To paraphrase the great Yogi Berra, you can observe a lot just by watching.
That’s good advice for a baseball player. It’s equally good advice for a leader.
In baseball and softball, more players are on the roster than there are spots on the field. Someone will spend time on the bench. Nobody hopes it will be them, but how they use that time matters.
Some players treat the bench like a punishment. Others see it as a chance to observe, learn, and contribute.
Watch the player at your position. How do they prepare before each pitch? Where do they move when the ball is hit somewhere else? How do they communicate with teammates? What do they do after making a mistake?
When your team is hitting, study the pitcher. Are there patterns in the pitch selection? Does anything change when a runner gets on base? Is there something you can share that might help the next hitter?
You can be involved in the game without being in the lineup.
But if you spend those innings messing around or watching everything but the game, you miss an opportunity. When you’re playing, you can get so focused on your own responsibilities that you miss what’s happening around you. The bench gives you a different perspective, if you choose to use it.
The same is true in leadership.
We get caught up in the daily demands of our work. There are decisions to make, problems to solve, and people who need our attention. We rarely pause long enough to watch how someone else handles those same challenges.
Yet that pause can be a powerful development tool.
I’ve been conducting leadership interviews at my company, asking leaders to share their experiences and insights. One question I ask is how they continuously challenge themselves and improve their leadership skills.
After about 50 interviews, I estimate that roughly 60 percent identify observing other effective leaders as their primary approach.
They watch how someone navigates a difficult conversation, manages a room, responds under pressure, or brings a struggling team together. They pay attention to the questions people ask and how they listen to the answers.
Then they consider what they can apply to their own leadership.
That last step matters. Watching becomes development when you turn an observation into action.
After your next meeting, take a moment to reflect. What did someone do that worked well? Why did it work? What could you try the next time you face a similar situation?
As leaders, we can encourage that habit in others, too. Invite someone to observe. Talk afterward about what they noticed. Share the thinking behind your decisions.
On the field or at work, there are lessons unfolding around us every single day.
We don’t always need another turn in the spotlight to grow.
Sometimes, we just need to pay attention.
Leave a Reply