“The future ain’t what it used to be” – Yogi Berra Anyone who follows baseball knows that the game is changing with the times. Many New Yorkers were surprised when the Yankees didn’t renew manager Joe Girardi’s contract. Like the line from the Godfather, “it’s nothing personal just business.” Sometimes fans forget that baseball is just that, a business. Girardi and the Yankees came within one win of going to the World Series. Girardi was one of several managers let go by their organizations due to the changing role of the modern manager. What’s going on in baseball is going on in all sports and across the board in the business sector as well. With the growing computerization of the game comes the age of analytics and a new breed of younger data-savvy managers. The younger generation of players does not respond to old-school methods of communication. More than winning games, the modern MLB manager and coaching staff must be skilled in relating to and connecting with this younger generation of players. Change is Here to Stay Sports franchises like all organizations today, must remain current to survive, the only difference from generations past is the rapidity of the changes they’re facing today. Emerging business leaders need to be skilled on two fronts; navigating a new culture and learning new technologies. Emerging leaders now more than at any other time must lead inter-generationally. To build inter-generationally a company must keep their internal cultures contemporary. In observing people and their societal structures, many social historians have noted the tendency for people to become attached to cultural norms. People buy into an organization’s need to change quicker than their own need to change with it. Just like baseball, not everyone likes the changes, but like it or not, change is here to stay. “It is up to us to live up to the legacy that was left for us, and to leave a legacy that is worthy of our children and of future generations” – Christine Gregoire As we move forward, employers are looking at rapidly changing demographics in the workforce. It’s estimated that by 2020 Millennials will make up 50 percent of that workforce. Leaders today are facing both a rapidly evolving technology and a vastly different culture they’ll be employing. Organizations need leaders to be skilled in understanding and connecting two cultures simultaneously. The teams that are in place now must be able to understand and acclimate new members into the organization’s culture, and that requires clear communication. The Collaboration of Generations Like baseball, the workforce of the future will be called upon to be empowering and motivating enough to enable people to look to the future with great anticipation and meet the challenges of a changing society and be willing to change with it. Imagine the effectiveness an organization with experienced teams that know how to connect younger in-coming employees with older more experienced ones. The younger being motivated to glean from the experience of the older and the older motivated to learn new ways of seeing and doing things from the younger. Five practices from John C. Maxwell’s “Everyone Communicates Few Connect” will help generations to understand each other and work together. In our upcoming Leadership Bootcamp on January 12th, we will discussing many of the points discussed in this article in further depth. You can check it out here http://www.LionsPrideBootcamps.com. Hope to see you there. Connectors Connect on Common Ground All positive relationships are built on common interests and values. They’re founded upon agreement, not disagreement. Connectors Do the Difficult Work of Keeping It Simple Life’s issues can be maddeningly complex, and a leader’s job is to bring simplicity and clarity to them. Connectors Create an Experience Everyone Enjoys How you communicate often carries more weight than what you say. Connectors Inspire People The energy that people put into their work depends upon the inspirational qualities of their leader. Connectors Live What They Communicate In the short run, people judge a leader on his or her communication skills. In the long run, people follow what they see instead of what they are told. (1) (1) “Everyone Communicates Few Connect” by John C. Maxwell *** This article was authored by John Picarello, Chief Leadership Officer at Lions Pride Leadership Co.***