Hank Aaron and the right way to succeed

Last weekend I made my (usually) annual trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in lovely Cooperstown, NY. If you are a baseball fan, or just an American History fan, you owe it to yourself to make the trip sometime. It is a small village, and not the easiest to reach by air, (Syracuse would be the closest thing to a 'real' airport, and that is about 90 miles away), but you won't spend a better summer weekend anywhere else.

One of the newer museum exhibits, dedicated in 2009, is titled Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream, which chronicles the career and life of baseball legend, and former career home run champion Hank Aaron. 

Here's Hank's official bio from the Hall of Fame site:

Exhibiting an understated style that became his trademark, Hank Aaron became the all-time home-run champion via one of the most consistent offensive careers in baseball history, with 3,771 hits. In addition to his 755 home runs, he also set Major League records for total bases, extra-base hits and RBIs. Aaron was the 1957 National League MVP, won three Gold Gloves for his play in right field and was named to a record 25 All-Star squads.

Even the official bio is understated. It is almost impossible to grasp the amazing baseball achievements of Hank Aaron, particularly in the modern age where accomplishments less than a quarter of Aaron's are rewarded with hundred million dollar contracts, endless product endorsement deals, and off the field time spent chasing models and actresses.

Aaron's baseball standards for home runs, (surpassed only by a guy who certainly used performance enhancing drugs, and spent his spare time being a jerk to anyone that came into contact with him), runs batted in, and total bases place him at the absolute pinnacle of success in what was America's most popular sport. And his success, particularly when considering the barrage of racist harassment, hate mail, and even death threats that Aaron had to endure in 1973 and 1974 as he pursued and eventually surpassed baseball icon Babe Ruth's then home run record, has to be thought of as on par with Ruth, Gehrig, Mays, and maybe one or two more, as the greatest in the history of the game.

But oddly, we don't really talk about Aaron all that much. We still talk about Ruth and a few other heroes of the early age of baseball who are still recalled almost reverently. Jackie Robinson, the major league's first African-American player is remembered, rightly, as a courageous leader and legend whose importance to not only baseball but race relations in the USA can't possibly be diminished. And the recent set of players, some of whom have broken Aaron's and other records, well so many of them left and will leave the game tainted by the notion that steroid and other performance enhancing drug use contributed to their success as much as natural talent and hard work. Those stories have dominated baseball coverage for the last five years or so, and this focus will likely only intensify as many of these so called steroid-era players become eligible for Hall of Fame consideration themselves.

But above and despite all this, Aaron remains, like he was in his days as a player, classy, reserved, composed, and a champion. But not just a champion and a model for success in sports, a model for how to succeed in life, and, more interestingly, how to carry oneself once success has been achieved.

Aaron provides a lesson for all of us. That we can still play and win the right way. We can be both humble, respectful, and proud at the same time. That our achievements don't have to come at the expense of others, in fact, they often arise in spite of others.

That in the end, baseball, like all games, is really just a game, and all games come to an end.

But class, that lives forever.

On crazy ideas and taking action

Check the image on the right side of this post. That's me, or at least my hand holding a genuine, original, (sadly without the original packaging), Pet Rock, circa 1975.Pet Rock, unnamed, B. 1975

In case you're not familiar with the story of the Pet Rock, (read - younger than 35, you have some sort of life), allow our friends at Wikipedia to get you caught up:  

Pet Rocks were a 1970s fad conceived in Los Gatos, California by advertising executive Gary Dahl.

In April 1975, Dahl was in a bar listening to his friends complain about their pets. This gave him the idea for the perfect "pet": a rock.

A rock would not need to be fed, walked, bathed, groomed and would not die, become sick, or be disobedient. He said they were to be the perfect pets, and joked about it with his friends. However, he eventually took the idea seriously, and drafted an "instruction manual" for a pet rock. It was full of puns, gags and plays on words that referred to the rock as an actual pet.

The first Pet Rocks were ordinary gray stones bought at a builder's supply store. They were marketed like live pets, in custom cardboard boxes, complete with straw and breathing holes for the "animal."The fad lasted about six months, ending after a short increase in sales during the Christmas season of December 1975. Although by February 1976 they were discounted due to lower sales, Dahl sold 1.5 million Pet Rocks and became a millionaire.

Awesome, right? I mean I still have my Pet Rock as you can see in the picture.

But the most important part of the story isn't how ridiculous the idea was/is, or the amazing gullibility or boredom of the American public who snatched up one and a half million of these 'pets', (in our collective defense it was a time before Cable TV and the internet, there was not all that much to do).

The key to the tale is in this sentence from the founder's story:

He said they were to be the perfect pets, and joked about it with his friends. However, he eventually took the idea seriously

Four buddies, kidding around at a bar, where they hatch pretty much the entire idea for the toy in one beer session. Three of them head home, forget the entire night, and go about their lives, (seemingly their names forgotten to history).

One guy, takes the idea, however silly/crazy/stupid and runs with it, sells a million rocks and gets rich.

And more that 30 years later here I am wirting about that guy. And I still have my rock.

What wild idea have you heard lately that you just laughed at, and swore would never work?

WEBINAR : Early Adoption: Against HR's Nature?

I'm really pleased to announce that in a few weeks I will be joining the great China Gorman for an upcoming Webinar titled 'Early Adoption: Against HR's Nature?' on Wednesday March 7, 2012 at 1:00PM ET.

.Go ahead, register, it's free!

