The Four Variables of Change in an organization occur in Strategies, Structures, Technologies, and People. The San Francisco Giants incorporated dramatic changes within their organization that led the franchise to win two World Series Championships in three years.
Please review this week’s videos and supplemental articles and discuss how the Giants have managed to successfully adapt to the forces of change in their external and internal environments in each of these 4 areas.
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Leadership, Management &
Workplace Lessons from S.F.
Giants World Series Win
PETER DRUCKER MAY not have been a baseball coach. But the late management guru could
have written a whole volume on the San Francisco Giants, masters of the cardiac comeback and
a case study in sports leadership.
Led by low-key manager Bruce Bochy and a
business-like front office, the Giants once again
defied fate and won the World Series on
Sunday against the high-powered Detroit
Tigers. Like a well-run company firing
smoothly on all cylinders, the Giants swept the
Tigers in four straight games to win their
second championship in three years.
So what workplace, management and
leadership truisms can be gleaned from the Giants’ amazing run?
Calm and Steady Does It. Business leaders don’t have to be loud, bold, fast-talking CEOs or
coaches. Managers and executives come in all stripes. The Giants’ leadership — manager Bochy,
CEO Larry Baer,general manager Brian Sabean — is refreshingly calm and low-key. From the
building of their baseball stadium to the rehauling of their teams every few years, the Giants’
big moves — at least, those we know about — seem to be rock-steady and consistent, with extra
innings and the long haul in mind.
Spread the Credit. Generously share the credit, don’t hog it or steal it. Giants executives excel at
staying out of the media spotlight, while guiding public attention to their athletes. Last
week, Sabean praised the Giants players and told the media that “good things happen to good
people, and great things happen to great people.” Similarly, one of the Giants’ stars,
pitcher Sergio Romo, in media interviews endlessly praised his teammates and loyal
Giants fans, and counted his blessings.
Real team play. Many give lip service to the corporate “family” and “team,” and egos run
rampant in every organization. In contrast, the Giants in recent years have displayed true team
play and spirit. Players and coaches mostly collaborate, work together. The chemistry in the
clubhouse appears strong. Disputes are mostly kept in-house. Each employee fulfills his role on
the squad. Most important, they come together on the field as a strong, seamless unit. It’s a
sports cliche, but manager Bochy told Fox Sports that it’s amazing what a group of guys can
accomplish “when they come together as a team.”
Workplace diversity. Successful sports teams are studies in diversity. Athletes hail from all
colors, cultures, walks of life. The Giants are no exception, with players as diverse as free-
spirited pitchers Tim Lincecum, Brian Wilson and Romo; devout Christians Buster
Poseyand Madison Bumgarner; Venezuelan players Marco Scutaro, Pablo Sandoval and
others in the motley crew. Despite their differences, they play as one on the baseball diamond.
Honor Thy Shareholders & Supporters. Giants managers and ballplayers lavish praise on the
team’s devout fans. Athletes typically praise their followers as “the greatest fans in sports,” but
that really may be true in San Francico. Money talks, and the fans have almost filled or sold
out AT&T stadium for every game over the past decade. Investment bankers say that new
sports facilities have a “halo effect” and only will sell out for 3 or 4 years after they’re built. Not
in San Francisco, where the fans’ love affair with the Giants has yet to wane.
Veteran Employees Still Contribute. Giants star Scutaro, the Most Valuable Player for the
National League Championship Series last week, is 37-years-old. That’s ancient for a pro athlete.
The antithesis of the brash showboating jock, Scutaro is a humble, low-key professional who
did his job as best he could throughout a long career. After the Giants won the league pennant
last week, Scutaro’s child-like joy — looking skyward, tasting the rain, counting his blessings —
is an image that Giants fans will not forget.
Persevere. Seven times down, eight times up, goes an old Japanese folk saying. On the brink of
losing two of their division playoff series, the Giants roared back to beat the St.
