3 Steps to Making—and Keeping Game-Changing Promises in Business

Huffington Post, Frank Talarico Jr. – March 9, 2017

 Legendary baseball Hall of Famer Babe Ruth, made and kept one of history’s greatest promises. Regardless of your feelings for my beloved New York Yankees, what Ruth did in Wrigley Field during game three of the 1932 World Series is one for the proverbial ages. His promise is also instructional.

With the game tied 4-4 in the fifth inning, in the midst of incessant fan insults and the rowdy Cubs’ dugout’s heckling, Ruth stepped to the plate, pointed to center field, and then on the very next pitch promptly hit a home run to the precise spot he had pointed. He didn’t just “barely make it.” His promised home run left the ball park at an astounding trajectory and landed “past the flag pole” that sat four hundred and forty feet away. He delivered on his promise and left no doubt about it.

The Yankees went on to win game three 7-5, and then proceeded to clinch the World Series by beating the then-demoralized Cubs, 13-6. Ruth’s promise had lasting effect.

Read any philosopher, and the approach to a life worth living eventually arrives at the notion of making and keeping promises. This is an especially potent approach to succeeding in business. Like Ruth, we can keep the process simple: just point and deliver.

Internal promises come first. What have you assured your team would be the vision, what strategy have you devised together and what consequences of success and failure did you outline? Be crystal clear. The other internal promise you need to keep is with yourself. Have you properly vetted the vision that is driving the promise you are about to make. Are you doing this for the right reasons and at the right time? Is your mind clear and your heart true to yourself and to those around you in your personal life? Are you insuring that physically and emotionally, you are “in shape?” Personal life distractions will destroy any chance of keeping promises—to anyone.

Be bold and sincere. Your customers don’t necessarily expect perfection, but they deserve excellence. There is a difference. Perfection is seldom attainable. Excellence is the function of sincerity and work ethic. Ruth pointed to center field because he was resolute. He was in the midst of a hostile environment, not unlike the competitive marketplaces we all operate in each day, and he was steadfast in his commitment to deliver on his promise. He was also relentless about achieving his goal.

Let promise-keeping become habit-forming. Becoming habitually and reliably trustworthy is a powerful weapon. First, not many people, companies, or even groups can claim this as an advantage they possess. Second, consistent honesty and reliability breeds future engagement and shared success. Ruth took two strikes in that famous at-bat, baseball’s near equivalent of “sudden death.” He nonetheless made and kept his promise. Delivering on his promise of a home run, one could argue, was the turning point of the 1932 World Series. How many times would keeping your promise to a client, co-worker, or a family member prove to be a turning point with a similar brand of dramatic and lasting affect? Integrity leads to real impact.

In 2012, my first year as CEO of Goodwill Industries of Orange County, I was asked to speak at a luncheon of 300 community leaders, organizational partners and financial supporters. During my remarks I did something I typically do, I went off script. Some people don’t like to keep score but, unless we do, we won’t have the ability to know if we are “winning or losing” against our goals. For us, one measure of score is in the number of people we serve. In 2011, we had served approximately 10,000 people. Now I won’t get into the minutia about how we count the folks we serve, except to say that the delivery of our services must be legitimate and it must be meaningful to count. We don’t count people who may just call-in for information or pick up a flyer at a job fair. During that luncheon, I was bold enough to announce that Goodwill Industries of Orange County would “double the number of people we serve in the next five years.” We kept our promise by the fourth year, and we have continued to grow this number substantially each year since.

I’m no Babe Ruth, but as the leader of this organization I always have my eye on the center field fences and, now, so does my team. Making and keeping promises, quite simply, is contagious. Take the lead and start something bold. Ignore the heckling from your competitors and the insults from the crowds that may not care or simply refuse to understand the impact you are striving for in your personal life, your business, or in your community. Goodwill Industries of Orange County is in the business of making and keeping promises that change lives. Through sincere, bold and habit-forming integrity, we can all insure that business is good.