5 Business Lessons You Can Learn From Baseball

Every American is familiar with baseball — a sport as integral to the imagery of American culture as apple pie. Baseball was even once declared the national game by President Coolidge; it was cherished as a pastime during the harrowing days of World War II; and to many, it has been framed as a vehicle for stoking patriotism and deriving national pride. 

And as I recently watched my son play at practice, I couldn’t help but think about the intangible, transferable tools we learn in sports and use in the rest of our lives. Here is what I realized: There is a strong connection among the lessons from the field that can be used directly at the desk. Here’s what I found during my epiphany:

Lesson #1: It’s the whole structure that counts.

No team can succeed if their success hinges on one player. Instead, it takes a tribe. Both managers and players need to work together to achieve their shared goals.

In translation, companies cannot afford to take anyone for granted. All employees’ efforts must be appreciated because, without the whole team, the business falls apart.

Lesson #2: Hard work pays off.

When children first start playing baseball, there is no structure. No score is kept. Only three to five innings are played. However, as players enter into the later years, the game becomes more serious: Plays don’t stop until the defense stops the runners or until someone calls “timeout.” The game goes on, and there are no shortcuts. 

When unanticipated events occur, teams come together to overcome such obstacles. And, when players are not catching the ball, they must be preparing for the next pass. There is no stopping. Teams must continuously learn and grow together to win the game.

This is the same in business. As time passes, procedures change, markets shift, and consumer demands evolve. To find ongoing success, business teams must continuously work and grow together to overcome obstacles. Teamwork and communication are essential, and there is no such thing as stasis — you must always work to be better if you want to remain competitive.

Lesson #3: Growth happens when you work together.

I grew up in public school, participating in Little League. I knew every kid on my team and probably played with them at recess or after school multiple times a day in at least three different sports during the year. We won together, lost together, and learned who each other were. Our childhoods were made so much richer for these shared experiences.

Just like in baseball, business is about growing together. When a team can function at its maximum ability together, they can produce more revenue. They can navigate through challenges more effectively and streamline their processes. It takes time and growth to really become a robust operating system.

Lesson #4: Success is found in repetition.

Baseball is all about repetition. Every play is known, so there really aren’t any surprises unless you don’t see the situation clearly or a physical error is made. As a result, teams must build strength with time as they practice and repeat plays during games over and over. Sometimes, more is more, and that holds true when it comes to developing pattern recognition, cementing new neural pathways, and building muscle memory — the foundations of mastering anything.

Business success is also found in repetition. As a real estate agent, you are in sales. You sell yourself to the clients, convincing them why it’s an excellent time to market and why you are the best agent for the job. With repetition, you will learn what works and what doesn’t; you will come to recognize types of clients and the most effective angle for them, specifically; you will perfect the timing of what you say and how you say it. In short, your pitch only gets more effective over time, just like your batting average does in baseball.

Lesson #5: Communication is key.

At first, baseball involves a lot of verbal communication. Then, as the action begins, players rely much more on nonverbal communication, such as hand signals. Simple signals can telegraph what play will be made next—man on first and second with one out. Ball to the 3rd baseman and quick throw to 2nd baseman, standing on 2nd, and then to 1st for a double-play, end of the inning. The play goes quickly but is done via effective communication. When teams are unable to accomplish this kind of seamless, non-verbal communication, we see even all-star teams fail.

Again, this principle is the same as any other business or industry, including real estate. You must read the room, read your audience, and read the client. Nonverbal communication is considered 90% of communication, and inaccurate readings can cause deals to fall through.

Applying Baseball to Everyday Business

At the end of the day, we wouldn’t be so emotionally invested in sports if they were truly just a game. The reality is, our athletic pursuits represent so much more in our lives – They have become some of our favorites for discussing adversity, teamwork, success, and resilience.

It is more accurate to say that sports are more than a game: they teach us the invaluable skills that transfer so readily to our personal and professional lives — skills that are impossible to learn in a classroom and must be learned on the job or in the outfield.

In the case of this thought experiment, it is the finer points of baseball — structure, hard work, collaboration, repetition, and communication — that map so readily onto our professional careers.