With the eyes of the world on Paris, France, for the 33rd Olympiad, which events are you looking forward to? Do you know that the surfing competition will take place 9,770 miles away from Paris in Teahupo'o, Tahiti, an island in French Polynesia? In the spirit of previous leadership series here on my blog, I've asked 17 leadership and marketing experts to respond to five questions with the hope that both the questions and answers lead you to think about the Olympics in new and interesting ways.
For today's post, I'd like to introduce Mike Fox, who I met through Bill Shumard, President Emeritus of the Special Olympics of Southern California. Years ago, when I was a high school intern for the Community Services Department at Dodger Stadium, Bill served as Director of Community Services. Bill and I have stayed in touch over the years, and when I told Bill about this blog series, he suggested that Mike Fox participate - you'll understand why from his bio.
Mike Fox worked for the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1978 to 1988, and was part of a marketing team that helped the Dodgers reach a milestone that MLB owners thought was unattainable, reaching three million fans in attendance in a single season. In 1984, Mike was appointed by Peter O'Malley, Dodgers owner, as the Dodgers liaison to the International Olympic Committee to promote and stage the demonstration sport of baseball as part of the 23rd Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The 1984 Olympic baseball event generated 400,000 fans in attendance and became the third highest attended sport during the 1984 Olympic Games, and as a result, baseball was granted Gold Medal status in future Olympics. In 1988, Mike took over his family's startup transportation business in Southern California, Fox Transportation, and has expanded the business into a national logistics company with several hundred employees operating in 18 states.
Before we begin, here are my two favorite quotes about the Olympics:
"In baseball and in business, there are three types of people. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen, and those who wonder what happened." ~Tommy Lasorda (Team USA Baseball Manager in 1984 and Olympic gold medalist)
"You have to believe in yourself when no one else does — that makes you a winner right there." ~Venus Williams (Team USA Tennis, 4-time Olympic gold medalist)
QUESTION: What Olympic MOMENT do you most vividly recall, and why?
MIKE FOX: Standing on the field at Dodger Stadium during the Gold Medal Presentation for the Baseball Olympics in 1984 was a great moment for baseball fans around the world. Until 1984, the Olympic Committee was largely influenced by European leaders who were unfamiliar with the popularity of baseball around the world, which at that time, was played on a competitive level in over 100 countries. However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) thought it was mostly an American sport. When IOC President, Juan Antonio Samaranch attended the Gold Medal game between USA vs. Japan, he witnessed 56,000 fans at Dodger Stadium enjoying a dramatic game between two amazing baseball teams. Japan won, and as President Samaranch presented the Gold Medals to the Japanese baseball team, he turned to Dodgers Owner Peter O’Malley and (future) MLB Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth and said, "I had no idea that baseball was so popular and so exciting." Eight days of double header baseball at Dodger Stadium made it the third highest attended sport out of 32 sports in the 1984 Summer Olympics. This was a great moment for baseball around the world, and because of efforts by Peter O’Malley, who guaranteed all expenses to stage the 1984 demonstration of baseball as part of the 23rd Olympic Games in Los Angeles, baseball was granted Gold Medal status for all future Olympics.
QUESTION: What Olympic MOMENT OR EVENT stands out due to EITHER a lack of OR evidence of LEADERSHIP?
MIKE FOX: Today we see players from many countries in Major League Baseball, but few realize that the promotion of baseball around the world began in 1956, when Walter O’Malley took the Dodgers to Japan. Walter's son, Peter O’Malley, picked up the torch to promote baseball around the world and made some 25 trips to Japan and built the first baseball field in China. Peter's wife, Annette, also became an ambassador and traveled to Canada, China, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Japan to promote baseball.
QUESTION: What Olympic SPORT demonstrates effective and/or inspirational leadership?
MIKE FOX: There is no better sport than baseball to demonstrate inspirational leadership. Why? It takes 9 players to interact with a variety of skills to be able to play a game that, at any moment, the unknown can occur. The manager must know his players and their abilities and be able to lead and motivate. The assembly of a variety of personalities, professional skills, and backgrounds to culminate into a winning team is a very difficult task, much more so than a single athlete who competes in individual competition. In today's era when many managers rely on computer analysis to put the right batter at the plate, or shift an infield depending on where a batter might hit, there is still nothing more meaningful than a manager who knows his players and their capabilities from day to day over the course of a long grueling season, and most importantly, leads, motivates, and helps them succeed.
QUESTION: What is an important BUSINESS LESSON we can learn from the Olympics?
MIKE FOX: Perhaps, the most important lesson to learn from the Olympics is that so many countries depend on the Olympics to fund and promote their sports. Unlike the United States, whereby professional sports are funded by large television contracts and gate receipts, less-fortunate countries depend on the exposure of the Olympic Games to be able to attract athletes and secure government funding for training facilities and coaching staffs. Without the Olympics, small countries might not be able to field athletes in a variety of sporting events.
QUESTION: If YOU competed in the Olympics, which sport would you choose, and why?
MIKE FOX: Baseball. First, baseball is played before a large audience of 40,000-to-50,000 fans, and there is nothing more exciting than a great game with this large number of fans screaming in the stands for their teams. Second, the a baseball game generally lasts 2-to-3 hours, so, unlike individual track and field events which last only a few minutes, a player who participates in a baseball game has the thrill of competition for several hours. This can include going to the plate several times to bat, or being a pitcher against multiple hitters, or being the game closer trying to win the game while the other team has the bases loaded. There are so many dramatic moments in a baseball game, involving multiple players and chess type calculations to be made. The more a fan truly understands the complexities of the game, the more enjoyable the game is to watch.
SHARE THIS: There is nothing more meaningful than a baseball manager who knows his players and their capabilities and leads, motivates, and helps them succeed. ~Mike Fox #OlympicsLeadershipSeries #DebbieLaskeysBlog
My gratitude to Mike Fox (and to Bill Shumard for suggesting Mike!) for sharing his leadership insights and for being a part of my #OlympicsLeadershipSeries.
Image Credit: Rawlings and LA Olympic Organizing Committee (LAOOC).
Signed baseballs from each participating team in the 1984 Olympic Baseball exhibition tournament at Dodger Stadium:
Mark McGwire remembers baseball's Olympic boom in 1984:
https://www.nbcsports.com/olympics/news/mark-mcgwire-olympics-baseball-1984
Note, according to NBC News, "Though baseball was first featured in the Olympic Games of 1904 and later turned into a medal event for the 1992 Olympics Games in Barcelona, Spain, America’s National Pastime seen one too many a curve ball when it comes to consistently being featured in the Olympics. While doping was a deleterious concern in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, the primary and long-standing issue behind baseball’s tenuous relationship with the Olympic Games lies within scheduling. Out of a typical 162-game Major League Baseball (MLB) season, the summer is a critical period for professional baseball, leading to significant conflicts for players wanting to play ball for their countries in the legendary Games.
Commissioner of the MLB Robert Manfred voiced his concern about the disruptive stress put upon an MLB team if several of its players walked away during the summer to participate in the Olympics. He told Forbes in 2020, "No matter how you put the event together, there would be a significant amount of major league players who would be away from their teams. It would alter the competition in our everyday game. I do not believe our owners would support some sort of a break in our season. Continuity is really important to our competition."
So, while baseball will not be included in the Paris Olympics, it has been added to the Los Angeles 2028 (LA28) Olympics per a decision at the 141st Session of the International Olympic Committee.
Read more about the decision here:
https://olympics.com/ioc/news/ioc-session-approves-la28-s-proposal-for-five-additional-sports
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