Five clicks reveal the best-in-class leader is on board

Scan my items and you will see that I am an ardent baseball fan and former player with a highlight reel stamped in my memory.

Therefore, I am especially attuned to the impacts changes in team leadership can have on a club, starting with ownership and working down to the general manager, front office and coach levels.

I’ve usually noticed that when a “best in class” leader is introduced and given wide latitude to do his thing, the franchise quickly ascends to a golden age.

We’re seeing that with the 2009 Los Angeles Dodgers, under the leadership of Captain Joe Torre.

If there is a Dean of contemporary major league managers, it is Mr. Torre. Having led the Yankees to postseason berths 12 years in a row, in 2008, he took a bag of old but musty rookies, the Dodgers, not to the World Series, but close, losing the National League title to the last world champions, the Philadelphia Phillies.

This year, the Dodgers could go head-to-head, sitting in first place for almost an entire season, mostly with the same team, with some notable veteran upgrades.

Torre has had to navigate a supposedly weak pitching staff, the 50-game suspension and scandal surrounding super-hitter Manny Ramirez, and a variety of injuries earlier in the season. However, he and his team are cohesive and find ways to win, often in gutsy, gutsy, last-minute mini-techniques, also known as “small balls.”

Torre helped turn around a team that had learned to accept defeat and had a fairly unbroken record of losing for 20 years, dating back to 1988.

As it did? He mentions “trust” quite a bit. He congratulates his experienced and talented coaches and of course says that this club is something special. They have fun, but they don’t succumb to the bipolar ills that plague most teams: overconfidence and self-destruction.

My theory is that you can hear multiple clicks when in the presence of the best-in-class leader, for an extended period of time:

(1) We raise our level of aspiration, aiming higher than ever.
(2) Our self-esteem gets a boost by association. If we’re good enough for him or her, we’re good enough for anyone.
(3) Without our own winning record, we have theirs to fall back on. He’s done it before, and we’ll do it again.
(4) Everything feels different, but in subtle ways. Winning provides a “high,” but celebrating is brief. Losing is unfortunate, but there is always another game, so let’s look ahead.
(5) Optimism is the generalized outlook. No loss, setback, or challenge is seen as permanent, pervasive, and personal, which psychologist Martin Seligman says is the characteristic emotional perspective of losers and pessimists.

My professor, the famous management guru Peter F. Drucker, one of the best thinkers in his class, used to say that when I got into a well-run organization, it was usually “boring.” No one was panicking, rushing to complete tasks, missing deadlines, distracted, or tormented.

It had none of the edgy, gosh-gosh “start-up” vibes.

There may be loud music in the Dodgers clubhouse.

But under that din, you’ll hear those all-important “clicks” that are the signs the best-in-class leader is on board.