Francona

I haven't blogged in while but I figured tonight, as I sit here watching the Red Sox finally going to be able to snap their three-game skid, was as good of time as ever to write something.

A while ago I bought Terry Francona's book "Francona: The Red Sox Years" and just recently - in the last week - have had a chance to really sit down and read it following hectice but fun spring season. And you know what? The book is actually very interesting.

While the book details Francona's eight year tenure at the helm of one of baseball's top franchises, it did more than just go describe the exuberant feeling of winning the first World Series in 86 years fro the franchise in his first year or how he felt winning it all once again in 2007. It did more than that. As I go back and steal a quote from who this blog was named after, it was a "Head Fake."

Sure we learned that Francona is technologically illiterate or that he was "working" for the Sox in the months prior to officially being anointed with the title manager but we learned something even more important. What book is actually trying to teach is how to lead.

(More than half-way through book I have come to the conclusion and going back to a term from my American Political Institutions class my sophomore year in college, Francona is, what James David Barber would describe as an "Active-Positive.")

Being a Good Leader:

• Always make your people feel important
• When Francona was officially named the Red Sox Manager on Thursday December 4th one his first orders of business was making individual phone calls to every member of the 2004 squad. Because as he said "I wanted to make that call. When I was a player, I always wished the manager did something to make me feel important." 
• This is something that I did a number of times this year. Many times this year student workers have stepped up and helped me with something at a game that I took time to send them a quick text/email/G-chat message after the game. It goes a long way. Show them how much they are appreciated. 
• Build trust with your people
• Many people have bashed Francona for not calling out his players in public but that was all part of his style and world view. He was not about to call out his players in front of the media and it was clearly evident. 
• To no one's surprise Francona did have a particularly hard time dealing with Pedro when Francona first came to town. And who wouldn't. Pedro was the Ace of the staff and he was the best pitcher in baseball the time so he had a reason to be a bit of Diva/Drama Queen. In the 2004 opener against Baltimore Pedro had an un-Pedro-like performance, he tested his new manager and left the ballpark early - a no-no under Francona. But instead of going in front of the media and making it a bigger issue, he minimized the transgression and dealt with Pedro's misbehavior internally
• That's key right there. While ripping someone in public may feel good in the moment, it will not pay dividends in the end. 
• Praise in public then address the issue in private will pay off in the end and in the process people will build trust in you
• Don't Rant & Rave 
• Francona's first team meeting of the 2004 season came following a five game losing streak. Instead of letting loose on them like a wild animal, he was calm and told them "we're in it for the long. I'm not panicked...You're going to be fine, trust me." 
• Sort of like what I said about building trust and not ripping someone in public, raving while it may feel good to just let loose, it won't do any good in the long run. First off, if you rant, you're going to lose everyone's attention quickly and second, by ranting and raving people may lose confidence in themselves and in the process lose trust and confidence in you. 
• Team-Building
• Francona talks about the many card and cribbage games the 2004 team had on road trips and how important they can be for team morale and motivation. 
• Doing things that have nothing to do with the day-to-day operations is sometimes key to building team morale and can be used a break in the action. 
• Stay In Control, Don't Panic
• After the Sox got hammered by the Yankees in Game Three of the ALDS 19-8, Francona rolled out the exact same line-up for Game Four because he wanted to avoid any appearance of panic. 
• "Players take their cue off you. If I'm losing it, it gives them the right to lose it." - Francona
• As Coach Diehl used to say "the team takes on the personality of the coach." Of course nine years ago when Coach said this to us, as a team, we didn't think much of it. But it's true. Teams really do take on the personality of their coach. If you're out of control and can't handle something then most likely your team will not be able to handle it either. 
• Round-Table Discussions
• Three times a year Red Sox management would sit down and have roundtable discussions with the manager, general manager and players to give everyone an opportunity to air their grievances. 
• It's important to listen to what people are unhappy about that way changes can be made to make it better.
• Make Them Feel As If They're Making The Decision
• Francona was dealing with a situation between David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez and which one of them would hit third and who would hit fourth. 
• Manny was very temperamental. Sometimes he liked to hit third, sometimes fourth. Well Francona really liked Ortiz hitting third and Ramirez hitting fourth.
• Generally people like to think that they are making the decisions so if at all possible try to create an environment where that is possible. People always will want to do the right thing so they will choose the correct choice. It's kinda like dealing with kids. 
• "One Thing That Truly Sinks A Team Is If The Manager/Coach Loses The Respect Of The Players"
• The ownership called for a management meeting where John Henry asked Francona to make a public apology to Manny about comment he made about Ramirez in a post-game press conference. Francona didn't bury Manny but he also didn't come to his rescue. But nonetheless, Henry still wanted an apology. 
• Francona was not going to do that because that may have made Manny feel better but he would have lost the other 24 guys in the clubhouse. 
• It's important to stay the course and stick to your guns because "what may be good for one person, is not good for the team as a whole. 

Well these are the seven things I have so far from reading Francona's book. I'm sure to add to this list once I finish.