The New York Mets Francisco Lindor is a 10-year veteran of Major League baseball. He is a four-time all-star and seven-time Most Valuable Player Top 20 finalist. This year he had 33 home runs and 91 RBIs during the regular season. But the defining moment of not only the season, but his entire career happened during the sixth inning of the team’s deciding-Game 5 match-up against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Trailing 0-1 and with the bases loaded, Lindor hit a grand slam home run in the bullpen of right centerfield. As you can see in the video above, as the crowd erupted Lindor circled the bases in his standard docile manner.
Teammate Pete Alonso said in this and this article from The Athletic, “As soon as the ball left his bat, I was like, ‘Game over.’ My hands were in the air just in awe. Just an unbelievable swing. The swing of a lifetime.”
As I read the article, the phrase that caught my attention was Alonso’s line – “The swing of a lifetime.” I then wanted to know if there were lessons contained in Lindor’s home run which could help us have our own “moment of a lifetime.” The answer was YES!
The Anatomy Of A Defining Moment – A 7-Step Process From New York Mets Francisco Lindor’s Game-Winning Grand Slam Home Run
The following is a 7-step process to having a defining moment in your life and leadership. Now, let me point out this process is for positive defining moments rather than unexpected tragedies or disappointments, which can also be defining moments.
1. Defining Moments Are Reserved For Defining People
Let’s begin here – when it comes to having a defining moment, who you are is more important than what you do. Lasting leaders focus on their character in addition to their competence.
Mets reliever Ryne Stanek summed up everyone’s thoughts by saying of Lindor, “Like, seriously, you have superstars on your team that come up big in situations like that. And that’s why they earned that contract. They come up big in those moments. He’s just an unbelievable player, an unbelievable teammate, an unbelievable leader for us. And I couldn’t be happier for him. We all couldn’t.”
So what qualifies as a defining leader? Stanek’s words give us five qualifications:
- Defining leaders execute (come up big) in pressure situations.
- Defining leaders are worth every penny they are paid.
- Defining leaders are extremely talented.
- Defining leaders are unbelievable teammates.
- Defining leaders are unbelievable leaders.
The next two steps come from Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns who said of Lindor, “He structures his entire life to do what he did tonight. It’s how disciplined he is in everything he does to get to that point where, in the biggest moment of his life, he can put a tremendous swing on a 100 mph fastball and send us to the NLCS.”
2. Defining Moments Happen Within An Operating Structure
In retrospect, defining moments are rarely random. There is a framework for greatness and success. Defining moments mostly happen within structure. Systems are better than silver bullets.
3. Defining Moments Happen To The Disciplined
There is a compounding effect to discipline. The more you are committed to a process within structure, the greater chance you have to experience a defining moment. Discipline is the pathway to defining moments.
4. Defining Moments Are The Result Of Consistent Hard Work
This builds on the concept of discipline. Lindor was described as “a grinder.” His home run was attributed to a number of items, specifically his in-and-offseason workouts the public never sees.
5. Defining Moments Are The Result of Consistent Excellence
Teammate Jesse Winker said, “He’s an MVP. He’s carried us all year. It’s like every time there’s a big home run, he hits it.”
6. Defining Moments Require Executing Under Pressure
Defining moments rarely happen during average times. They often take place during high-stakes, high-pressure situations. Therefore, the ability to execute under pressure is necessary to have a defining moment.
Stearns added, “I think the entire ballpark thought that’s what was going to happen. But then to do it, is just absurd. It’s crazy. Absolutely crazy.” Manager Carlos Mendoza concluded, “Who else? Right man, right spot, right time.”
7. Defining Moments Should Then Be Celebrated And Used To Build Culture
So how did Lindor respond after his defining moment? Did he pump his chest? Did sign a new endorsement deal? Did he trash talk the opposition? Well, some of those things may have happened in private, but certainly not in public.
Rather, Lindor chose to celebrate with his teammates and use this moment to build culture. He said during a MLB Network postgame interview, “The more you celebrate the closer teams get and special things happen.”
Conclusion
The following is the 7-Step Process for having a Defining Moment we learn from Francisco Lindor’s home run:
- Focus on becoming a defining person.
- Develop a proper operating structure.
- Be committed to a disciplined process within that structure.
- Consistently work hard at that process.
- Deliver consistent excellence.
- Execute under pressure.
- Celebrate and use the defining moment to build culture.
Do these seven things, particularly the first six, and watch a defining moment happen in your leadership.
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