From the Field to the Office: Coaching Lessons for Leaders to Turn Teams into High Performers

Baseball is in my blood. It’s been such a huge part of who I am for as long as I can remember. And most of that time I’ve known that I wanted to coach. I was a good player, but even then I found fulfillment in passing on my passion and my knowledge to others. Seeing the joy of success that I helped achieve was the highlight of experience to me. I began coaching individual players when I was playing college ball and then started coaching 13U (Sandy Koufax) kids right after graduating. I’m not sure I ever planned to take those experiences and lessons into the business world, but that’s what happened. I’ve developed my leadership abilities through coaching and rolled that into my time as a Recreation Leader, a Field Training Officer, a Shift Supervisor, and a Training Manager.

What I learned on the field translated directly to the workplace. Different uniforms, different stakes – but the same simple truth ran through it all: people rise when you teach them, trust them, and hold them to a standard that they believe in. What follows are four core lessons that shaped how I lead teams today.

Accountability and Standards

When I coached high school baseball, my teams had a wide range of talent. Some players went on to play college ball, others only played because their friends did—or even just to squeeze in one more sport before graduation. To me, their talent didn’t matter nearly as much as their effort. 100% effort was a non-negotiable on my field. If a player showed me they cared and tried, I always found a way for them to contribute and truly make a difference.

One moment that still stands out: my All-State centerfielder saw we’d need a catcher the next year. Nobody told him to, but he took it on himself to learn a brand new position and put in all of the extra work with me. He went from being an All-State outfielder his junior year to an All-State caliber catcher his senior year—because he recognized what the team needed and committed himself to it. That’s accountability. Not just showing up, but putting in the work and being willing to change for the greater good.

In the workplace, accountability too often gets framed as “calling out” low performers. But the best accountability is when people want to succeed (and sometimes fail) together. When the culture is right, even the person struggling doesn’t want to be left behind—they adapt so they can be part of the success around them.As leaders, it’s our job to set clear standards and build that culture of belonging where accountability isn’t discipline—it’s desire.

Learning from Failure

In coaching, the toughest loss I ever had was in Regionals. We were riding high—20+ wins, Paul Bauman Memorial Champions, beating local bigger schools for the first time in years, a District championship, and the belief we could hang with anyone. Then we lost by a single run to a team I was sure we were better than.

That team then went on to the State Finals, beating everyone else easily. We were this close to being them.

It hurt—but it set the tone. My younger players, including two who specifically stand out and who would both later become All-State players and leaders, saw firsthand what it meant to play as a true team. Winning against small schools wasn’t enough anymore. Stacking up win totals just to fall flat when it mattered most. They started walking the walk and the lessons from that season shaped how they carried themselves for years to come.- Failure is a tough teacher, but it’s one of the best.

In leadership today, I see the same truth. In the Casino Security world, after every major guest incident, we debrief. What went right? What went wrong? What would we try differently if (or more likely, when) this happens again? The same applies to major projects—expansions bring successes and missteps, and clinging to “that’s how we’ve always done it” only keeps us from growing.

The lesson is simple: failure stings, but it sharpens. When teams embrace it, they don’t just get better—they prepare themselves to win when it matters most.

Motivation and Belief

Belief is contagious. I’ve seen it change the course of games—and careers. When I coached varsity baseball, one of my proudest wins was against a powerhouse local school that hadn’t lost to us in years. Most everyone expected us to “take our lumps” and move on. This included fans of both sides, players from both sides, administrators – everyone around the game. But I refused to approach it that way. I set our best lineup. I prepared as if we belonged on the same field—because we did. While I didn’t outwardly say anything different, the fact that I was not different spoke in its own way. My players picked up on that attitude, and as the game wore on, their confidence grew.

By the time I turned up the energy, they weren’t just hoping to win—they expected to. We beat that bigger team twice that year and it reshaped how the program thought about itself.

An earlier memory sticks with me too. I once coached a young pitcher whose coaches wanted to intentionally walk one of the league’s best hitters. I pulled him aside: “He's good, right? (nod) You're good, right? (nod) The best hitters in baseball get out 70% of the time. You’re good enough. You’re going to get this out.” (Never mind that this was youth ball and the kid probably was getting out more like 20% of the time that year.) He struck him out—and came off the mound on fire. That moment changed how he saw himself.

Leadership at work is no different. Teams don’t need empty “rah-rah” speeches. They need leaders who show them that they belong, trust them to perform, and support them when they stumble. Sometimes we fail, sometimes we tap out—but belief, shared and reinforced, is what allows teams to grow into their potential.

Building Trust and Accountability

One of the biggest questions in leadership is: How do you make team building natural?

For me, it’s always been about consistent interaction, clear expectations, and inclusion. Not everyone will deliver the same results—but everyone can give the same effort. I never lower standards because someone is less talented. In baseball, you might not hit the target every throw, but you can control your footwork, your positioning, and your effort.

Trust is what brings accountability to life. I’ll never forget a District tournament game where I called for a suicide squeeze in the third inning. While we had practiced them, we had never actually run one during a game that season – but I trusted the players involved. They executed it flawlessly, scored the game’s only run, and we went on to win the District and the first round of Regionals. The opposing coach later told me he was shocked—his team had seen squeeze attempts all year, but never one that crisp in a critical moment.

The same holds true at work. Early in a Supervisor role with a new organization, I was struck by how often frontline staff called Supervisors over for small issues. They hadn’t been empowered to make decisions. Over time, we changed that culture—pushing toward a “Four Diamond” standard where “there is evidence that all associates are empowered by management to resolve guest issues immediately.” That’s accountability in practice: not micromanagement, but empowerment.

When people are trusted to act, they take ownership—and the whole team succeeds.

Dugouts to Desks – Leadership Always Comes Back to People

Looking back, I never expected my time in dugouts and ballfields to shape how I lead adults in high-pressure environments. But the lessons were the same: effort matters, failure teaches, confidence spreads, and trust unlocks potential.

I’ve carried those principles from one uniform to the next, and every team I’ve worked with—on the field or in a casino—has proven them true. When leaders invest in people and give them the room to grow, teams stop just “getting through the day” and start performing like they belong at the top of their game.