Published on: May 11, 2010
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Baseball, as the late, great Robert B. Parker once said, “is the most important thing that doesn’t matter.” It also is true that baseball serves as a great metaphor for so many things. in our book, “The Big Picture: Essential Business Lessons from the Movies,” Michael Sansolo and I cite baseball moves that include Bull Durham and A League Of Their Own as offering wonderful examples of business behavior and attitudes to emulate and avoid.
So it makes sense that a piece that former major league outfielder Doug Glanville wrote recently for the New York Times website would have some resonance for me. (BTW...you should check out Glanville’s regular columns on the Times “Opinionator” site - as a writer, he’s got really good stuff.)
This particular piece, entitled “Too Much Information,” looks at the ways in which scouting has changed over the years, and the impact that these advances have had on player performance. Here’s part of what Glanville writes:
“When I first arrived in the minor leagues, we studied our opponents by using our eyes and sharing information. When I reached the majors, the VCR was our friend — we watched hours of video in search of any pattern or tip that might give us some advantage. It took an inordinate amount of time to fast-forward or rewind to that key moment you needed to see, but at least we had a tool. Hopefully there was no rain delay that day or there would be a lot of fast-forwarding through static-filled screens. With those VCRs, patience was not only a virtue but a necessity. Then again, I am sure the generation before me would say the same thing. If it hadn’t been captured on 8mm film, it was hearsay and storytelling that supplied the information.
“Today, with the massive possibilities of computers, scouting a player has taken a giant leap. There are cameras everywhere that can break down speed, swings, sequences, all at the touch of a button. (For better or worse, this also gives millions of people the ability to analyze every tidbit and then form their own opinion.) Now, not only can I tell you what Jamie Moyer will throw you, I can tell you when, and what he does to tip it off, and how he performs during day games, maybe even factor in how someone just tweeted that Jamie’s breakfast this morning didn’t agree with his stomach.”
Not only can players assess other players, but they also can analyze their own performances to a far greater degree - looking at their swings, for example, over and over and over. This probably leads some players to be better hitters, but other players to become adrift in a sea of too much information.
And this, finally, is Glanville’s big point. Again, in his words:
“We know more, and we know it sooner. And the better players know what information to keep — and use to formulate a plan — and what to throw out.
“But when all is said and done, if you don’t have instincts for what is happening, a perpetual stream of information just becomes a time-stealing vortex, and useless at best — even though you may know a lot more than you did when you started studying.”
That’s the business metaphor.
Even as you listen to or read this commentary, there are people here in Las Vegas, walking the floor of the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) show, or attending general sessions or workshops, looking for information, looking for an edge. Or, they are back home in their offices, pouring over data, or making deals to accumulate even more data, so that performances of people and stores and products and categories can be analyzed down to the nth degree.
But let me repeat Glanville’s admonition:
“But when all is said and done, if you don’t have instincts for what is happening, a perpetual stream of information just becomes a time-stealing vortex, and useless at best — even though you may know a lot more than you did when you started studying.”
He was writing about baseball, but he could have been writing about retailing, or virtually any other kind of business. And while he specifically refers to “instinct,” I’d be willing to bet that he would also classify passion as a major factor in getting it right.
Sure, information is important. But it is no replacement for loving what you do, and developing an instinct for it. It is no replacement for prowling the aisles, or talking to customers, for being the shopper in a way that transcends mere data.
After all, as they say in Bull Durham, “Baseball is a simple game. You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains.”
Think about it.
For MNB Radio, I’m Kevin Coupe.
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