Lessons in baseball enlightenment from three-time MLB Manager of the
Year Joe Maddon.
No one sees baseball like Joe Maddon. He sees it through his trademark
glasses and irrepressible wit. Raised in the "shot and beer" town of
Hazleton, PA, and forged by 15 years in the minors, Maddon over 19
seasons in Tampa Bay, Chicago, and Anaheim has become one of the most
successful, most colorful, and most quoted managers in Major League
Baseball. He is a workplace culture expert, having engineered two of the
most stunning turnarounds in the past quarter century: taking the Rays
from the worst record in baseball one year to the World Series the next
and leading the Cubs to their first World Series title in 108 years.
Like his teams, Maddon defies convention. He is part strategist, part
philosopher, part sports psychologist, and part motivational coach. In
THE BOOK OF JOE, Maddon gives readers unique insights into the game,
including the tension between art and data, the changing role of
managers as front offices gain power, why the honeymoon with the Cubs
did not last, and what it's like to manage the modern player, including
stars such as Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, Yu Darvish, and
Kris Bryant.
But you expect even more from a manager who meditates daily, admires
Twain, and has only one rule when it comes to a team dress code: "If you
think you look hot, wear it!" And Maddon delivers. Built on-old school
values and new-school methods, his wisdom applies beyond the dugout. His
mantras about leadership, mentorship, team building, and communication
are meditations on life, not just baseball. Among those mantras are:
"Do simple better."
"Try not to suck."
"Don't ever permit the pressure to exceed the
pleasure."
"See it with first-time eyes."
"Tell me what you think, not what you've heard."
THE BOOK OF JOE is Maddon at his uniquely holistic best. It is a memoir
of a fascinating baseball journey, an insider's look at a changing game,
and a guidebook on leadership and life.
