As the MLB playoffs get underway, we look to the heroes of the diamond for inspiration. And who better than The Sultan of Swat himself? (Even if, for those of us with a sense of history, we know that Babe Ruth is forever a Red Sox at heart—before he became a Yankee legend).
This week’s wisdom comes from the Great Bambino on overcoming your inner critic:
“Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.” — Babe Ruth
🧠 The Leadership Lesson: Courage Over Comfort
In business, “striking out” is fear of rejection, failure, or public misstep. Ruth’s quote is a mandate for courageous leadership, urging us to embrace the high-stakes swing rather than settling for a safe bunt.
Here is how leaders apply this quote every day:
- 1. Innovation vs. Paralysis (The Strategic Swing): The fear of launching a new product, process, or market strategy that might fail (striking out) often causes organizational paralysis. A courageous leader views failure as the fastest, cheapest form of market research. Instead of waiting for a 100% perfect strategy, they champion the Minimum Viable Product (MVP), knowing that early, small-scale failure provides immediate, actionable data to pivot or persevere. Staying safe means guaranteeing stagnation.
- 2. Difficult Conversations (The Tough At-Bat): Leadership requires confronting hard truths. This includes asking for a significant resource investment, delivering crucial negative performance feedback, or challenging an executive’s flawed vision. The fear is of a negative “strikeout” response (rejection, conflict, or even an employee quitting). A leader who internalizes this quote prioritizes organizational clarity over personal comfort. They initiate the conversation, knowing that honesty is a duty, even when the outcome is uncertain or uncomfortable.
- 3. Team Empowerment (Letting Others Swing): Micromanagement is often rooted in a leader’s own fear of proxy failure—the fear that their direct reports will strike out, reflecting poorly on the leader. Great leaders adopt Ruth’s mindset by delegating major responsibilities and granting true autonomy. They clearly communicate the objective, provide the resources, and then step back, thereby creating a culture of psychological safety. This empowers team members to take calculated risks and fosters confidence that the leader has their back, regardless of the outcome.
- 4. Setting Audacious Goals (Aiming for the Bleachers): Leaders often limit goals to what is immediately achievable to ensure a high success rate. Babe Ruth didn’t just aim for base hits; he aimed for home runs. Applying this to leadership means establishing “stretch goals” or “BHAGs” (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) that initially seem impossible. This challenges the team’s assumptions, forces creative problem-solving, and prevents the complacency that comes from constantly achieving “easy” successes.
Leadership, like baseball, is a game of probability. The best hitters in the history of the game failed far more often than they succeeded, but they never let the fear of that one failed at-bat keep them from swinging for the next win. Today, choose courage, step up to the plate, and give your biggest idea the swing it deserves.
📚 Book Recommendation for “Swinging Big”
To fully embrace this idea, I recommend:
“The Obstacle Is the Way” by Ryan Holiday
This book, rooted in the philosophy of Stoicism, perfectly complements Ruth’s quote. It teaches you that what blocks your path is actually the way to your success.
- The Connection: Fear of striking out makes the obstacle (the pitcher) seem unconquerable. Holiday shows you how to adjust your Perception (see the failure as a test), take Action (swing the bat), and have the Will (keep swinging tomorrow). The book provides a practical mental operating system for turning the inevitability of failure into your greatest advantage.