One CEO shares his story about why strong rivalries can be an advantage for leaders—by recounting one of the ugliest rivalries in the history of baseball.
Key Details
- Gino Blefari is the CEO of HomeServices of America and writes a weekly company-wide Thoughts on Leadership column.
- In his most recent column, he reflects on his friendly sports rivalry with his friends while attending a recent Giants-Dodgers baseball game.
- Blefari says rivalries are an important part of leadership and progress—helping motivate and drive talented people to success.
Why It’s Important
We live in an age where rivalry and competition are looked down upon. However, competition is a part of life, particularly in the business world, where selling products and services can mean having to establish a unique voice and reputation in the marketplace against competitors who can do almost everything you can do, sometimes better.
As Blefari notes, great rivalries often become great historical matchups—which generate high-level performance among sports players and business leaders. Stern School of Business Professor Gavin J. Kilduff notes that NFL athletes play more aggressively against rival teams because that motivation creates a stronger drive to win.
Notable Quote
“Rivalries are sometimes seen as a bad thing, but really a rivalry is one of the most invigorating components of competition and one of the most motivating factors in a leader’s gametime decision-making process. What would technology be without the famous rivalry between Bill Gates and Steve Jobs? Or how would the history of basketball be changed without the games played between “Magic” Johnson and Larry Bird? Would heavyweight championship boxing be the same without the epic trilogy of fights pitting Joe Frazier against Muhammad Ali?” says Blefari.
Backing Up A Bit
Blefari shares his personal story of the first time he saw the Giants-Dodgers rivalry play out at a 1965 baseball game. He was in attendance for the infamous Marichal-Roseboro “bat incident,” wherein the Dodgers’ catcher hit the Giant’s catcher in the face with a bat on accident, resulting in a 14-minute brawl between the players, becoming “arguably the ugliest moment in MLB history.”
Giants legend Willie Mays stepped into the brawl to attempt to be a peacemaker, pulling angry players apart and helping calm both teams down. Mays later received a standing ovation for his efforts in attempting to calm the situation, largely from rival Dodgers fans.
“So, what’s the message? Roseboro and Marichal famously patched up their differences while reconnecting years later at an old-timers’ game. Roseboro then visited Marichal in his native country of the Dominican Republic and even lobbied for Marichal to be elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. When Roseboro passed away in 2002, Marichal was a pallbearer at his funeral, proving that at the heart of the very best rivalry is nothing but love,” says Blefari.