Copeland: Playing the Long Game in Search

I’m not going to buy my kids a Communicating for Managerial Effectiveness guidebook. Let them walk to school like I did!

Roger Maris held the Major League Baseball home run record for nearly four decades. But, Roger Maris is not in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Surrounding Maris’ magical season of 1961 are many good, but not great, years - and a few mediocre ones as well. Maris lacked the kind of sustained excellent that it takes to reach the pinnacle of recognition in his field.

In companies, just like with ballplayers, the ability to stand the test of time and build something bigger and lasting is what defines greatness. The problem is that people in business, just like in sports, are playing their version of fantasy baseball. From most industry studies the average CMO lasts less time in “office” than the commander in chief does in a given elected term.

...If you wanted a single season to remember Roger Maris, the ‘61 season might be the one you would choose. But if you want sustained excellence, you might look across the outfield that year in the old Yankee Stadium to the left fielder. Playing the final years of his career out of his normal position, the player never hit even half the home runs in any given season that Maris did. Yet, he won three MVPs, went to 12 All-Star games, and is a Hall-of-Famer. That player is Yogi Berra. The long-time catcher for the Yankees played for 20 seasons. Maris was a very good player and for a two-year span he was the back-to-back MVP and the best in the game. But, it’s the sustained excellence and longevity of Berra that allows him to be remembered as a Hall-of-Famer.