Louis Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds earlier. History shows that nearly all pro teams in
major playoff series lose when they’re down so far. But the Giants kept on battling. Baer told
Fox Sports that the Giants learned precious life lessons in their “odyssey” this season. They
didn’t lose faith — and now they’ve won a World Series trophy.
Posted on October 29, 2012 at 12:01 AM in Diversity, Leadership and
management, Sports | Permalink
LEADERSHIP UNCUT/Brian Evje October 31, 2013
Leadership Lessons From the San
Francisco Giants
How did the San Francisco Giants win? The same way your company can.
Rob Tringali/Getty
Buster Posey #26 of the San Francisco Giants celebrates by holding up the World Series Trophy after defeating the Texas
Rangers in Game Five of the 2010 MLB World Series at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas on November 1, 2010.
As a lifelong San Francisco Giants fan, I’m thrilled that the club just won its second World
Series in three seasons and is celebrating today in San Francisco. As a management
consultant, I’m very pleased that their journey highlights useful leadership lessons for
people who want to succeed in highly competitive industries. Here are 7 lessons.
1. Listen To and Encourage Unfamiliar Voices
Behind by two games in a best-of-five playoff series, an unfamiliar voice spoke to the team
before an elimination game. Outfielder Hunter Pence, who joined the Giants nine weeks
earlier, was an unlikely source of a Knute Rockne-like speech. By all accounts, his
impassioned exhortations helped inspire 11 victories in the next 14 games, including a four-
game sweep in the World Series.
Clearly, the Giants’ organization created an environment that made Pencefeel safe enough
to speak up. What would have happened to the end of the season if the Giants’ culture did
not allow this kind of expression? How does your organization encourage or punish
unfamiliar voices?
2. A Charismatic Leader Is Not Required
Giants’ Manager Bruce Bochy is about as laconic as they come. (Giants’ broadcaster Jon
Miller joked that sometimes interviewing Bochy nearly puts him to sleep.) Bochy’s lack of
charisma belies his fierce steadiness – nothing seems to rattle him, and this even keel was
remarkably contagious to the team during tough times. Bochy’s baseball knowledge (his
“hard skills”) is second to none; his ability to relate to people (his “soft skills”) is firmly
focused on aligning others to the shared purpose; and, like every good
coach/manager/leader, when the team loses Bochy takes responsibility. And when the
Giants win, he gives all the credit to the team.
3. Culture Does Change
For more than a decade, the Giants organization revolved around superstar Barry Bonds,
whose mammoth home runs were matched by his divisive presence in the clubhouse (and
involvement with performance-enhancing drugs.) In short, it was all about Barry. After the
organization decided not to re-sign Bonds, the Giants’ leadership consciously turned the
page to shift the focus from A Star to The Team. This decision was supported by the hiring
of a new manager (Bochy), shuffling people and responsibilities at the ownership level, and
signing players with a “team first” mindset.
The point is that the culture change happened because changes were made first at the top,
and the new priorities permeated the organization because leadership made it an ongoing
priority with unrelenting resolve. You can affect culture change in your organization with a
similar approach.
4. When One Door Closes…
The Giants faced several serious challenges this season. They lost a key pitcher at the start of
the season; their nearest division rivals made a dramatic talent acquisition late in the season
in an effort to win the division; and in August the Giants’ best player was suspended for the
season. One can easily see analogous challenges in the business world – and the point is
how an organization responds. The Giants chose to face these adversities as genuine
opportunities to coalesce as a team and re-commit to a shared purpose. When one door
closed, the team found another door to open.
5. Rebuild When Needed
The Giants’ starting lineup for 2012 World Series included only one position player from
their 2010 championship team. After a successful end to 2010, the 2011 season was
disappointing for a number of reasons. The Giants’ management realistically and
dispassionately evaluated the current personnel and made many changes to serve the future
while letting go of the past.