The Webinar is sponsored by a very cool company called Achievers, (you might still remember them by their former name, I Love Rewards), the leading provider of social recognition solutions in the market today.

What is social recognition?

You know that time your boss stuck his or her head into your office and said, 'Nice job on Project XYZ?', (ok, so if that never happens to you just pretend for a minute), well imagine if that little gesture was posted on a social platform that the rest of your colleagues could see, and perhaps even 'like' or add their own words of thanks and kudos. Then imagine further that you could share this recognition with your friends on Facebook or your professional network on LinkedIn. And one last thing, imagine all these accumulated thanks and kudos would earn some rewards points that you could exchange for some great stuff.

Sounds pretty cool, right?

Achievers provides solutions that let companies do all of that and more, helping to support and build a culture of recognition, openness, and well, I have to say it - achievement.

But in addition to making a great product, the team at Achievers are really active and supportive of the HR community overall, and have sponsored a number of events and webcasts that are designed to share insights, spur conversation, and add to the body of knowledge for the industry. So I am really pleased and honored they asked me to join China in presenting the webinar on March 7.

The central idea behind the topic, 'Early Adoption: Against HR's Nature?', is that while tradtionally HR has been reluctant to be on the leading edge of technology solutions and innovative strategies, that now that time has passed. In the critical areas of employee engagement, the adoption of new technology solutions for talent management gives today’s HR leaders opportunities to recast their function as forward looking rather than history- and compliance-bound. We will also talk about the great results organizations that are on the leading edge are seeing, and how social rewards and social recognition fit in the overall picture.

It should be a really fun webinar, and I hope you will join China and I on March 7th. 

Register, (it's free!), here.

If we're all so original, why are there so many Starbucks?

Most of us like to think we are kind of cool, interesting, hip, unique, and not at all as boring and predictable as the next person. This kind of attitude is perhaps more prevalent in the USA, where the ideas of rugged individualism, conquering the great untamed land and staking your own claim are still a part of the national psyche. We don't like to conform. We don't want to be told what to do. And we often chafe at what we sometimes perceive as artificial or arbitrary rules, policies, or regulations.

So why in this nation of free-thinking, freedom loving, don't you dare tell me what to do, think, feel, say, or buy kinds of people do we have so much sameness? Every town has a McDonalds and Starbucks, (usually more than one), you can score a $5 dollar Subway footlong everywhere, and in town after town a seemingly limitless string of non-descript strip malls remind you that even though you may be thousands of miles from home you have not gone very far.

A recent post on the Psychology Today Ulterior Motives blog titled 'Why We Love Independence, Individuality, and Starbucks' offers some ideas as to this apparent paradox - why we will sometimes travel across the globe only to seek out a cup of joe from Starbucks that we can easily get in our home towns. After reviewing some recent studies on the topics of mobility, choice, and familairity, the author offers the following observations to attempt to explain the seemingly contradiction:

The independent lifestyle that we often lead in the United States creates great freedom. But that freedom comes at the cost of our connection to community. When we move from place to place, we disrupt our connections to family and friends. We also force ourselves to adapt to a new house and a new environment.

In those times, we tend to attach ourselves to things that are familiar as an anchor. There are lots of things that we might use for that anchor. One of them is the places we shop. Shopping at a familiar chain store after moving provides a sense of balance to counteract the chaotic feelings we might have as we try to re-root ourselves in a new home.

Ok, that makes some sense. If you have relocated, left most all of your familiar surroundings and friends behind, then seeking out the relative sameness of chain stores, shops, or restaurants does certainly provide a level of comfort, and anchor of sorts as the piece describes. You may not know anyone in your new town, or at your new company, but that grande mocha with whipped cream will taste exactly the same as the one you used to get every morning on your way to your old job. And that is, mostly, a good thing. It's assuring, it's safe, maybe it is even control when everything else around you seems out of control. Starbucks and McDonalds are on every corner because we want them there, not really because there aren't better places in every town to get coffee and hamburgers.

So what's the hook back to work, or human resources, or anything at all relevant to the folks that might read this post?

Probably not much of one. Perhaps only that it might explain a little bit of why those unique, remarkable, and innovative corporate cultures we hear so much about (Zappos, Google, Netflix, etc.), seem to be the outliers, no matter how much they are discussed and analyzed. For all their notoriety and acclaim, the vast majority of us never get to work for those companies, the ones that are the corporate versions of that incredible hole in the wall local diner that makes the best handmade burgers and fries. 

Most of us tend to spend out time at the corporate equivalent of the Starbucks. Good. Quality. Solid. And exactly the same wherever you go. And that is the experience we bring with us as we move through the world. 

Happy Thanksgiving To All - Especially to Robot Toys

To all my US friends and readers - have a fantastic Thanksgiving Holiday and long weekend. 

This year I am especially thankful for all the great friends I had the chance to see and spend time with, and for all the new friends and colleagues I have met along the way as well.

And I am also thankful for the recent increased interest in this blog, which I attribute almost completely to people landing here after searching on Google for the words 'robot' or 'robots'. Go figure.

So with that, I will leave you with one of the coolest and most moving little robot videos you will ever see, a short piece called 'Address is Approximate' by The Theory. It's for everyone that has journeyed today to be with family and friends, and even for those of us who couldn't make the physical journey, but are still thinking about the people that mean the most to us. Note - Email and RSS subscribers may need to click through to see the video.

Enjoy!

Address Is Approximate from The Theory on Vimeo.

Have a fantastic Thanksgiving!

Go Gamecocks!