Growing up, I played a lot of baseball. During the summers, we started after breakfast and, with only a short break for lunch, kept playing until the sun went down. Little did I know back then, my passion for baseball and later for playing softball would be key to my leadership skills, especially relating to others.
I had a long career at Baxter International, starting when I was a recent Kellogg MBA graduate working as an analyst in “the cube” (as I affectionately called my cubicle). In time, I was promoted to lead a team, then into other positions of increased responsibility, all the way to the C-suite.
When I became the CEO, I had already spent sixteen years at Baxter. I knew people throughout the company and considered many of them to be good friends. Therefore, it was important to me that people knew I hadn’t changed as a person. Yes, the scope of my responsibilities had broadened tremendously, but I was still the same guy I was back in the cube.
And that’s when I started playing a lot of softball. It was a very popular sport at Baxter. Teams were fielded across divisions, departments, and locations. Players included executives and summer interns alike, but on the field, there were no titles–only people.
One year, several people at corporate headquarters decided to field a team. My executive assistant, Kathy Straus, suggested that she and I participate as well. Because none of us belonged to any particular division as the other teams did, we called ourselves the Baxter Orphans. I can remember showing up for a game in my jeans, T-shirt, and a baseball cap. When I was tagged out on a close play or ran for a fly ball and a teammate crashed into me, I’d hear someone say, “Hey, maybe you shouldn’t be so tough on the CEO.”
That’s when a new person would call someone aside and ask: “That’s not really the CEO, is it?” The new team member would be clued in, but at that moment, I was only Harry Kraemer, softball player.
Once while on a visit to a Baxter facility in Wisconsin, I was approached by one of the younger people at the plant who asked if his team could come to Chicago to play our team. I remember it being a great game with some good-natured competition.
Shortly thereafter, our company needed to go through downsizing, including hiring freezes and layoffs. Among the locations impacted was our Wisconsin facility. Fortunately, the goodwill we had built up by relating to people on a human level, including through our softball games, enabled us to work through any difficulties.
There was never a complaint of “those senior leaders just can’t relate to us.” Instead, people in the plants knew us and understood that we were making these difficult decisions because of economic necessity. They trusted us when we said we would do everything possible to restore jobs.
There’s an important leadership takeaway here. If you want people to follow you through good times and bad, they need to know who you are and what you stand for. Otherwise, you’re just a name and a title. They’ll only do what you ask because you’re in charge—not because they trust you and want to follow you.
One of my favorite quotes, attributed to Theodore Roosevelt, is: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” This attitude speaks to my belief that the power to lead and positively influence others lies in relatability.
Your ability to relate to each person is a real talent that will serve you well in your career because, quite frankly, many people just do not get it. They believe that the only motivation people require is being told what needs to be done. As a values-based leader, however, you understand that you must genuinely relate to your team members before you can motivate and engage them.
Being relatable requires each of us to be vulnerable enough to show our humanity. Equally important, we strive to understand the struggles and challenges facing others so that we can respond appropriately.
Relatability does not happen by accident; it takes effort. And sometimes that happens on the softball field.
Wishing everyone a great week!
