Entries from May 2007 ↓

Ron Washington seems like a very nice guy. He can’t speak proper English, but that doesn’t make him a bad person. Does it make him an ineffective leader? I don’t know, but it has crossed my mind.

For 11 seasons he was part of the coaching staff of the Oakland A’s. Popular with players and other major league baseball insiders, Washington was never given a chance to manage a major league club until a rookie General Manager, Jon Daniels, recommended him to Texas Ranger’s owner Tom Hicks.

Daniels talked of Washington’s enthusiasm and passion for the game. He talked of Washington’s contagious personality. Then, when we were introduced to Ron Washington we quickly discovered he spoke as though he was poorly educated. His grasp of the English language was embarrassing. We hear him on the radio every week and made to think we’re listening to a man who never attended school.

Did that ever factor into the decision other major league clubs made to not hire him as their manager? And now that we clearly see the dreadful Rangers performing in dismal fashion - they’re currently last in the American League - does Ron Washington’s inarticulateness play any role?

Dallas was subjected to the poor speech of Emmitt Smith - a graduate from the University of Florida - for many years. Admired for his athletic prowess, Emmitt never has learned the proper tenses of verbs and other minor details of proper speech. That doesn’t make him stupid, but it does often make him sound stupid. Does it affect credibility and perception?

PBS has been running a series on Winston Churchill, one of the most fascinating and articulate leaders of our era. His secretary and grandson both confirmed that he would spend one hour for every one minute of a presentation. During World War’s I and II you’d hardly think he’d have time to devote hours to every presentation. However, when called upon to deliver a speech to the Parliament - a speech that ran about 50 minutes long - he spent at least 50 preparing for it.

Witty and sarcastic - Churchill hardly needed to spend an hour before he could offer a pithy retort. He and President Roosevelt often engaged in friendly banter and tests of brainpower. If Churchill could make time to work on proper public presentation during times of war - why can’t men like Washington and Smith, among others, work on learning proper speech so they can advance themselves as leaders and public figures? They can. They should.

Did Churchill’s ability to articulate clear thoughts sway his countrymen during times of tremendous stress - wartime? Certainly, it played a major role in his ability to lead his country. Phrases such as, “our finest hour” and other galvanizing ideas were clearly expressed by a man who came to be known as a bulldog.

I seriously doubt that if Churchill had lacked the skills of speak the language of his nation as well as he did - he would not have been the leader he was. Did he have to be capable? Competent? Of course. Does Ron Washington have to know baseball? Of course. And I have little doubt that he knows what he’s doing. He’s been in the game of professional baseball for 28 years. A moron would learn many things of an industry in that length of time and Washington is no moron.

Unfortunately, Washington never learned proper English. And it may play a vital role in how he is perceived as a leader, by both players and fans. It may not. It does raise the question of how leadership is affected by the articulateness of the leader. Leadership requires inspiration. It requires defending a position. It requires demanding action. In every case it demands the ability to paint a vision of the future - a future that fosters trust. Maybe Ron Washington is a talented baseball guy. Maybe he’s just not a great leader - in part because he can’t speak proper English.

Today (well, actually - yesterday) I hit the “PAUSE” button.

I’m going to be doing some behind the scenes work on this blog as I begin preparing to fail faster. The excitement of the experiment is the thing. As with all experiments, you don’t often get it right the first time. This blog didn’t get it right the first time, but there was no intention of right or wrong.

This blog began with underlying intentions that I’ve outlined already - to learn how websites work and to educate myself a bit on search engine optimization. First, I had to just learn the language of all this stuff. The world loves terminology. Every industry has its own talk. CSS, HTML, XHTML, SEO, CMS and all the rest were foreign to me when I began some years ago. So, my failure served to help me learn.

Writing and communication have always been of greater interest, but I knew this medium needed a basic understanding if I was going to progress. First things first, I dove into talking with designers, reading blogs, reading books, listening to podcasts and doing whatever I could to learn the lingo and more. Web design changes as quickly as anything else. It’s been estimated that one year is equivalent to seven years worth of new knowledge. I guess the world of web design is best measured in dog years.

Preparing to fail - faster - is now my goal. Leaning toward wisdom demands it. Wisdom isn’t found easily. It requires, I think, a willingness to fail and fearlessness of success. Experimentation doesn’t have to be soley my own. Frequently I can learn from the failure or experimentation of others. Only a fool would demand that wisdom be gained by his own failure or experimentation. Preparing to fail faster means that success is found more quickly.

Yet, we all seem compelled to find our own way. To carve out our own path. To figure things out for ourself.

I am smack dab in middle age and that gives a prospective I’ve not always had. It’s a pretty good view. I now have enough past history to provide me valuable lessons that no money can buy. I hopefully have enough future before me to put those lessons to wise use. When time is no longer on your side, speed grows more important. My need to fail fast is now urgent.

Quietly now - I’ll begin to finalize my plan to launch forth on a quest more focused on the title, Leaning Toward Wisdom. It’s time for the communication, writing and content to be exciting, experimental and fun. A mechanic can only spend so much time working on the race car. Eventually, you have to get behind the wheel and drive fast. I’ve put the tools away and I’m now climbing in to drive.