Business Philosophy According to Yogi Berra
It is a little known fact that Yogi Beri is one of this nation’s best business philosophers. Although often misunderstood by the layman, his insights and profound understanding of business are so deep that his writings have been compared to the explicit quatrains of Nostradamus or the precision of Salman Rushdie. His writings and quotations, in fact, combine the very essence of true philosophical malapropisms, Colemanballs and modern mondegreens. In my humble way, I’d like to share some of the genius of this icon of wisdom and insight.
“You can observe a lot just by watching.” As in most of Yogi’s obiter dicta, he emphasizes the difference between the common use of words and their literal meaning. “Observe”, in this use, refers to the recognition of what is happening around us. In business, this is profound when applied to observing the behavior of customers and the competition. The enormous consulting and analysis business of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has its basis in this simple Yogi-ism.
“Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” Although sometimes credited to another great paronomastic master, Will Rogers, it is generally agreed that if Yogi did not say this, he might have. Yogi’s intent in this thought was originally based on his profound insights into the declining railroad industry but he quickly imagined its application to every business and industry. As a result, we now generally recognize that without a continuous effort in innovation and growth, the essence of market competition, a business will quickly lose market share and experience declining sales.
“If you don’t know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.” Yogi modernized and simplified this wisdom that dates back to 470 BCE when the Chinese philosopher Confucius observed. “Any man can make long journey, takes smart man to know which direction”. Even more profound is that there is no evidence to show that Yogi copied this from Confucius – he developed it independently! The whole industry of business process analysis, workflow management and strategic planning has evolved from this analect.
“Yeah, but we’re making great time!” A response by Yogi when asked, “Are we lost?”. He was, of course, speaking of the corollary to the two above observations, to point out the difference between business activity and progress, between productivity and efficiency and between effort and effectiveness. He so rightly commented that business is a journey, not a destination and when you arrive, you’re there but you always have to keep moving so you can get there otherwise you’ll get run over by those that have arrived.
“If you can’t imitate him, don’t copy him.” Recognized as one of the most informed and perceptive academians in modern times is Michael Porter, the Harvard Business School professor. Although he modestly has never admitted this, if he did, he would probably give credit to Yogi for most of his recognition as one of the most influential management and strategy thinkers. Professor Porter now teaches what Yogi was, of course, referring to: differentiation from your competition as the cornerstone of marketing position and sustainable competitive advantage. Virtually every agency and consultant in the marketing Mecca of the world, Madison Avenue, owes his or her very existence to Yogi.
“I never blame myself when I’m not hitting. I just blame the bat, and if it keeps up, I change bats.” Yogi was a master of the ironic subtleties that are so effective at teaching lessons about business. Here, it is clear that he is making fun of those managers that can’t assume responsibility or accurately define cause and effect in management decisions. Out of this observation and its obvious extrapolations, an entire industry of decision support and risk analysis has grown. That industry’s methods and techniques are critical to the discovery and definition of the root cause of a management or business problem – perhaps one of the least understood aspects of improvement analysis and planning. Unfortunately, the complexity of his thinking and subtlety of his expression caused some people to interpret this prima facie and corrupted it to mean what it says instead of its intent. The financial industry has adopted this misguided interpretation as the hallmark of their investment strategy proving that sometimes even the best wisdom is not the wisest.
“If you come to a fork in the road, take it.” Of course his most famous quote needs no explanation because it so clearly describes the true secret to business success.
Yogi Berra is as wise as he is a great philosopher. His observations will forever be the visions we all could have if we saw it his way. Everything I have written about him is true or should be.
References: Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org., facts not found in Wikipedia, aren’t.