If you know much about me, you probably know baseball has been part of my life for as long as I can remember.
I started playing year-round when I was five. I played through Little League and high school, then in college, and even in a local men’s league. These days, most of my time on the field is spent coaching my kids’ baseball and softball teams, and we’re just getting started with our fall seasons.
One thing that has always been part of baseball and softball is the scoreboard.
And the stats.
When I was growing up, we talked about batting average, ERA, wins, and losses. Today, there are more statistics than I can keep up with. Exit velocity. Launch angle. Spin rate. Hard-hit percentage. The list goes on.
Those numbers matter. They help tell the story of what’s happening on the field.
Business isn’t all that different.
We have our own scoreboards. Revenue, gross margin, net income, cash flow, backlog. And just like sports, we’ve gotten much better at measuring everything else, too.
Those measurements can provide valuable insight. They can help us spot problems, make better decisions, and understand whether we’re actually improving.
But there’s another lesson from the field that’s just as important.
You can analyze the game forever. At some point, you still have to play it.
A hitter can study velocity, pitch mix, location tendencies, and every other number available. Then he or she still has to step into the box and hit the ball.
Business works the same way.
Measure what matters. Understand the numbers. Use them to make better decisions.
But don’t confuse studying the work with doing the work.
Sometimes you just have to go out there and do the work. Period.