WSJ on Baseball and Going Against "The Book"

For such an elegant game, baseball has a lot of rules.

1. Three strikes, you're out -- unless the catcher drops the ball when first base is open or there are 2 outs.
   
2. No pepper on grass - whatever that means.
   
3. Any ball that hits the foul pole is a fair ball - go figure.
   

There are about 10,000 rules in the rulebook. And then there's a whole 'nother book of rules, which is simply called "The Book". It's all of baseball's conventional wisdom. Managers make lots of decisions "by the book". Managers who "go by the book" invite a lot less criticism when their decisions don't work out as planned.

Football coaches, in contrast, are much more likely to rewrite the book. Different plays every week. Entire offensive and defensive schemes change every few years. "The West Coast Offense", "The Run and Shoot", "The 46 Defense" -- all these schemes had their day a few years ago, but they've all now been modified or even outright shelved in favor of newer, more sophisticated, more innovative schemes. Football's way ahead of baseball in terms of innovation.

But today there's a great article in the Wall Street Journal that describes how some baseball managers are rewriting "The Book", or at least lab-testing against it.

As I've written here before, managing a newsroom is much like managing a baseball team. And while no doubt there's been much innovation in our business, I know there's a lot of conventional wisdom - "the book" - we still rely on. It's got me thinking what part of "the book" needs to be scrapped, or at least tested.

• Tease strategy?
  
• Newscast formats (news, weather, sports)?
  
• Writing?
  
• Coverage strategies?
  
• Hiring strategies?
  

Thinking hard about this one ....

Since I've Become a News Director ....

For a first-time News Director, the learning curve is like one of these signs.



The learning is not just one curve but a constant series of curves - back and forth, left and right.

• I've learned the work is harder than I thought it would be.
  
• I've learned I'm stronger and tougher than I thought I could be.
  
• I've learned the learning never stops. Work is real-life school for me.
  

I've also learned my time is not my own. 11-hour days are common. This week I had two 14's and one 16. Perhaps one day I'll take better control of my time, but right now there's still too much work to do. Blogging is one of my great pleasures, but it's one of the last things I want to do when I get home at night. Most of my creative energy is sapped by the time I leave work.

But I'm not complaining. Not in the least. I love this work. I've got a great boss and a great team.

And if all my learning curves mean it's six months between blog posts on this page, please understand. When I figure out more of what I'm doing, I'll write more.