January 2005
By Vincent M. Cramer
Diversity Wins the 2004 World Series
Utilizing the Power and Potential of Diversity
The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees are playing baseball at midnight in October, battling for the American League pennant. The year is 2003, and as this chapter of a Modern Greek Tragedy unfolds, the Yankees deliver another fatal dagger to the heart of Red Sox Nation, in the form of Aaron Boone’s bat. In the 11th inning of Game 7, he connects on a knuckleball from Tim Wakefield and launches a missile out of the park. The Yankees begin a phrenetic celebration, while the Red Sox walk off the field…dejected. Their 85-year journey of broken dreams continues without interruption.
Yogi Berra’s words, “déjà vu all over again,” never resonated more than at that moment. It seems that every year, the Red Sox are one-inning, one-out or even one-strike away from victory. Somehow, and in some way, it eludes their grasp. In 2003 it appeared that the outcome would be different. This team had rallied around the mantra of “Cowboy Up” to unite the team in its quest of a World Series title, but to no avail.
Assembling a Winning Team
More often than not, it has been the New York Yankees who beat the Red Sox in October, breaking the hearts of Sox fans in the process. So, it would have seemed logical that the formula for change would be to build and manage a team just as the Yankees had done. For those not familiar with this Greatest of Sports Rivalries, let me tell you, that would be heresy.
In the off-season, the Red Sox made a few key acquisitions, in the hope of providing the team with the talent it needed to prevail over the Yankees, and a World Series opponent, in 2004. There is nothing revolutionary in that approach. That is what EVERY major league team does during baseball’s winter months. The Red Sox went a step further and replaced the manager. The team’s owners and general manager had a very disciplined and analytical approach to baseball and they were hopeful that they had assembled the right mix of talent and experience to be a champion, if guided by a manager with the right skills, style and philosophy.
The Boston Red Sox have a history of eccentricity. Through the decades, probably beginning with Babe Ruth himself the team has had many colorful personalities. They flourished in Boston because the fans were focused on results, nothing else. If a member of the team had certain idiosyncrasies or eccentricities, they were irrelevant when compared to performance. The 2004 team not only accepted eccentricity and individuality, they encouraged it and embraced it.
Looking at the 2004 Boston Red Sox, it would be easy to describe them as a Team of Diversity, and historically, a Team of Destiny. However, the diversity of this team is more than meets the eye. The ’04 BoSox can best be described as having diversity of individuality. Management assembled a team of individuals covering the richness and spectrum of age, culture, experience, ethnicity, religion, personality, temperament, lifestyle, attitude, behavior and education.
The first casualty of the 2003 season was the rallying cry to “Cowboy Up”. No longer did the team need to be unified by this chant. They were now unified by the heartbreaking loss delivered by the Yankees in October 2003. These 25 men now had a unity of purpose to win the World Series and they were bonded by the heartbreak of defeat and a winter of reflection. Out of that shared heartbreak, each player developed a deep respect for, and appreciation of, his 24 teammates. They decided to encourage each other to expand and demonstrate their individual uniqueness and to share it with the fans and the media. What developed was the self-deprecating moniker of “A Bunch of Idiots”.
Thinking Outer the Box
An organization is usually encouraged to change its destiny by Thinking Outside of the Box. The Red Sox did not embrace that approach. I would describe their strategy as Thinking Outer the Box. They allowed, and encouraged, each member of the team to be himself, to relax and to expand themselves to the OUTER limits of their individuality and uniqueness. The team’s management was very comfortable and confident in taking such an unorthodox approach because everyone knew that the team was passionately unified by its objective to return to the postseason in 2004 and to win it ALL. To them, ALL meant only one thing: winning the World Series.
