Before the Next Pitch

Before the Next Pitch

A Short Story about planning, preparation, and the ability to act

When I played baseball as a kid, there was something we were expected to do before every pitch.
Think.
How many outs? Who was on base? What was the count? What kind of hitter was at bat? What inning were we in? What was the score?
And, most importantly:
What will I do if the ball comes my way?
If it was a ground ball, where could I get an out?
If I caught a line drive, was there a chance to double off a runner?
If the batter bunted, which base should I cover?
And if the ball went somewhere else, where did my teammates need me?
The answers changed depending on whether I was playing in the outfield, at second base, or at third.
They also changed after every pitch.
We weren’t expected to predict exactly what would happen. We were expected to be ready to respond when it did.
Years later, I began noticing something curious in business meetings.
It was Monday morning.
“We had a problem last Tuesday and couldn’t complete the delivery.”
“What did you do?”
“Well, José was on vacation.”
“And?”
“We finally reached him on Thursday, but by Friday there wasn’t much we could do.”
“So what happened between Tuesday and Thursday?”
“We waited for instructions.”
Nobody was necessarily being careless. Perhaps José was the only person who knew how to solve the problem. Perhaps he was the only one authorized to make the decision. Or perhaps everyone had simply learned that waiting for José was the safest thing to do.
Whatever the reason, the result was the same.
The problem had stopped the delivery. The inability to respond had kept it stopped.
I sometimes think about how strange that would have seemed on a baseball field.
Imagine a young second baseman watching a ground ball roll toward him, then turning to the dugout to ask what he should do.
By the time someone answered, the runners would be gone.
Of course, a business is more complicated than a baseball game. Not every decision can be anticipated, and not everyone should be authorized to make every decision.
But that is precisely why preparation matters.
People need to understand their responsibilities, the limits of their authority, when to ask for help, and what they can do while waiting.
A plan tells us what we expect to happen.
Preparation helps us respond when something else happens.
And after every play, the situation changes. We must look again, understand where we actually are, and prepare for what comes next.
Perhaps the most important thing I learned in pee-wee baseball wasn’t how to catch or throw a ball.
It was to ask myself, before every pitch:
“What will I do if…?”
I wonder how many problems in our organizations would be smaller if we practiced asking that question before the ball was already in motion.