This past week Ben Cherington was named the General Manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, a great move for a franchise which was on the rise and suddenly lost its way again. Cherington has been a patient builder of organizations and culture wherever he has been, and if the past is a harbinger of the future, Bucs fans should have a fun ride coming up.
One thing struck us about his announcement, which was both surprising and pleasing. It wasn’t about his climb back to the top of a key position in Major League Baseball, or boisterous boasts about the future, or even talk about disruption and innovation to turn Pittsburgh baseball back around.
It was a point he made about his time away from the game, teaching…and learning at our program at Columbia. The full story which came out can be read here from the Pittsburgh Tribune .
It served as a great reminder for why people, especially professionals with lots of experiences to share, turn to academia, not as a fulltime profession, but as a part-time vocation. It’s a great way to give back, but it is also a great way to learn for those who go in with an open mind and realize that education never stops, and is frankly, a two way street.
Ben spent a semester on campus following his departure from the Red Sox at the coaxing of Vince Gennaro, who was then head of our program, and had come to know him through Vince’s great analytic work, and as President of the Society of American Baseball Research (SABR). He taught a class NOT about baseball analytics as some might expect, it was “Leadership and Personnel Management,” using his time away from the front office to talk about the experiences of culture and business in a high pressure job, one which just happened to be in sports.
His goal, it turned out, was to learn, as much as to teach, something which those who enjoy being around students who have such bright minds, be they high school, undergraduate or grad school, can relate to, and hopefully take away as well.
“I really just wanted to learn something next,” Cherington said. “I had been with Boston for 17 years, the last four as general manager, and I knew I was going to work in baseball again. I felt like whatever I did next that I would be better at it if I took the time to learn more about myself, learn about what had just happened there.”
Usually such appointments at Universities come with great fanfare and buzz. Ben’s time on campus was actually pretty quiet. Press release, a few media opportunities, but not all that much. I was lucky enough to spend some time with him as well as a few phone calls, but it was obvious that the time he wanted to spend, rightfully so, was with the students, sharing as much with them as they did with him.
That sharing of knowledge and information and experience, real experience, is what I personally have enjoyed the most in the now 14 years I have been lucky enough to teach, first at NYU and now at Columbia, and also in the high school program done by The School of the New York Times (we also did a three week high school program in the summer at Columbia for five years, but that is on hiatus last year and this coming summer). While I can talk and share stories and best practices, the real fun part of the experience comes with the give and take, and even more, from the places that the students go when they leave our short few months or weeks together. You hope you impart some things and they glean a little knowledge that has relevance in their next steps, and that the people they meet begin lasting relationships personally and professionally.
You also hope that every time a class starts that those in front of you help to open new doors of thought and discovery for you; and I can safely say EVERY class I have been involved with, that has been the case. Lessons learned by me…for life. Now it’s not always the same, as when you are dealing with people, especially young people, the level of engagement is not the same; each person has a different level of interest and a story, and you work to try and make each experience as unique as possible. Sometimes it clicks, a few times it doesn’t, and you adjust, learn and move on. Sometimes the impact you can have is also unexpected; it may show up in a mention or a note down the road, with someone you didn’t even realize you were helping along their journey. That is the beauty of discovery, and of being in and around the learning experience.
Now you often hear the stories of teachers, or even executives, who have stopped learning and growing; they complain about the drudgery, the lack of diversity of thought, the (sometimes) low pay and the bureaucracy that can exist in academia, where wheels sometimes turn slowly. Some also go into it high on ego and low on effort, and preparation and the results sometime mirror the input. That is pretty rare, but it does happen.
But back to Ben Cherington and his experience that played out in the story, as he begins his new run in Pittsburgh. It really served as a great, and very welcomed, reminder of the good that can come out of both a change of scenery and time spent in and around inquisitive, excited and engaged young minds from different backgrounds. We often talk about a key to growth is getting comfortable being uncomfortable, and challenging oneself, whether it’s in a job, a relationship, a classroom or even a hobby. That’s what should keep us fresh and engaged.
It’s easy to keep one’s head down and move along; box checking sometimes has its merits for sure, and there are always tasks to be done. However we should never stop learning and looking to open new doors; it keeps us engaged and interested, and you never know what you will find; just ask the Pirates new GM.
