Congrats to former Major League Baseball (MLB) manager Jim Leyland who was just elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Above is a picture of Leyland’s first MLB baseball card when he took over as manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates back in 1986 – and he sported the “Abe Lincoln” style Pirates hat 🎩.
Leyland was an old-school baseball manager who was tough on the outside and fair on the inside.
His great leadership produced one World Series championship, two Pennants and three Manager of the Year awards.
There’s a lot we can learn from Leyland to be better leaders in the workplace and here were two of his leadership strengths:
🗣 Strong Communicator: Leyland was an outstanding communicator with his team. Before every game he would walk the baseball field during pre-game warmups to check-in with each member of his team.
📖 Honesty is the Best Policy: Leyland was always super transparent with his players. Here’s my favorite quote from Leyland which is absolutely applicable to managers and employees in the workplace: “If you mislead a player, you lose then forever. If you tell them the truth, you lose them for about 24 hours.”