42

On Monday, April 15th, Major League Baseball celebrated Jackie Robinson day. 77 years ago this past Monday, Jackie Robinson became the first African-American to play in the major leagues – paving the path for thousands to follow his path to professional baseball, and inspiring tens of millions more.

In reflecting on Jackie Robinson’s incredible life and legacy, I wanted to honor him this week by sharing three of his nine values by which he guided his life. I believe these lessons are relevant for leaders everywhere.

COMMITMENT

Today, commitment seems to be tossed around casually; I laugh when I hear high school students saying they have “committed” to a college, knowing they have simply chosen, and there is nothing preventing them from transferring, changing their mind before they enroll, or dropping out.

Growing up, my parents had a simple rule: you can choose to do whatever you want, but you need to honor your commitment. That meant if I signed up for football to try it, I didn’t need to decide for life – but I did need to honor the promise and finish the season. To me, this is closer to the essence of commitment.

Jackie Robinson embodied the word commitment. He committed his time, energy, and effort into playing baseball despite the incredible racism he faced from opposing teams and fans. He was committed to his wife Rachel and his family, valuing balance in his life. And perhaps most importantly, he was committed to fighting injustice. While he spent much of his career after baseball as an advocate for civil rights, his post-baseball advocacy wasn’t new – he had been committed to racial equity his whole life. While he was honoring another commitment – many people forget he served in our military as a member of the United States Army during WWII – he refused to move to the back of a U.S. Army bus, knowing that army buses were not segregated. He was taken into custody and charged with insubordination, and later found not guilty. Commitment means doing what is required for what you have chosen, and Jackie Robinson demonstrated this quality throughout his life.

EXCELLENCE

What defines excellence is hot topic for a debate. To me, I would define excellence as achieving results in your area of focus.

Where I think Jackie Robinson elevates the bar for excellence is in his body of work. As a baseball player, his results on the field were epic. He won the Rookie of the Year award in his first season, leading the National League in stolen bases. He won the MVP Award in 1949 and was a six time All Star. He struck out a mere 290 times in ten seasons and had a .311 career average; today, many players eclipse that number of strikeouts in a year and a half. His baseball results on the field are beyond reproach.

There are many great athletes who achieve excellence in their chosen sport – but how many are known for excellence off the field? Too many athletes are known for meteoric success and a tarnished life outside of sports. Jackie Robinson exuded excellence – arguably more so – in what he accomplished off the field. In 1957, Jackie Robinson accepted a position at the restaurant brand Chock Full O’ Nuts a Vice President of Personnel. In doing so, he was the first African-American to serve as a VP of a major corporation. He considered this role as an opportunity to expand opportunities for black men and women in business – not unsimilar from the path he forged as a pioneer in baseball. He also spent a great deal of time working with the NAACP. In an effort to raise awareness and achieve equity for African-Americans, he chaired the NAACP’s Million Dollar Freedom Fund Drive and served on the NAACP Board until 1967. In 1970, he formed the Jackie Robinson Construction Company to focus on building low and middle-income housing. It is truly a mark of Jackie Robinson’s excellence that he captured the spirit of the word off the field perhaps more than on it.

COURAGE

When I was younger, I used to think of courage as a superhero quality. The ability to slay dragons and face and defeat mortal enemies – all, of course, feeling invincible to fear. I saw the same courage in my father as I watched him lead his life and build his business, seemingly impervious to the slings and arrows of entrepreneurship.

I realize with each passing day that my vision of courage was flawed. Great leaders exude courage because they seek out the bigger challenges where the stakes are higher, they face more adversity, and their risk of failure is high – and they do it anyway.

In my opinion, Jackie Robinson is one of the most courageous men our nation has ever seen. Carrying the incredible challenge of being the first African-American to play in the Major Leagues – knowing there were millions looking to him to succeed, and an equal number of millions rooting for him to fail, and fail miserably – that’s courage! The discipline required to live intentionally each day, not to just to achieve consistent excellence over a ten-year period at the most competitive level of baseball – but to be excellent as a role model and endure the indignities no man should have to tolerate – is truly hard to fathom. It is humbling to think about the daily courage Jackie Robinson mustered to live his life. Considering his courage gives me the opportunity to stop, reflect, and check myself whenever I perceive my challenges as a leader to be too great or difficult to face.  

Thank you, #42, for living this life of commitment, excellence, and courage. Your legacy shines bright this week, and I know it will continue to inspire present and future generations of leaders!