As the expressions of individuality were manifested, it became apparent that the 2004 Boston Red Sox was a truly unique team. Even their uniforms weren’t uniform. Some players wore their pants long and others’ short, with socks and without socks, tight fitting or loose. Some had a disheveled look, with the shirt hanging outside the pants. Batting practice took place with the players wearing loose sweatshirts, looking like a company softball team. During the game, some players wore sweat-stained hats and helmets covered in pine tar. We have yet to discuss the subject of hair… facial hair, long hair, no hair and braided hair. It appears that anything goes!
Individually, they were stating their uniqueness. They were also communicating what they were as a team and what they were not as a team. They wanted the world to know that they were not conforming to the pinstripe fashion of a Wall Street executive, or the pinstripe conformity of the New York Yankees.
IMI — Out of this environment of individual expression came a team that was comfortable and relaxed about the job that was before them. Each of them truly valued the others because they took the time to truly understand and appreciate each other. One result was a team that led the major leagues in hugs. They demonstrated a never-ending parade of creative handshakes, head butts and forearm smashes. The gestures of solidarity and brotherhood were specific to the celebratory pair. One size did not fit all.
October 2004 proved to be a complete reversal of the previous year. Rather than being on the doorstep of victory, this Red Sox team was 3 outs away from an embarrassing four-game-sweep by the New York Yankees. From that precipice of annihilation, what developed has been described as the Greatest Comeback in Baseball History. In 100 years of baseball, no team had ever recovered from a 0-3 game deficit to prevail in a best-of-seven playoff series. No team had ever won the next three games, so winning the next four games must be placed in the category of impossibility. This 2004 Boston Red Sox team never stopped winning. That meant winning eight consecutive games and the title of World Series Champions.
Team of Destiny — Team of Diversity
Not having won the World Series in 86 years and finally winning in the fashion that they did, surely earned the Red Sox the title of Team of Destiny. However, why should we call it a Team of Diversity, and why should that description be given any credit for the teams ultimate success?
Every one of us who has played an organized sport has been told that in order to excel, one must stay relaxed, stay focused and execute. That is simple to say, but difficult to do. It is almost impossible to do when that focus is obliterated by the image of immediate failure. How can a person prevent dire thoughts from infiltrating the brain when defeat is just a few heartbeats away?
This year, the team’s objective to win the World Series was not heartbeats away. Visualizing victory was nearly impossible. It lay on the other side of many layers of ominous images that the mind cannot seem to dispel.
Because the 2004 Red Sox team was given the freedom to create an environment that was best suited to them, team members were able to stay in the moment, for a marathon of moments. Each player focused on the contribution that he could make at each moment of the game. They only needed to be what they were, stay relaxed, stay focused and perform to the level of their ability. Knowing that each one of the 25 “idiots” was doing the same, gave the team a collective sense of confidence, despite impending doom. On a team of 25 baseball players, each member does not own 4% of the responsibility for success. Each player owns 100% responsibility at the instant and the moment that his contribution can be made. Not only did each player know what was expected of him, each knew what to expect of the others.
Had not the Boston Red Sox of 2004 created an environment that facilitated diversity and expressions of individuality, the players would not have possessed the insight and confidence in each other to enable the team to face down adversity, deploy their diversity and become the champions of baseball. This team created a working environment that worked for everyone on the team…the players, the manager, the executives and the owners. If they had not created this working environment over the course of the year, it would not have been possible to stay relaxed and focused over the final 44 do-or-die innings with the Yankees and prevail. That is why this collection of “idiots” was able to do what no other baseball team could even comprehend as possible.
In this Age of Diversity, the 2004 Boston Red Sox have shown Corporate America what it takes to thrive and succeed:
- Create a diverse organization.
- Create an environment to facilitate maximum contribution by every individual.
- Establish a clear objective.
- Allow the group to utilize its individual and collective talents to achieve the objective.
Vincent M. Cramer is the author of Cramer’s Cube. He is also the founder of Winchester Consulting Group, an Organizational Development and Training Company specializing in the principles of Cramer's Cube and its application to Leadership, Innovation and Diversity Asset Management™. www.cramerscube.com
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