f/k/a archives . . . real opinions & real haiku

Monica Bay will praise — not scold — you, if you spend part of this (or

any other) lovely Spring day browsing the f/k/a Baseball Haiku Page.

Back on May 1st, Monica noted:

“Beisbol’s on everybody’s minds lately: Check out Omega Legal’s

white paper about how “the business of baseball has reshaped the

rules of law firm productivity.”

 

“infielderf”

 

“And Jeff Angus’ Management by Baseball: The Official Rules for

Winning Management in Any Field, is fresh off the press, from Collins.

It asks the question, “Why are baseball managers like Joe Torre and

Dusty Baker better role models for leaders in business and government

than corporate icons like Jack Welch, Ken Lay and Bill Gates?” 

 (Answer: “Because almost everything you need to learn about manage-

ment you can learn from baseball.”)”

Prof. Yabut wants to point out, nonetheless, Peter F. Drucker’s

cautionary note in Managing in a Time of Great Change (1995; at 15):

“There’s a lot of nonsense in team talk, as if teams were

something new.  We have always worked in teams, and

while sports give us hundreds of team styles, there are

only a few basic models to choose from.  The critical

decision is to select the right kind for the job.  You can’t

mix soccer and doubles tennis. . . .

“The great strength of baseball teams is that you can con-

centrate.  You take Joe, who is a batter, and you work

on batting.  There is almost no interaction, nothing at all

like the soccer team or the jazz combo, the implicit model

of many teams today.  The soccer team moves in unison

but everyong holds the same relative position.  The jazz

combo has incredible flexibility because everyone knows

each other so well that they all sense when the trumpet

is about to solo.”

 

. . . “Though we know very little about it, we do realize exec-

utives must be both managers of specialists and synthesizers

of different fields of knowledge — really knowledges, plural.”

Managing in a Time of Great Change

 

Yes, you do need to choose carefully which sports team model

best suits your firm’s overall situation — as well as the needs of

a particular client or case.   The f/k/a Gang suggests that a bit

of (nonbillable) reflection over our Baseball Page may help in

making wise choices. [beware: they are “real haiku,” note gim-

micky doggerel; we think you’ll find them far more satisfying.]

 

 

 

            Seattle sunset

              Ichiro sends one

               toward the Sea of Japan

 

 

 

 

 

                       fireflies…

                       the smallest boy hits

                       the game winning homer

 

 

 Ed Markowski 

 

 

all day rain

on the playing field

a stray dog

 

 

 

 

 

 

the toddler

runs to third base

first

 

 

 

Tom Painting 

– from the haiku chapbook piano practice  

 

 

crack of the bat

the outfielder circles

under the full moon

 

 

 

 

 

empty baseball field

a dandelion seed floats through

the strike zone

 

 

george swede 

from Almost Unseen  (Brooks Books, 2000) 

 

 

 

called third strike–
the slow roll of the ball
back to the mound

 

 

 

 

two outs in the ninth–
the reliever bangs the ball
against his cup

 

Jim Kacian

 

law office picnic —

the ump consults

his Blackberry

                         

 

 

 

 

squinting to see him —

another generation

sent to right field

 

 

dagosan/david giacalone

 

 

You can hear many baseball

poems by ed markowski, read by Joe Harnett, longtime

radio host of “The Old BallGame” by clicking these

links:  Cut One    Cut Two   Cut Three   Cut Four