Genius ain't all that smart

I watched a boys baseball game the other day--most of the players were 13 or 14 years old. Both teams had former major leaguers as coaches. But the two teams had totally different approaches.

One coach was pretty laid back and played a conservative game. He was good, but firm with the boys.

The other team had a self-proclaimed genius as its coach. He was berating his kids for screwing up, he'd turn away if they did something wrong and he proved how brilliant he was by his assortment of trick plays that he taught his team.

Barely an inning would go by without some foolery from the coach and his team and sometimes it worked. But much of the time his reliance on the trick plays actually hurt his team. Plus, it was a statement that his team was about him, not the boys.

Sometimes you can outsmart yourself, and in this case, that's just what he did. He not only lost the game, but his players lost confidence in themselves. Genius ain't so smart.

Barry LaBov
LaBov & Beyond Marketing Communications
http://www.labov.com/
http://www.barrylabov.com/