As tough as it was to learn all the rules of baseball while simultaneously learning a new language, I quickly discovered how fun the sport was.
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In the business world, “personal development” is often reduced to a checklist. But true personal development isn’t a “to-do” list. Rather, it’s a “to be” list, interwoven with every part of your life.
When my mother brought us to America, we didn’t speak English, we didn’t know anyone, and we didn’t understand American culture. But I quickly learned that baseball was really important to the kids around me—so even though I was the only Vietnamese face in the crowd, I decided to join my local little league team.
Though golf is now my preferred sport, the personal development lessons learned on the baseball diamond changed the trajectory of my life. Fifty years later, I can see clearly how the sport shaped me to find later success in the military, in sales, and as an entrepreneur.
Transform Criticism Into Motivation
Most people shut out their critics. Or they return fire with their own criticisms. Or want to shock the world. The first thing I learned as a refugee kid who didn’t know the first rule about baseball was to take a new approach: Use criticism as fuel for your personal development goals.
I was so bad that first season, the other kids’ parents would literally groan when it was my turn to step up to the plate. They jeered at me, shouting, “Are you going to get a hit at all this year? Keep him on the bench, coach!” With my mother working nonstop, not a single person was in the crowd to cheer me on.
In Vietnam, I’d always been a great athlete on the soccer field, but now I felt like a loser. But instead of quitting, the feeling spurred me on to win. My life became devoted to baseball. When I wasn’t in school or helping at home, I was practicing.
A year later, those same critics’ jaws dropped at the first game when I stepped up to the plate. That season, I was one of the team’s top hitters and hit the winning run in the championship game.
A leadership mindset doesn’t run from criticism. Transform it into motivation.
Make It Fun
We don’t leverage “fun” nearly enough in the business world. And yet, just because something is difficult doesn’t mean it can’t also be fun. As tough as it was to learn all the rules of baseball while simultaneously learning a new language, I quickly discovered how fun the sport was.
And though the parents criticized me, my teammates and coach became my first support group. Through play, I was learning the language, ingratiating myself into the culture, making friends, and developing new skills. Having fun with new friends was key in overcoming fear of failure, building momentum to become a star player.
A common trend in marketing these days is “gamifying” experiences for consumers. But why are we not doing the same as leaders? When we gamify personal development goals, we boost our own growth potential. Through fun, we can retain attention, increase focus, strengthen our relationships, and infuse the mission with purpose.
Measure What Matters
Finally, you must measure what matters. Without measurements, you have no way of knowing whether personal development is even happening. A few years ago, I got to meet the great venture capitalist John Doerr, who wrote a book with the same title.
The beauty of baseball is that metrics were already woven into the fabric of the sport. You could quantify your improvement through batting average, fielding percentages, RBIs, and bases stolen.
Every practice, every game of baseball provided hard data on where there was improvement—or where improvement needed to happen. And while natural talent certainly comes into play, baseball is also one of those sports where, if you practice, you will improve, regardless of talent.
And it’s no different in leadership. If you practice personal development and look at the data, you will improve.
Yet in business, many leaders set personal development goals like “improve team morale” and assign no KPIs to actually measure whether their actions are helping or hurting. If you’re relying on an annual survey for the data, you’re waiting too long to take impactful actions.
You can tie in the other lessons here—listen to the criticism and take real, strategic action. Gamify personal development to make it fun—for you and others.
Not every South Vietnamese refugee kid ended up the way I did. Despite my setbacks, personal development via baseball unleashed my Inner Underdog to earn respect, gain confidence, and become a leader.
