had found the right jockey" in Red Pollard.  Pollard was not the most congenial or well-mannered guy, but he connected with Seabiscuit, and he loved to win.  In Seabiscuit's first big race, he was positioned to win; however, Pollard made a mistake that lost the race by inches. The media and the fans were all belligerent about Pollard's mistake, but the same wasn't true of the Owner (Howard) and the Trainer (Smith). "He (Pollard) was publicly accused of inexcusable failure in the most important race of his career, but he could not defend himself. Had he let on that he was blind in one eye, his career would have been over... If his blindness was the cause of the loss, his frustration and guilt must have been consuming. Howard accepted Pollard's explanation without criticism. Neither he nor Smith blamed him. Almost everyone else did" (147).

This exhibit of mercy reminded me of a story Dennis Rainey recently shared in one of the devotionals from

http://www.familylife.com/find-help/daily-inspiration/moments-with-you#.UpQY7cSkp4o

"For many years Bob Brenly was the starting catcher for the San Francisco Giants. But because of a last-minute lineup change on this very date in 1986, he was pressed into duty at third base. Everything was going fine ... until the fourth inning.

That's when he committed not one, not two, not three, but a record-tying four errors in the same inning--including two on the same play. In fact, he almost had a fifth error. "I missed a head-high line drive that tipped off the webbing of my glove and went into left field," Brenly said. "If they hadn't called that one a hit, my name would have stood alone in the record books."

The home crowd booed. His coaches and teammates avoided even looking at him. But his manager left him in the game. Good thing.

When Bob came up to bat the following inning, he smashed a solo home run. His next at-bat was a two-run single in the seventh to tie the game. And with his final plate appearance of the day in the ninth inning, he stroked a game-winning homer. His manager later commented, "This man deserves to be the Comeback Player of the Year for this game alone."

Have you ever had someone believe in you, even when no one else did? 

Are you looking for ways to give second chances to people who are on the verge of a breakthrough?

Thoughts on Seabiscuit: The Importance of Team

As I am reading Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand, there are many wonderful nuggets jumping off the pages.  I will do my best to share several of these with you in upcoming posts.  For now, I want to simply state the obvious point that the story makes: there is a strength and richness in a team that far exceeds the talents and gifts of the individual members.

Seabiscuit (the story) is really about four characters-- the owner, the trainer, the jockey and the horse. Hillenbrand does a wonderful work of introducing the audience to each one.  Not surprisingly, we find that each character, certainly with his own gifts and potential, was on a downhill slide-- not a complete failure, but far from where he dreamed he would be.

I love the way Hillenbrand ends chapter 6: "The scattered lives of Red Pollard, Tom Smith, and Charles Howard had come to an intersection. Their crowded hour had begun" (113). We see a wonderful picture of the convergence of gifts, talents, and shared ambition. We see the birth of a team-- the birth of a legend.

My Coach Dale Brown Story

When I was a college student, I worked part-time as a security guard at the Country Club of Louisiana in Baton Rouge. My main function was to operate the gate-house of the gated community.  There were often functions at the clubhouse on Friday and Saturday nights, so our job was the most demanding on weekends. One Saturday night, a gentleman pulled up and said his name was Dale Brown and that he was going to the particular function at the clubhouse.

He didn't have to say his name for me to recognize him, since I had grown up watching LSU basketball. As I started to open the gate, I said something to the effect of My Dad and I have been fans of yours for a long time, Coach Brown. It's great to meet you.

I expected a Thank you at best, but his response surprised me.
"What's your name?"
"Barry."
"Well, it's great to meet you Barry.  Thank you!"  With that he drove away, and I called my dad as soon as there was a break in traffic.
--The story didn't end there.--
On busy weekend nights, when traffic was flooding out from parties and functions, we would sometimes leave the exit gate lifted, rather than making each car come to a near halt before exiting.  When the exit gate was in this position, it was very rare that anyone would stop-- unless they were upset about something.

Some two-to-three hours after meeting Coach Brown, a car stops in the exit lane.  I walk over to the door, and Coach Brown has his window down.  He says, "Have a good night, Barry."

Wow!  Do you mean a 21-year-old security guard would be important enough for this world-renown basketball coach to stop and greet by name?  Apparently so.

I was a Dale Brown fan before that night.  Now I respect Coach Dale Brown.  He taught me a valuable lesson that night.  Everyone we cross paths with is far more important than we typically think.  We should value people because people are valuable.

A Lesson from Running (Part 2)

Back in March, I ran in The Shamrock Run in Hammond, LA.  It was a beautiful day and a fun race.  While I did not set any personal records, I did learn a valuable lesson... the hard way.

There were about 7 or 8 real runners who blew by me within the first half mile, and I would not see them again.  There were about three of us who were far outpacing the rest of the pack, but too slow to catch the leaders.  I trailed a 27-year-old by about 100 feet for most of the race.  As we were less than a mile from the finish line, I kept pushing myself and kept focusing on his shirt up ahead.

Then it happened.  I realized that he was stopping (obviously confused) to ask one of the race workers a question.  As I approached, it was clear to me that he had missed a turn, and was off-track.  I kept running ahead and asked another couple of race workers where I should go, and they were clueless about where I had been or where I should go.  By this time, the younger guy I had been following was beside me, and we decided to just run toward the finish line.  We were both very frustrated by the time we crossed the finish line and were nearly disqualified until we explained what happened to the race official.

The lesson is very simple:  Be careful about who you are following.

A Trust Formula

Credibility + Reliability + Honesty

____________________________________

Self-Focus

Several years ago, Duke University came up with a "Trust Formula." This is something every leader should consider.  

The denominator indicates that the more one is focused on himself, the less others will trust him.      

                                           (Thanks to Dr. Jim Knight for sharing this formula.)