Change Your Character - Wee Willie Keeler

Since it's "Hit 'em Where They Ain't Week," it was only natural that this Wednesday's Change Your Character exercise focuses on Wee Willie Keeler.

Wee Willie Keeler was a great baseball hitter in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, and at 140 pounds and maybe 5 feet, 4 inches, one of the smallest players ever in professional baseball. Beyond his impressive performance (lots of hits, hitting & bunting in unusual ways, rarely striking out, hitting sacrifices to advance runners, being part of five championship-winning teams, etc.), he is best known for his success mantra, “Hit ‘em where they ain’t.”

Keeler is certainly a great example of someone small making the most effective use of resources and talents to beat much larger and more substantial competitors. His approach to baseball can be a great help when you need to succeed against bigger competitors. Go ahead and delegate your challenges to him as he:

• Focuses on being more productive
• Does things to be able to perform more consistently
• Takes steps to rarely fail (or at least less than his competitors)
• Takes advantages of competitors’ weaknesses and gaps
• Concentrates on how he could help others advance to help his team win
• Embracing an unconventional & hard to defend against approach to execute his role
• Uses a smaller asset (in this case, a bat) than was thought practical
• Helps the team succeed as a collective group

So figure out where your competitors are positioned, take a practice swing or two, and smack the ball right between them to advance your brand teammates!

Note – for the previous post on how to use the Change Your Character technique, click here.