How to take two seemingly unrelated topics – the hiring of a guy named Mike Quade as Cubs Manager, and your own management challenges – and blend them together? Leave it to Area 224.
We’re headquartered in Chicago’s North Shore, Evanston, IL, to be exact – where a guy named Mike Quade was born. Same guy who took over the Chicago Cubs as their Interim Manager earlier this season – and the same guy who got the job for keeps yesterday. What can CEOs learn from all this?
1. Be Thorough, But Not Deliberate. The Cubs interviewed a few people, did their due diligence, made sure they had talked to everybody. BUT, if they didn’t act now, they’d have to wait until early November – after the World Series and its moratorium on major announcements. If they were deliberate, they’d miss the opportunity to get their guy – and, if Quade was their guy all along, they’d make it seem like he wasn’t.
2. Be Prepared to Lose the Runners-Up. When Jack Welch hired Jeffrey Immelt to be his replacement at GE, it was expected that the other two candidates – both GE folks – would leave. They did.
The Cubs may have missed out on Ryne Sandberg – Hall of Famer, guy who toiled in the Cubs organization riding buses and tutoring minor-leaguers for the past five years – ever becoming their manager. Whether Sandberg ends up managing the Milwaukee Brewers (just miles up the road, in the same division) or someone else, the Cubs will have to live with that fact.
3. Be Decisive. The Ricketts family – who bought the Cubs earlier this year – and their deputy, Jim Hendry, the GM, stand behind their guy 100%. Sandberg would have been the easy choice, given the fact that he’s popular and has a retired jersey. Even a guy like Joe Girardi would have been worth pursuing, since he grew up saying he wanted to manage the Cubs.
But an October 19 announcement while the post-season is in mid-swing, that is decisive. And the full support – “this is our guy” – keeps people from wondering if there’s a trick up the Cubs’ sleeve. There isn’t.
4. Trust Your Gut. Never in my 20+ years in business – sportscaster, junior PR guy, VP of Global PR, startup CEO, guy behind digital agency – has my gut failed me. When I walked away from crappy business relationships, I slept better at night. When I didn’t – even though my gut was telling me there was something flat out bad about what was going on – I regretted it later.
There’s a gut feeling about this guy that just says “winner.” Maybe moreso than any Cubs manager since Frank Chance?
This could have been a long, drawn-out, painful process. But it wasn’t.
Next time you’re looking to make that key hire, make that key business move, make something happen, consider taking a page from the Cubs playbook. At least the off-the field playbook.
