Yogi and Lessons From Behind the Plate

Yogi Berra was one of the greatest catchers in baseball history. He was also one of the best hitters. Yogi’s skills as a baseball player have a lot to teach us in chasing our own dreams and success.

Yogi Berra is one of my favorite baseball players of all time. Maybe it’s because I played the position of catcher for many years and had hopes of making it big too. A fifteen-time All Star, he was regarded as the toughest man in baseball in the last three innings. In spite of his unusual form, Yogi didn’t strike out often. In 1950, he struck out only 12 times in 597 at bats. Yogi was an ‘opportunity’ master.

Perhaps Yogi’s great success at the plate came from his thinking with regards to hitting. Every time he stood at the plate, he knew he only had a split second to respond. His movements had to timed perfectly. This could only come from practice. This is what makes the professionals so great. They do it over and over until it becomes a reflex. No thought is required. The ball is moving extremely fast so they wouldn’t have much time for thinking anyhow. Yogi once said “How can you think and hit at the same time?” This is a great mindset that we can apply to our career.

Just like Yogi at the plate, you must be ready for any career opportunity. You have to be prepared to respond without thinking. Just 100 percent pure reaction. This ability isn’t developed without lots and lots of practice. Everything has to be prepared and engraved in your brain. Then, once the skill is developed, you can decide on what opportunities to take. You don’t have to swing at everything. Swinging like Yogi requires 1) response time, 2) practice and 3) patience.

Response Time. The first lesson we can learn from Yogi’s hitting history is that the ball is moving fast and we have little time to respond. Most of us mention that we don’t get a lot of opportunities. Maybe it’s because we don’t see them or we are not ready for them and they just fly right by. Yogi said you don’t have time to think when the ball is released from the pitcher’s hand. You just get a quick glance. It’s only long enough to understand that the opportunity is on its way. You don’t have time to move up in the box, choke up on the bat or look to the coach for guidance. You’ve got to decide whether to swing or not.

The pace of the corporate world just keeps getting faster and faster. Opportunities are flying by us like a 95 MPH fastball. Hiring managers look at our resume for about 20 seconds. Executives give us about 30 seconds to make our elevator pitch on the ride between floors. New contacts at a networking event give us only a minute or two to make that first impression (and we only get one pitch). Viewers of our websites rate its visual appeal in just 1/20 of a second.

While we normally think careers are made over a long period of time, the opportunities that set there course are not. They happen almost instantly. A short conversation, a handshake, or a glance at your credentials can set you on a new course. This means you must be prepared. You don’t have time to create the speech, wash your hands or write your resume. All of that must come naturally, as without any effort. You only get that when you practice.

Practice. Practice. Practice. The professional players practice hitting almost constantly. They take batting practice before the game. They practice hitting on off days. Repetition builds the skill. You do it over and over until you don’t have to think about doing it. It just happens. Taking advantage of career opportunities means you need to have already prepared your elevator pitch, resume, success stories, list of strengths, and so on. Then, you take that elevator pitch and practice it until you commit it to memory. You can practice it in front of friends and family. Maybe you join Toastmasters to get help in developing a lot of your speeches. In any case, you develop your skills so that they can be called upon in a split second to present the best of you to any audience.

Patience. Once you’ve got your skills developed, you’ll begin to develop a greater vision for identifying the opportunities to take. It’s what the professionals call Patient Hitting. You don’t have to swing at every opportunity that comes by. You can discern which ones you can hit and which ones you can’t. The best way to learn this is to watch the professionals. Yogi said “You can observe a lot just by watching.” Just turn on the TV and watch them play. The pitcher winds up and leans forward to release the ball toward the plate. The batter starts leaning forward in preparation to swing. He’s nothing thinking about his movements. He’s keeping his eye on the ball to see where it goes and trying to determine if he can hit it. He’s not focusing on anything else. He’s engulfed in the moment on every pitch.

Even in the last innings of the game, there process is still the same. Our career is likely to be long. We’ll work for many years. When does our opportunity come that will change it dramatically? Who knows. We just know that these opportunities come and go quickly. We must prepare for it constantly so that when it does, we don’t hesitate to respond or we don’t strike out by trying to reach something we could never hit.

Yogi Berra was one of the few catchers ever awarded the Most Valuable Player Award. He won it three times — 1951, 1954 and 1955.

Thanks, Yogi!

Author:

Todd Rhoad is Director at BT Consulting, a career consulting firm in Altanta, and can be reached at todd.rhoad@blitzteamconsulting.com.