Leading Winning Teams

1Dreamer to Dream Maker

I WAS PROBABLY always seen as a dreamer. I certainly fit into the category of being a person who is a visionary.

When I was in seventh grade, I was in class with my favorite English teacher, Mr. Metcalf. He had decided that we were going to do “career week” at school, which included an assignment encompassing what life looks like when you're 30 years old. As a 12-year-old, I wasn't exactly focused on what life looks like at 30 but I knew that it was considered really old. After doing the math, I realized my 30th birthday would land on December 31, 1999. Although 1999 seemed another lifetime, its significance was heightened by Prince's then-current '80s hit “Party Like It's 1999.”

First Written Goals Ever

I answered the five key questions Mr. Metcalf had asked us based on what I thought my career and life would look like when I was 30. The assignment I turned in probably looked like the ones from a bunch of other boys who also said they wanted to be a professional baseball player. My guess is that the teacher had a stack of papers that reflected similar big-time dreams. I certainly thought my goal was really big and I certainly thought it was really important.

I turned in that paper and never thought about it again. Or at least, that is how it seemed.

The Golden Ticket

Two years later, as a freshman in high school, I had an exceptionally good season in the spring. Summer baseball was starting, and I was again selected to an elite team that would ...