Years ago I lived in Texas. One of the things I enjoyed most about the Lone Star State was being close enough to Arlington to go and see the Texas Rangers play baseball, from time to time.

On more than one occasion, my wife and I had the opportunity to watch Nolan Ryan pitch, near the end of his career. My favorite memory of Nolan, aka The Ryan Express was being in the ballpark on August 22, 1989, the night he recorded his 5000th strikeout by blowing away Hall-of-Famer Ricky Henderson of the Oakland A’s. To this day no one has ever equaled the feat.

One baseball season during our Texas years, I remember watching a sportscast on opening night, after the Rangers had won their first game. The reporter made a comment I will never forget. He said, “You can’t win them all if you don’t win the first one.”

Admittedly, it is silly to think a baseball team could end up undefeated through a 162 game schedule, but that’s not the point. The point is that in order to end up in a great place, you better get off to a good start.

There is a four-hundred year old Shakespearean play, All’s Well that Ends Well.” The play is where we get the old saying by the same name.

While I love happy endings as much as the next guy, perhaps just the opposite is true. What if, as leaders, we all understood the power of the foundation? What if “All’s Well that Begins Well” became our mantra?

Whether you are considering a startup or a restart, I suggest you pay attention to your beginning. And if for some reason you are stuck in your current reality, maybe its time to retake a look at your foundation. Can you say, “House of cards?”

You won’t win them all. But I guarantee you that you will win a lot more if your team is built on the right foundation.

Remember, “All’s Well that Begins Well.”

i2i,

Randy

 

What happens when a team or company is built on a flawed foundation?

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