Thank Goodness It's Monday #375

WHAT WE ALL CAN LEARN FROM

500,000 ERRORS

Dubious Achievement Award
Jose Reyes credited with the milestone 500,000th Major League Baseball error.
September 15, 2012

It’s unofficial, but … on Saturday, September 15, 2012, Major League Baseball recorded its 500,000 error (more or less).
 

Sez who? Sez Sean Forman, the founder of Sports-Reference.com website.

Forman himself concludes, “This is utterly random, completely meaningless and less than 100 percent accurate….” MLB official statistics keepers essentially agree by declining to comment on the milestone, citing the “inconsistency of record keeping with error totals before the current season.”

However, I say –

It’s close enough. And I’ll add, in the spirit of unearthing some actionable-in-the-wider- world TGIM Takeaways –

A half-million errors (more or less)

are not at all “completely meaningless”

But the meaning, perhaps surprisingly, might well be about what’s being done correctly.

Let’s see if we can get to that point by first looking back.

The tabulation reaching 500,000 errors begins with info gleaned in 1876 when the error rate per team could be as high as 6.01 a game.

 

This season it’s down to 0.62 – significantly less than one error per game.

Why the disparity? Even a casual follower of the game like me can figure out some of the reasons:

·         Equipment’s better.

·         The playing fields themselves are better tended, making them less likely to contribute error-creating ball behavior.

·         Huge increases in strikeouts and home runs lead to a decline in total chances for fielding errors.

·         Players get pretty good instruction in fielding fundamentals for years and years before turning pro. 

But, if – as many have observed over the years -- “baseball is like life” (or “life is like baseball”), are there also life lessons to be gleaned from the Half-A-Million Mistakes Milestone?

Here’s one big one: The corollary number to a less-than-one-fielding-error per team, per game statistic is a league-wide fielding percentage of .983 this season and a record of .984 tallied in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

In other words: In professional baseball, virtually every play in the field is correctly executed.

Here’s another: The nature of errors in the game of baseball is such that it’s the players who are regarded as the finest fielders who pile up the largest error count. 

So, for example, the combination of total volume of plays plus the difficulty associated with those plays, makes errors a fact of life for even the best shortstops. 

2012 stats: The top two active leaders in errors are Rafael Furcal (currently 250 errors in 13 seasons) likely one of the best throwing shortstops ever and Adrian Beltre, the game’s undisputed best third baseman (243 in 15 seasons).

Local Yankee fans: As of this writing Derek Jeter (240 over 18 seasons) and A-Rod (233 in 19 seasons) are #4 and #5 in the active player error derby.

TGIM TAKEAWAY: Mistakes happen. Sure, errors loom large, but often, as in baseball, it’s against the background of near perfection. It’s what you do after the mistake that may well determine the ongoing outcome. 

TGIM ACTION IDEA: Keep your eye on the donut, not the hole.

TGIM IDEA IN ACTION: Appreciate all the things that go right. Build on strengths. Have confidence that you can do what’s needed to be even better in the future.

Of course, if you sense some greater underlying lack of ability, seek guidance to remove the defect and correct limitations or weaknesses that repeatedly cost success. Otherwise --  

Don’t dwell on slipups. Don’t sweat the small stuff, even if it looms large in the moment. Shake off the infrequent glitch that’s inevitable if you’re striving diligently and get back to striving.

Play ball! See you at the World Series. 

Geoff Steck   
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com

P. S. “Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow; he who would search for pearls must dive below.” The poet, dramatist and critic John Dryden (1631 - 1700) said that.

Thank Goodness It's Monday #374

LESSONS FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

-- 100 YEARS AGO

Theodore Roosevelt
26th President of the United States
(in office 1901 - 1909)

Referring to the boyish and exuberant ways of her husband Theodore Roosevelt, First Lady Edith Roosevelt (1861 – 1948) identified him as “… (my) oldest and rather worst child.”

She also wrote in 1901: “To me, the shadow [of President McKinley’s assassination] still hangs over the White House, and I am in constant fear about Theodore ….” 

Remembering history: TR became President when McKinley was shot.

In the light of the following anecdote, as recounted in authors Richard Shenkman and Kurt Reiger’s book One-Night Stands with American History, it seems as if Edith Roosevelt had some foreknowledge of events that would transpire more than a decade later. 

Let’s stay alert for some TGIM Takeaways as we review the details. Here’s the first:  

TGIM Takeaway: It’s not always bad that politicians write long speeches. 

Here’s what Shenkman and Reiger write about a compelling century-old event: 

“In 1912 when Teddy Roosevelt was campaigning for the presidency as the candidate for the Bull Moose Party, he prepared his speeches on small sheets of paper with an extra spacing between the lines for easier delivery. 