6. Know Your People
During their championship season, the Giants adjusted for injuries and inconsistent
performances, and asked certain players to take on new roles. The majority of these
transitions were successful because the club a) connected all of the changes to the broader
vision of doing what was best for the team, b) recognized that not everyone is
interchangeable, and did not make over-the-top demands of people, and c) gave plenty of
support and encouragement to those who were asked to do new things.
7. Play For Each Other
The core of Hunter Pence’s inspiring speeches was that he did not want the season to end
because he did not want to stop being with the team. He did not want the group to
disband. He spoke of his respect and love for each member of the team. He spoke of
belonging to something larger than himself, more special than anything he could
accomplish alone, and the fleeting nature of the experience. The team responded by not
focusing on the fear of failure, or the potential of losing glory and individual riches.
Instead, they played to not let down their teammates. They played for a shared
purpose. They played for each other.
And in the process, they happened to win a championship.
Brian Evje is a management consultant with the organizational-effectiveness practice Slalom
Consulting and an advisory board member of Astia, a global not-for-profit dedicated to
increasing women’s participation in high-growth businesses.
2/2/13BaseballAmerica.com: Majors: Awards: Executive Of The Year: Major League Executive Of The Year: Brian Sabean
Award as the best amateur player in the country, and go on to win a league MVP
award.
Posey is just one instance of what was an incredible run of draft success: The Giants
hit on first-round picks with Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum and Madison Bumgarner, who
became the core of both World Series championship teams, even if it took some
imagination to turn Lincecum from a struggling former Cy Young Award-winning
starter into a dominant weapon as a long reliever in the postseason.
Thinking Broadly
Perhaps that is the greatest strength of a Sabean front office: a willingness to
explore opportunities and think broadly when it comes to acquiring talent, analyzing
talent and determining how to get the most production out of that talent.
Ryan Vogelsong, who had the lowest ERA by a starting pitcher in a postseason since
Orel Hershiser in 1988, was a former Giants prospect who hadn’t pitched in the
majors in six years before the Giants welcomed him back on a minor league contract
in 2011. Gregor Blanco, whose catch saved Matt Cain’s perfect game and who
contributed as many hits in the World Series as Prince Fielder and Miguel Cabrera
combined, was a find from the Venezuelan League that Sabean’s scouts had
highlighted in Triple-A the previous season.
Sabean turned over his outfield last winter by giving up spare parts in trades for
Angel Pagan and Melky Cabrera, the latter of whom was the All-Star Game MVP
before his drug suspension on Aug. 15 cost him the remainder of the season. The
Giants farm system isn’t as deep these days, but they had the chips to get Hunter
Pence from the Phillies at the trade deadline.
And while the Dodgers’ new, deep-pocketed ownership made like a casino whale and
took on hundreds of millions in salary to get Adrian Gonzalez et al from the Red Sox,
Sabean made a much quieter and much more impactful deal when he dealt fringe
prospect Charlie Culberson to the Rockies for Marco Scutaro.
No, the Giants didn’t envision Scutaro hitting .362 and then going 14-for-28 against
the Cardinals to win NLCS MVP honors. But they did know his 94 percent contact rate
was the best in the major leagues, which made him a perfect fit as the No. 2 man in
a lineup that hit the fewest home runs in the major leagues.
That stat didn’t come from a unicorn or a leprechaun. The Giants use plenty of
advanced metrics to inform or challenge their opinions, including some of their own
formulas that they decline to disclose. It’s one of the reasons the front office
implored Bochy to remain patient with first baseman Brandon Belt, even when his at-
bats looked rough through long stretches during the season. It’s a reason the Giants
have resisted overtures to trade Belt this offseason, too.
Not that Sabean is eager to publicize his methods. He cares less about how he’s
perceived. He’d rather wave his flag for his manager and his players, all the while
keeping an eye out for the next piece to improve his roster.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to bear down and keep our heads down like we always do,”
Sabean said. “I don’t think we’re going to change our mantra of pitching and
defense. Pitching is going to be our celebrity. It’s not the all-eggs-in-one-basket with
one player approach. This is what works. It’s what is conducive to our ballpark and
our division.”
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