Hook Slide

As a Father and a business leader, it was easy for me to give advice that would sometimes be reduced into a direction like: “Do that or don’t do this”. Mostly rules of life. I became a little better as a leader when I remembered the bigger goal of helping my children and staff to succeed in life and not to direct but teach. I wanted what was best for them and just providing instructions would not have prepared them or given them a chance to have a better life than I did. I needed to share wisdom. I needed to remember to teach and to explain the ‘why’ or reasoning behind my words.

Now as a coach, I find it very easy and natural to help others going through what I did. In most cases, I can again say the same, “Do this or don’t do that”. But the real value is going one step further and telling a story about when I was in their position and the mistakes I made. And that my advice now to them is usually because I don’t want them to make the same mistakes I did. Or maybe to share what worked for me.

Recently I was remembering a little boy named Chad. It was about 20+ years ago and I was coaching my son’s little league team. It was a cold, rainy Monday night and the field was a mess so we couldn’t really practice. The kids were disappointed. So I said “I have this great idea, let’s have sliding practice”. Now what little 10 year old boy wouldn’t like to slide into wet mud at second base? So I proceeded to teach how to slide into the base and stand up at the end of your slide. Once we had that down, we learned how to hook slide, using our body to slide away from the incoming throw. Some of the kids ‘got it’, some didn’t, but everyone had fun.

A few months later in the hot Tennessee sun, we were playing in the playoffs. It was the last inning and we were down a run. My little first baseman, Chad, came to the plate and hit a hard liner to the right field gap. He had an easy stand up double except Chad ignored my stop sign at second and kept coming to third. Oh no, this would be the third out, the end of the game and season. What do I do? It cannot end like this! Chad is going to be out by 10 feet.

Well as expected, the ball beat Chad to the base and the third baseman caught it and put his glove down to tag Chad out when he reached the bag. Suddenly, I remembered that I taught hook slides back in March. I yelled to Chad “Hook slide, Chad, hook slide” and waved my hands to the left of the bag. Just then my hero that day did exactly that. He performed the most perfect, beautiful hook slide I have ever seen. The umpire standing there already had his hand in the air to yell “out” in anticipation. The third-baseman was ready to celebrate but here was Chad surprising them and all of us. The umpire yelled, “Out, I mean safe!” The third-baseman threw his glove to the ground in

frustration. I called timeout and gave this little guy the biggest hug ever.

Chad’s Dad asked him, “How did you know to do that? Chad replied, “Coach, taught us back when we practiced in the rain”.

Wisdom is passed down from generation to generation. One of my favorite books in the entire world is the book of Proverbs in the Bible. Proverbs tells how life works most of the time. It provides practical advice for living ‘on the streets’ not necessarily in the ‘classroom’. There are 31 chapters, one for each day of the month, about 500 proverbs in total.

A couple of years ago, I took a few months and read and reread Proverbs with the goal of taking these chapters and verses and summarizing them for my grandkids as a guide for living life. I wanted them to be able to gain wisdom passed down through the ages that still applies today. Wisdom on gossiping, cheating, living in debt, character, helping others, trusting your own gut, making friends, etc. When I was done, I typed all of these into a mini-guide and will give a copy to each of my grandkids when they can read.

And I kept a copy for myself. I am still learning and gaining wisdom. I hope to do so until the day I pass.

The main moral of Proverbs is the same that I hope we passed along to our kids, their kids and the many lives of which I crossed paths with in my career: Do the right thing, work hard, help and encourage others and act wisely, and you will reap many personal and professional rewards. And when bad things happen to you because bad things happen to good people, remember this one piece of wisdom: Remember to hook slide.

Thanks for reading this.

With a goal to “help the next one in line”, Glen Cavallo, a 30+ year healthcare executive has chosen to share the many lessons he has learned with others. Glen does this by serving as a coach/advisor to leaders at all levels of organizations, as a board member and as he presents inspirational speeches at regional, national, annual and awards meetings.