“Baseball, it is said, is ‘only a game’. True.  And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona.

Not all holes, or games, are created equal.”

George Will

Syndicated Columnist

“Baseball is 90 percent mental and the other half is physical.”

 Yogi Berra

“Good pitching will always beat good hitting… and vice versa.”

 Bob Veale

Major League Left Handed Pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Boston Red Sox

Are you REALLY a baseball fan?

Not everyone agrees with George Will’s take on politics and other aspects of American life, but most baseball fans acknowledge that few students of the game are more passionate, or informed, about the sport than he (the Pulitzer Prize winning columnist was once seriously considered for the post of Major League Baseball Commissioner).

 Baseball is said to be a thinking person’s game and Will brings the depth of knowledge and insight for which he is justly famous to a recent Charlie Rose interview segment in which he waxed eloquently about baseball in general, about  his new baseball book on iconic Wrigley Field, and the Chicago Cubs in particular. (His wry comments on why he became a Cubs fan instead of a Cardinals fan alone justify the investment of 25 minutes of your time with the Charlie Rose interview).  (Cubs fans love the new season because it’s one of the few times each year that the Cubs have not been mathematically eliminated from winning the National League pennant.)

Are you in George Will’s league in your baseball knowledge? Find out by taking George Will’s 2014 Opening Day Baseball Quiz  published this last week in the Washington Post.

Finally, as befits its status as “America’s Pastime” baseball is the only major league sport to inspire a successful Broadway Musical: “Damn Yankees.” If you still need to get in the mood for the opening of the new season day take 3:39  minutes to enjoy the show’s opening song  “Six Months Out of Every Year.”

Maybe Somebody DOES know SOMETHING

Hollywood screenwriter William Goldman was once asked how to tell if a movie was going to be a hit or a flop.  His legendary response was “Nobody knows nothing,”  having seen too many “sure things”  bomb and “long shots” win big. There seemed to be no way to pick a winner in the movie business….until Pixar came along. Pixar has produced 14 movies over the past 20 years and all have been hits. Can this kind of streak be due to chance? Is Pixar’s management lucky or smart? 

The answer appears to be “smart” from a recent Fast Company article by Pixar’s CEO Ed Catmull (excerpted from his new book  Creativity, Inc.) that takes you Inside the Pixar Brain Trust for a look at how the creative process is managed at this remarkable company. This is not dissimilar in principle from “The Advantage” (a healthy corporate culture) that Patrick Lencioni discusses in his book. Does the idea generation and vetting process in your business benefit from the same discipline that made Pixar a “fourteen hit wonder?” Do you have “The Advantage.”

Finally, Office on the Ipad

The much anticipated announcement of Microsoft Office on the Ipad came this past Thursday. The immediate reviews indicate that Microsoft Office for iPad sets the gold standard for tablet productivity This has implications not only for personal productivity but comes just after Microsoft’s new CEO has taken the wheel. It will be interesting to see if this is a portent of the Redmond giant’s future strategy. In particular, one blogger makes the case that for Microsoft, it’s all about the business users  (i.e. “recurring revenue”).

If you’re ready to start using Word, Excel and PowerPoint on your Ipad, spend a few minutes with this guide on How To Get Started With Microsoft Office on the Ipad.  Share these articles with your IT department. Microsoft has built in “BYOD” (bring your own device) management tools that your IT gurus will be able to use to help enhance security and  leverage your existing investment in IPADs.

Experience or Mistakes?

Someone once  said that “Good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgment.” We all make mistakes; but too often we magnify our loss by trying to put them behind us without extracting whatever we might gain from reflecting upon them. Check out this short list of alternatives for looking at your mistakes differently.   Share it with your team.

 Econ Recon: Europe Rising….Putin’s One Trick Pony

Europe has been of concern for several years due to turbulence in Greece and Italy and worry as to whether Germany with help from an economically problematic France could hold things together.   Vistage Staff Economist and ITR Economics principal Alan Beaulieu sees a strengthening hand in Europe…which bodes well for the US.

Speaking of the eastern hemisphere,  there’s been justifiable concern about Putin’s power plays re the Ukraine and Crimea of later. James Surowiecki of the New Yorker set forth in a one page article why thinks that Putin has forgotten that power has a cost and that his economy, from when much of that power emanates,  is a one trick pony,  particularly susceptible to good old fashioned capitalist competition.  Find out why Putin’s Power Play is in danger of running out of gas (literally).