Modeling Alex Cora’s Approach to Create Your Championship Company Culture

Skip Weisman

Nov. 07, 2018
1 min read

You would think that creating a championship culture is easy with athletes making multi-millions of dollars each season.

But, in my experience, it is just as hard creating a championship culture in that environment as it is creating it in your company.

Baseball managers have to deal with players that show up with attitudes, behaviors and performance similar to your employees.

I know that’s hard to believe but they have to deal with athletes with…

inflated egos,
an inability to take feedback and coaching,
closed minds to changing how they are doing things because they’ve had a lot of success doing it their way for a long time, but that approach isn’t going to get their performance to the next level.
an attitude focusing more on the position they are asked to play, or their playing time, rather than what is best for the team overall

Does any of that sound familiar?

If so, you may want to take an approach like Alex Cora used during this baseball World Series championship season for the Boston Red Sox.

First-year manager Alex Cora created a unique culture among his team.

It led to winning a record 108 games during a 162 game season for a .667 winning percentage, among the best in the history of Major League Baseball.

Cora’s was a simple approach.

He treated each of his team members like a human being and not an object that was simply a means to an end goal. Too many business leaders do the latter and not the former.

Here are two examples of Cora’s style:

After losing Game #3 of the World Series in a record 18-innings over seven hours…”Cora walked into the clubhouse and called everyone together. He looked at each one of them and said he was grateful for their effort and proud to be part of their team.”It was emotional,” shortstop Xander Bogaerts said. “By the end of it, we felt like we won the game.” (ESPN.com, Tim McKeown, Oct. 29, 2018)
“Asked whether he ever gets angry with his players — in other words: Is your calm exterior an elaborate lie? — he said, “No, I don’t. I talk to them. If I have something to tell them, I just sit with them. Casual, very casual. I try to have good conversations.” (ESPN.com, Tim McKeown, Oct. 29, 2018)

See, it all comes down to good communication.

Championship caliber communication.

Prompt, Direct, and Respectful communication.

You can create a Championship Company Culture just like Alex Cora did with his Boston Red Sox.

All you need is your own game plan and a commitment to championship caliber communication.

Easier said than done, I know.

That’s why only those truly committed who stick with it and get coaching win championships. But, the end result is worth it and pays dividends for a long, long time.

Skip Weisman

Skip Weisman, The Leadership & Workplace Communication Expert, has worked with business leaders and their teams to transform both individual and organizational performance in industries from banks to plumbers since 2001. Skip’s experience helping his clients has shown that the biggest problems in workplaces today can be directly traced to interpersonal communication between people in the work environment. Having spent 20 years in professional baseball management, his first career in which he served as CEO for five different franchises, has given Skip tremendous insights and skills for build high-performing teams. To help small business leaders create a championship culture with employees performance at the highest levels, Skip recently published this white paper report The Missing Ingredient Necessary to Improve Employee Performance. Download a free copy of this report at The Missing Ingredient Necessary to Improve Employee Performance. During a 20-year career in professional baseball management, Skip served as CEO for five different franchises. That experience gave Skip tremendous insight and skill for building high-performing teams in the workplace and championship cultures.