“When the Rough Rider was in Milwaukee on October 14, his speech covered 50 heavy, glazed pages. Folded over and carried in his pocket, they numbered 100. This was a fortunate length, for as Roosevelt left his hotel for the rally, a would-be assassin fired a shot at the Bull Moose’s heart.

The bullet-damaged speech
and eyeglass case

“The bullet traveled through Roosevelt’s coat, vest, eyeglass case, the 100 pages of speech, and lodged against his fifth rib, cracking it, but not badly injuring the ex-President.

“Had the speech not altered the course and speed of the bullet, the missile would have passed directly through 
Roosevelt’s heart and killed him.”

Made-for-TV (had it existed) moment: The consummate campaigner and politician, TR leaped at the opportunity to turn near disaster to his advantage. Realizing the wound was superficial, he elected to take the stage and –

Deliver his speech. He told the audience of the attempt on his life, then boasted – 

“But it takes more than that to kill a bull moose!”

Theodore Roosevelt (pre-Photoshop)
allegedly riding a moose

He pulled the speech from his pocket, the bullet holes in view of all. He unbuttoned his vest to reveal his bloodstained shirt. Then he proceeded to deliver all 50 pages of his speech. (There’s a transcript of TR’s remarks HERE.) 

MORE TGIM TAKEAWAYS: To speak with greater authority and make a “bullet proof” presentation, consider adopting some of the strengths apparent in what TR managed to do a century ago.

·         Don’t delay beginning. After he was shot TR called for his driver to take him to the hall and told him, “I will make this speech or die.” If your talk is given in conjunction with a luncheon or dinner, it’s exasperating for the audience to wait until every last spoon is removed before you begin. 

·         Strive for control. Exhibit poise, regardless of the circumstances. 

·         Be earnest. And sincere. But also elicit (and demonstrate) empathy.

·         Appeal to the heart as well as the head. One moving appeal sometimes outweighs a half-hour of factual argument.

·         Never show annoyance. If TR could take a bullet and proceed, don’t show irritation when a noisy airplane passes overhead. (Don’t fight it. Stop talking and wait until the interruption stops. Then resume, without comment.)

The final word. Perhaps one more Takeaway from this tale is to caution us that, no matter how dramatic -- 

·         Speeches can go on too long. At its conclusion Roosevelt was examined in a Milwaukee hospital and then was observed for 8 days in a Chicago hospital. He was discharged on October 23, 1912 -- only a few days before the election. 

The bullet had effectively stopped TR's campaign. He finished second to Woodrow Wilson, but ahead of the incumbent President, William Howard Taft. The bullet was never removed, and caused no difficulty after the wound healed. 

Adding insult to injury: Not only did Teddy Roosevelt and the Bull Moose Party fail to win the national vote in 1912, they didn’t even carry Wisconsin.

“It’s hard to fail,” Teddy Roosevelt concluded. “but it’s worse never to have tried to succeed.”

To which I‘ll add an exuberant, “Bully!”

Geoff Steck   
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com

P. S. “I never thought my speeches were too long. I enjoyed them.” Vice President Hubert Humphrey (1911 – 1978) said that.

Thank Goodness It's Monday #373

 

A TREE GROWS IN MANHATTAN

The 9/11 attacks of infamy took place on a September Tuesday eleven years ago.

We were – and are – in New Jersey, very nearby the World Trade Center site. 

-- Spring 2012 --
 The Survivor Tree
in bloom
with the under-construction
"Freedom Tower"
 

As I’m writing this, the weather forecast for our metropolitan NY area tomorrow on September 11, 2012 suggests the day may be “partly cloudy” but otherwise similar to Tuesday, September 11, 2001.

But is anything else “otherwise similar”?

Certainly I’m not the one to say. In fact I have argued that none of us can answer for any other, the implications and ramifications of that day and all the interrelated actions on all the days that followed being so personal.

On the ten-year anniversary (see TGIM #321) I maintained that, while we all share the experience and/or the aftermath of 9/11 in our collective psyche, no one version of it aligns directly with any other.

That’s the oddity of our human experience.

And yet we keep trying to connect and, I suppose, that’s part of our “human” nature as well. 

Unfortunately, locally, the attempt has become contentious at the Twin Towers site. And the result to date is, in my experience, an odd mix of symbolic and impersonal on a monumental scale.

As many of you will know, the “footprints” of the towers have become cascades of falling water, each surrounded by a bronze parapet recording the 2,983 names of the men, women, and children killed in the attacks of September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993. 

