Moving the Needle. Yorkey Mike
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ISBN 978-1-118-94408-0 (cloth); ISBN 978-1-118-94409-7 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-94410-3 (ebk)
Foreword
When I was in the major leagues, I played for the San Diego Padres, New York Yankees, California Angels, Toronto Blue Jays, Minnesota Twins, and Cleveland Indians from 1973–1995 and reached the pinnacle of performance, including the All-Star team for a dozen of those years.
I crossed paths with literally hundreds of sports icons and business personalities over the years. These meetings and interactions gave me insight on how to better myself and my performance as I learned something from many of them. The wisdom from my composite experiences helped me become a communicator through print, radio, and speaking platforms as well.
One of those people I learned from was Mark McCormack, a Cleveland lawyer who was instrumental in establishing the field of Sports Marketing. He started negotiating contracts and managing the careers of golf's Big Three: Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and Gary Player. His company, International Marketing Group (IMG), grew to represent athletes from every professional sport, including Major League Baseball.
Because of my thirst for knowledge and personal and professional improvement, I picked up Mark's fascinating book, What They Don't Teach You at Harvard Business School. The basic thrust of the book was to teach you to read people, create the right first impression, and run meetings well. Many of his concepts were based on common-sense street smarts and a get-it-done attitude. For me, it was a must-read.
Mark McCormack is no longer with us today, but I know someone who reminds me a lot of him. After meeting through a mutual business group, Joe Sweeney has become a good friend of mine over the years. I've personally seen and experienced Joe's knack for combining his love of business and his passion for sports as part of his multifaceted career. He and I agree that the common element in these endeavors is our ability to network, connect, and communicate with others.
Joe's latest book, Moving the Needle, is a collection of tools, insights, and experiences rolled into a system of what works in the business and sports worlds. This book reminds me of What They Don't Teach You at Harvard Business School because it is filled with many of the same common-sense approaches to business and dealing with people. Sports provide a playground for life, and the lessons learned on the sports field can be readily implemented in all aspects of our daily lives. Joe's concepts are really about creating a practical system to improve human performance. Moving the Needle is about how to bring your A-game to your endeavors.
I played professional baseball for 22 years, where there are 162 games a year – and more with playoffs and the World Series. To reach the top, I had to prepare for all of those 2,973 regular season and 26 postseason games I played in: pitch by pitch, offense to defense, inning by inning, game by game, and year to year. Although I displayed peak performance quite often, the only constant was the playing of the National Anthem. Each game unfolded differently.
Performing well is not always easy, but with the correct system and discipline, you can work to be your best every day and avoid those huge performance fluctuations that people call “slumps.” You can be sure that I've used many of these tools outlined in Moving the Needle to help me be my best on the field, in the boardroom, and in life.
Last, it's Joe's contention, and one I wholeheartedly agree with, that too many people are “stuck” these days and not moving forward in life. If you've ever thought that you needed a system to provide clarity about what you want to do and where you want to go in your career, in business, or in life, then you've come to the right place. Let Moving the Needle lead you in the right direction.
Acknowledgments
To my parents, Ray and Marian Sweeney – who taught all of their 10 children that moving the needle wasn't about being better than anybody else, but being the best version of yourself, and that you had to work on this every day.
To my wife, Tami – the kindest and most caring woman I know, who gave me the freedom to pursue my passions.
To my four children, Kyle, Conor, Kelly, and Brendan and their significant others – who remind me on a daily basis of what is important and give me the why to keep going.
To my friends and wingmen – who have kept me on track and given me clarity when I needed it most.
To Sister Camille Kliebhan, OSF, for her grace, beauty, and wisdom and for teaching me that every day is full of grace-filled moments.
To the men and woman of our military, and especially the friends at the Navy Special Warfare Center in Coronado, California, for making the ultimate sacrifice – your lives – to protect our freedoms and liberties. Thank you for showing me how to be constantly grateful and to make every day count.
To the many teachers and mentors who have provided the tools and insights to help us get clear, get free, and get going in our businesses, careers, and lives.
And especially to Mike Yorkey, Colleen Heffron, and Shannon Vargo, who made Moving the Needle possible.
Introduction
Why This Book?
It matters not whether we live up to the expectations of our fathers, but rather, we as fathers, live up to the expectations of our children.
Is there a moment in time you can look back on and recognize that fate, Divine Providence – or whatever you want to call it – steered you in a certain direction and changed your life?
That happened to me. Four years ago, I was in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota, hanging out in a spacious condo atop the Saint Paul Hotel. The residence belonged to my good friend Craig Leipold, the owner of the Minnesota Wild National Hockey League team.
We were killing time before walking to the Xcel Energy Center for the start of the Minnesota Wild game. A green leather-bound book on the coffee table caught my eye. The title was Reflections of Lake Owen, and the author was Samuel C. Johnson, who was Craig's father-in-law and the patriarch of a family company that bore his name and made consumer products, including Johnson Wax, Windex glass cleaner, and Ziploc bags. The book was some type of memoir.
I sat down on the couch