Jason A. Belt

As a former baseball player. there is nothing compared to the feeling of hitting a Home Run.

I will do my best to describe the feeling below:

• Fear, excitement, anxiety, wonder, and focus as I step into the batter’s box.
• Anticipation of the pitch being delivered as the pitcher starts his delivery.
• Analysis in the moment as the hand is exposed during the delivery… how is his hand positioned… palm facing me? Yes! probably straight.. probably a fastball…
• Slight exhale as the ball is released from the pitcher’s hand.
• The excitement in a millisecond as you realize this pitch is in your zone.
• My eyes wide, halted breathing, my brain is smiling… (I know, hard to describe…)
• My body explodes propelling my hands to the ball in an instant guided by 1000s of repetitions before.
• The bat follows your body and makes contact with the ball moving in the opposite direction.
• I feel weightlessness, no resistance, but my hands subtly register the ball making contact with the bat.
• Perfection.
• A loud crack, that is unique but all too familiar.
• Exhilaration for a split second as I watch the ball fly off the bat before running.
• The sprint to first is stopped with the confirmation the ball left the yard.
• Then I trot and feel powerful.
• Humility sets in as I round third seeing my teammates happier than me, which then turns to thankfulness for being there with them.
• A bit of sadness sets in for just a brief moment as I relish this fleeting moment. I know how rare this moment is.
• Satisfaction sets in as I’m escorted back to the dugout by my teammates.
• All of us happy.

I tried my best to describe how it felt to hit a home run, and it truly is indescribable, but I did my best.

As good as that feeling was, I found much more success playing the game by making contact consistently, and hitting base hits. I worked hard at this craft. I took 1000s of swings year after year in practice to be the best I could be at hitting a round ball flying at me, with a round bat.

I love the game. The uncommon difficulty, and even the failure.

Business is much like this. If you push yourself, have great teammates, and are driving toward a common goal, then you can hit home runs and feel a similar feeling together.

My challenge to you and the teams you work with would be:

• Place more value on the base hits.

In baseball, base hits are truly the lifeblood of any winning team: Base runners to then score by other base hits.

Base hits are progress. In business, base hits are the new process you are trying to improve service performance, but instead of waiting for the perfect policy, workflow, and tooling, you roll out a simple checklist and gain some movement in the right direction. Base hit.

This enables the team to offer feedback around this process to improve it and then move the improvement forward. Base hit number 2. The team sees results and one more tweak to improve further. Base hit.

The team scores when the client and internal teams see the progress and everyone is better off, especially the customer.

Run scores!

As good as it feels to hit a home run, it is rare, and solo, whereas a base hit is more common and can lead to others hitting one too, leading to a team score. More importantly, in business, progress toward the goal sooner.

I am fortunate to have a Dad that was always there for me, practiced with me whenever I wanted, and went to all of my games. He captured me hitting a home run in this video, so you can see the description above in action. I love hearing his commentary as I watch the memory. Thanks, Dad.