A planned museum there is having difficulty getting opened. Newly constructed buildings that surround the site are nearing completion; most notably One World Trade Center (intended to be known as “Freedom Tower”) arguably the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere by “pinnacle height,” with its spire reaching a symbolic 1,776 feet in reference to the year of American independence. 

All in all it’s being billed as “a tribute to the past and a place of hope for the future.”

But -- I’ve been there. And, right now, though the site does provide much to contemplate, for me it’s going to have difficulty living up to its billing.

However … To me nothing manmade at the Manhattan 9/11 Memorial is remotely as inspiring as what has become known as –

The Survivor Tree
 

The tree was originally planted in the 1970s in the "old" WTC complex, in the vicinity of Buildings Four and Five.

The tree (a Callery pear, I learned by asking) is compelling for being the last living thing pulled from the smoking ruins -- long after recovery workers expected to find anything alive at the site -- and for having grown back from a charred and splintered stump to a full 30 feet. 

Workers freed it and it was nursed back to health when it arrived in November 2001 at the Parks Department’s Arthur Ross Nursery in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. And even there it had to survive a devastating hurricane before it was replanted in 2010 at its current location in Manhattan.

New York City’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the tree is a testament to New York's "ability to endure" and "unshakeable belief in a brighter future."

I agree. And that ability and belief leads me to this observation – 

The tree is there.

And it’s Growing.

TGIM TAKEAWAY: Isn’t growing what we all must be doing; what we all must do as part of our human experience and human nature? 

If we are to find a “place of hope for the future” we can’t be mired in the past. We must continue to grow; actively work at creating the envisioned “brighter future.”

But wait. There’s more. 

I’d like to point out: The lesson and example of The Survivor Tree does not lie in the tree alone. Its survival did not happen by coincidence … or luck … or “good fortune” … or happenstance … or (pick your own “wishful thinking” mantra). 

The tree, and its continued existence and “growth” into iconic status, is more than symbolic. It’s evidence of what can be accomplished by the involvement and commitment of many.

TGIM ACTION IDEA: Continued growth is seldom successfully accomplished by individual effort alone. It may begin with some enduring inward fortitude. But that alone is seldom sufficient.

The charred remnant that was salvaged from the rubble needed much nurturing. Without the interest and activity of many, many others, there would be no “A Tree Grows In Manhattan” story to tell or lesson to be gained.

TGIM IDEA IN ACTION: Good can come from bad, but it takes foresight, a vision, leadership, teamwork and cooperation. Skills – some specialized, some simply heart-felt human caring -- need to be in place. 

Then they need to be rallied. The project needs supporters and cheerleaders (and these are not necessarily the same). There needs to be an understanding that setbacks may happen, but they need not be fatal. And if and when success is achieved, praise and recognition for the deserving is in order.

How about your brighter future? Starting today -- or maybe on September 11, 2012-- the singular thing we can each do to insure we get the “good” from the bad is to “grow” the relationships that benefit us all.

That’s would be the happiest ending to the “A Tree Grows In Manhattan” story.

Geoff Steck   
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com

Parks Department employees
Robert Zappala (at left)
and Richie Cabo
nursed The Survivor Tree
back to health. 

P.S. Rebecca Clough, an assistant commissioner in the city Design and Construction Department, recalled the surreal moment when she spotted a speck of green amid the lifeless gray.

"It had one branch that had one tiny little shoot coming out of it, with a leaf on it," Clough said. "It was like the only glimmer of hope there was."

 

"I think of the way the city bounced back and the way the tree keeps bouncing back," Cabo said.

"It's a New Yorker."

Thank Goodness It's Monday #372

THE LEGEND OF JOHN HENRY

MEETS LABOR DAY 2012

Few of us “labor” like the steel-drivin’ man of folklore and folksongs is said to have labored.

Hey, it’s the 21^st Century. We’ve got remote-controlled vehicles cruising around the planet Mars laser-blasting rocks, analyzing their composition and sending that data across millions of miles of space. 

 

So the idea of Man vs. Steam Drill is pretty archaic.

Or is it? Writing in Yes! Magazine, Michael Schwalbe observes -- 

“Every year, thousands of men in the United States die like John Henry, albeit with less drama. They quietly work themselves to exhaustion, bad health, and premature death. Or they take risks and suffer fatal workplace injuries. Women workers die, too, of course, sometimes in exactly the same ways.”

What do you think? Before you answer, let’s review the classic version of the John Henry tale: 

Folksong John is a black man of exceptional physical gifts, a former slave who, to save his job and the jobs of his mostly black steel-driving crew, refuses to bow to the superiority of a machine. He races the steam-driven drill and wins, though the effort kills him which, in some versions, leaves his wife a widow and their small children fatherless.

