15 Practices Of Leaders Who Experience Unexpected Success

Great leaders simply make teams better – especially teams who should not be very good.  They take teams with limited resources, average talent, low expectations and few options and get them to perform at unexpectedly high levels of excellence.  If you are facing an uphill battle as a leader, the following insights are for you.

The San Francisco Giants should not have been very good this year.  Ace pitcher Matt Cain was lost for the season due to injury after winning his 2nd game.  Two-time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum and star reliever Sergio Romo were both demoted.  Seven different Giants played second base.  The only mid-season acquisition they made was for Boston Red Sox pitcher Jake Peavy who had a 1-9 record with a 4.72 ERA at the time.

Nothing about this team indicated they would win their third World Series in five years…except for the exceptional leadership provided by general manager Brian Sabean and manger Bruce Bochy, each of which will one day be inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame.  Recently, ESPN.com writer Jerry Crasnick profiled Sabean, baseball’s most successful executive.  You can read the full story by clicking here.

As I read the article, I gleaned 15 Practices Of Leaders Who Experience Unexpected Success.  Apply these principles to your church, business, non-profit or sports team and you will experience unexpected success as well.

1. Leaders Who Experience Unexpected Success Get Support From Others – Sabean said, “In this end of the business, you’re not in it for that type of recognition (dynasty). You’re in it with too many other people and you’re supported by too many other people.”
2. Leaders Who Experience Unexpected Success Have A Track Record Of Previous Success – Confidence flows from your memory.  Sabean was the scouting and farm director for the New York Yankees in the late 80s and early ’90s when he developed players like Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams, Andy Pettitte, and Jorge Posada who would go on to become the cornerstones of multiple World Series championships.
3. Leaders Who Experience Unexpected Success Are Often Overlooked And Taken For Granted – Despite all of his success, Sabean has been named Sporting News Executive of the Year only once (2003) during his 17 years leading the Giants organization.  During this time, five other general managers have won the award at least twice.
4. Leaders Who Experience Unexpected Success Manage Expectations – Today’s general managers must manage the often unrealistic expectations of fans, media and ownership.
5. Leaders Who Experience Unexpected Success Are Good Stewards Of Limited Resources – With shrinking popularity and too many teams, there are simply not enough talented players to fully fill out 30 major league rosters.  The best general managers and managers create environments who allow all players to fully utilize their skills.
6. Leaders Who Experience Unexpected Success Are Constantly Upgrading Personnel – Kansas City Royals GM Dayton Moore said, “I realize how difficult it is.  You’ve got to massage your roster every year if you’re going to keep winning, and Brian and his staff deserve a lot of credit.  It’s hard to win, and getting to the World Series is special.  And Brian and his staff have done it better than everybody else.”
7. Leaders Who Experience Unexpected Success Are Loyal – Being loyal does not make you a leader but disloyalty disqualifies you from leadership.  The Giants have an incredibly loyal leadership team demonstrated by Bobby Evans, assistant GM (20 years), Jeremy Shelley, vice president of pro scouting (20 years), and Matt Nerland, senior scouting advisor (26 years).  Tony Siegle, San Francisco’s senior adviser for baseball operations adds, “Brian has a cadre of people who work for him who would throw themselves in front of a bus for him, and he would do the same thing for us.”
8. Leaders Who Experience Unexpected Success Have Trusted Advisors – Sabean has many trusted advisors but Dick Tidrow, John Barr, Steve Balboni, Joe Lefebvre, Paul Turco and Lee Elder are mentioned often.
9. Leaders Who Experience Unexpected Success Gather Information And Only Then Make Good Decisions – Siegle says, “He lets them do their jobs. He doesn’t micromanage at all. We all know who the boss is and we keep him informed on what we’re doing. And then he makes the decisions. What you’ve seen over the years is the result of those decisions.”
10. Leaders Who Experience Unexpected Success Do Not Waste Time – Sabean is a man after my own heart.  He does not enjoy staff meetings.
11. Leaders Who Experience Unexpected Success Prioritize Results – Sabean is not much for hype.  He prefers to allow the team’s record to do his talking.
12. Leaders Who Experience Unexpected Success Stay Focused And Limit Distractions – Sabean said. “We’re going to do our thing and block out the noise, and we have our way of doing business.”
13. Leaders Who Experience Unexpected Success Utilize Technology – Located in Silicon Valley, the Giants have nine people on staff dedicated to analytics and IT people.
14. Leaders Who Experience Unexpected Success Work Very, Very Hard – Unexpected Success is tiring and often smells like perspiration.  Sabean said, “We work our *#% off.”
15. Leaders Who Experience Unexpected Success Create A Sense Of Community – Shared experiences are the glue which sustains a leadership team through good times and bad.  Sabean concludes, “We have a hell of a lot of fun in this organization…and we laugh and cry together.”

The 2014 World Series champion San Francisco Giants are examples you can do great things with limited resources.  What is one thing from this list you can do TODAY as a leader to improve the performance of your team?

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