Joe Torre’s 12 Keys to Managing Team Players, Tough Bosses, Setbacks and Success

Five guidelines to help become more serene in your approach to your job

1. Focus on the Present
a. Hank Aaron said, “Each at-bat is a new day.” No matter what our line of work, we all endure slumps.
b. We can learn from past failures and mistakes, but we shouldn’t get stuck there.

2. Maintain Your Perspective
a. Sense of humor. Support of teammates. Knowledge of our abilities based on past performance. The realization that tomorrow is a chance to do better. These things make up the “big picture” viewpoint.
b. Struggling batters and pitchers benefit by learning from their mistakes. But they suffer from mistakes when they become so overwhelmed by self-doubt that they can’t stay focused enough to make useful changes in their approach.

3. Control What You Can, Let Go of the Rest
a. When you control what you can, you know you’ve done everything possible to succeed. That means hard work, total commitment, painstaking preparation, and squeezing every ounce of ability from yourself.

4. Feel the Fear, Succeed Anyway
a. Fear doesn’t have to destroy their ability to be patient, to make adjustments, to play with passion.
b. Our togetherness as a team reduces our stress levels, because we know we have one another’s support through the tough times.

5. Keep Your Cool
a. Challenge people without always having to raise your voice.
b. Practice patience in every endeavor.
c. Consistency yields calm: Don’t let yourself get too low over one defeat or too high over one victory.