Corporate & Securities Law

Cultivating an Opening Day Mindset

By John Wallbillich

Today is officially Opening Day for Major League Baseball. (Last night’s Yankees/Red Sox game was exciting, but all true fans know that Opening Day means day).

Among the great things about Opening Day is the fact that all teams and players start even, all have at least a chance to appear in the World Series. (Well, maybe not the Nationals…)

So here are three ways I think Opening Day can serve as time for reflection (and perhaps even optimism) for lawyers facing unrelenting change and the attendant uncertainty:

1. Strive for precision, not perfection. (The best lawyers have setbacks, too).

“Baseball’s best teams lose about sixty-five times a season. It is not a game you can play with your teeth clenched.” — George F. Will.

2. It is possible to do good work if you’re not overly focused on the meter. (Results, not effort, are what matters).

Baseball is infinite. It has no limits of time or space. There is no clock. The foul lines extend indefinitely beyond the field of play. Even the outfield wall is only there for convenience. — Bruce Hoffman

3. It’s not about brute strength, but also perseverance and agility. (Law is the great equalizer, and a source of fairness in an unfair world).

“There is no sports event like Opening Day of baseball, the sense of beating back the forces of darkness and the National Football League.” — George Vecsey

Most current discussions about the law and the legal industry are understandably serious. Baseball reminds us that sometimes you can see things as more of a game (play outside and have fun) and still be OK. So here’s a bonus thought from one of baseball’s best announcers, who wasn’t talking about the law, but could have been:

“I love the game because it’s so simple, yet it can be so complex. There’s a lot of layers to it, but they aren’t hard to peel back.” — Ernie Harwell

Full post as published by The Wired GC on April 05, 2010 (boomark / email).