There seem to be historical roots to elements of the story, but nothing very solid. One research I particularly favor argues that John William Henry (prisoner #497 in the Virginia penitentiary, released by the warden to work on the C&O Railway in the 1870s) is the basis for the legendary John Henry.

The Labor Day connection: Because of his strength and pride, John Henry is usually celebrated as a working-class hero. 

He’s also sometimes derided as an exploitive capitalist’s dream: a worker who devotes his last ounce of energy to generating profit and then conveniently dies just when a cheaper technology becomes available to replace him.

Either way, I think there are 21^st Century TGIM lessons suitable for a Labor Day post.

In today’s still-striving-for-equality workplace, we can interpret the extraordinary efforts of John Henry in a race neutral, genderless way … across almost all strata of class -- working-, middle- , upper-middle … and “work” – blue- and white-collar … and industry – service, manufacture, construction, retail, what have you. 

And that opens the door for this -- 

TGIM TAKEAWAY: The emphasis on being competitive has many of us “laboring” in the workplace and the marketplace just like we imagine John Henry labored, even if it’s to our own detriment. 

·         We behave as if working long hours is noble.

·         We strive mightily to outdo “the competition.”

·         We compete for advancement.

·         We risk our long-term wellbeing and keep plugging away despite pain or sickness.

·         We forgo safe and sensible measures that we suspect might slow our progress.

·         We put work first even when it threatens other interpersonal relationships and family.

Not good, right? Hey, it’s the behavior that kills John Henry. And that’s not an end result we want to strive for, is it? 

Not me. So consider this in-the-spirit-of-Labor Day –

TGIM ACTION IDEA: Labor not to beat the system or gain status, power or domination over others, but to realize rewards that you can enjoy without sacrificing being human. Channel your enthusiasm for an effort well made into a mindset that serves your needs, not one that makes you the servant. Don’t be blind to the toll your work places on you personally as well as those who surround you. 

And now for a –

Big Surprise. I’m going to suggest that the folklore/folksong legend of John Henry that I’ve put forward as a cautionary tale also contains often-overlooked, good-then and good-now strategies for successfully coping with pressures of a system that “beat John Henry down.” 

You see --

The story itself is NOT the triumph of “the Everyman” over the system. John Henry dies; that’s not good. You know the steam drill is destined to replace the steel drivers. 

But the John Henry secret of workplace survival is today’s --

TGIM IDEA IN ACTION: Success is in the tempo at which everyone sings together. 

These days the song is treated as a up tempo blues ballad or dance tune and played at a frenetic pace that suggests folkloric roots as a jig or a reel. But it’s pretty clear that at its roots --

John Henry is a work song. Its pattern tells you gangs of workers sang it on the job to help keep the rhythm and pace suitable for the work they were doing. (Or that the words were plugged into a commonly known chant pattern used to synchronize action as well as provide some “uplift” on the job.)

Do it at the right pace and in unison and the song tells you what to do and how to survive even when “the Boss Man” is hard on you.

Try it. Imagine you’re swingin’ that hammer, then sing, slow and steady and with feeling – 

When John Henry was a little baby (Clink!)

Sittin’ on his Pappy’s knee (Clink!)

Picked up a hammer and a little piece of steel (Clink!)

Said this hammer’s gonna be the death of me, Lawd Lawd (=Clink!)

This hammer’s gonna be the death of me (Clink!)

More proof: In Steel Drivin' Man: John Henry, the Untold Story of an American Legend, Scott Reynolds Nelson, the associate professor of history at the College of William and Mary who made the prison labor gang/C&O Railway connection, points out that --

...workers managed their labor by setting a "stint," or pace, for it. Men who violated the stint were shunned... Here was a song that told you what happened to men who worked too fast: they died ugly deaths; their entrails fell on the ground. You sang the song slowly, you worked slowly, you guarded your life, or you died.

Labor Day “Aha!” moment. Live your workday at a proper steel-drivin’ pace. Hammer away, but hammer away with others at a tempo that enables you all to go the distance and accomplish the greater result with greater ease. 

Get in tune. Assuming this is a Labor Day you have the good fortune to be able to celebrate, sometime between checking out your local parade or similar civic celebration and the last official beer and burger before the pool is winterized, appreciate what we all have gained since the first Labor Day.

Don’t let ‘em beat you down. “A man ain’t nothin’ but a man.” Success is in how everyone sings together. 

Geoff Steck   
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com

P. S.  And speaking of labor, and taking a break to celebrate it, even the ancient Greeks and Romans understood the concepts. They tell us: 

“Without labor nothing prospers.”  Sophocles (c. 497/6 BC – 406/5 BC) said that.

“The end of labor is to gain leisure.” Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) said that.

“Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.” Ovid (43 BC – AD 17/18) said that.