Swing For the Fences                                                          

An elderly woman lived and died in a small Midwestern town.  She had never married and had pretty much kept to herself.  But Nancy Jones had been the oldest resident in the town and, when she died, the editor of the local paper knew he had to run a special obituary in the newspaper.  However, the more he thought about what to write, the more he realized that, other than reaching an extraordinary age, Miss Jones had never really done anything particularly noteworthy.

Becoming increasingly frustrated with the challenge before him, the editor, decided to ease the pressure and give the obituary assignment to the first reporter he came across.  Well, he happened to run into the sports reporter who eagerly took the job and quickly penned the following obituary:

Here lie the bones of Nancy Jones.

For her, life held no terrors.

She lived an old maid.  She died an old maid.

No hits, no runs, no errors.

Even if you’re not that much into sports you can’t escape the analogies, phrases and metaphors that have become idioms of life imitating the games we play:  “take it to a new level”; “Monday morning quarterback”; “on the ropes”; “full-court press”; “down for the count”; “saved by the bell”; “throw one’s hat into the ring”; “end run”; “swing for the fence”; “par for the course.” 

And then there’s Nancy Jones’ “no hits, no runs, no errors” signifying neutrality, idleness, lack of purpose, lack of success, do-nothingness and mediocrity.

Poet, essayist, critic and author James Robert Lowell succinctly stated the Jones’ approach to life this way, “not failure but low aim is the crime.”

It’s tempting, it’s convenient, it’s easy to go negative on business enterprise today.  Wall Street has been bashed, assailed and criticized as being representative of cheating, dishonesty, greed, and insensitivity to morality, ethics, integrity and right doing.  Much of the media would have us believe that corporate America is “going to the dogs.”   I don’t buy it and I trust you don’t either.

Oh yes, there are cheaters and crooks on Wall Street, on Main Street, in government, in education, in accounting, in law, and even in our houses of worship.  But by far and in the vast majority are people, companies and firms who are purpose driven, intent on conducting their business with integrity and who compete vigorously in the marketplace to justify investment dollars provided by a trusting public.  These companies take risks, invest substantial sums, employ lots of people, enhance communities, and occasionally make mistakes and are subject even to ethical lapses. 

There is a big difference, a defining difference in companies whose values and mission lead to passionate pursuit of operating with integrity and those companies which either purposefully deceive and cheat or companies which almost idly stumble along devoid of risk-taking, devoid of involvement with community or even its employees, and content with embracing the status quo.  Purpose and passion driven companies are not perfect companies and their employees and officers sometimes mess it up.  Some of these failures are ethical lapses leading to distrust.  But another big difference in these companies is that they immediately, upon becoming aware of failure, not only make it known to their customers and other stakeholders but also enter quickly into a remediation program which includes holding responsible parties accountable.  

We don’t accept excuses for cheating, integrity lapses or “hiding the ball.”  We will accept and in fact admire and respect confession, transparency, accountability and remediation.  I would much prefer doing business with companies and firms who are in President Teddy Roosevelt’s words “In the Arena” (***) making and addressing their mistakes than those entities which, while fearful of further investment, mistake, failure and the media, will place their entities in neutral.

Jim Collins whose books have sold over 10 million copies summed up in his recent best seller, Great By Choice, what it takes to be a difference maker and not merely another company struggling along.  Hear his words:  

“When the moment comes—when we’re afraid, exhausted, or tempted—what choice do we make?  Do we abandon our values?  Do we give in?  Do we accept average performance because that’s what most everyone else accepts?  Do we capitulate to the pressure of the moment?  Do we give up on our dreams when we’ve been slammed by brutal facts?  The greatest leaders we’ve studied throughout all our research cared as much about values as victory, as much about purpose as profit, as much about being useful as being successful.  Their drive and standards are ultimately internal, rising from somewhere deep inside.”

Great companies are not perfect companies.  They do have leaders who choose to “swing for the fences” realizing that there will be some runs, some hits, and yes, even some errors.  Not perfection but passion for building a better company and a better community.

Ad astra per aspera

***THE MAN IN THE ARENA

(Theodore Roosevelt)

    It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.