There’s always a job to be done.
When I step into a setting like spring training with the Los Angeles Dodgers, I’m there to learn. To study. To observe how things function. To ask questions and listen well. That’s the work.
And to be honest, I’ve been in a lot of those environments before—professional teams, college programs, rooms filled with talented, accomplished people. In some ways, it can start to feel familiar.
That’s what I have to guard against.
Because familiarity can quietly steal something from us: a sense of wonder at the magic of the everyday.
I was reminded of that right away this trip. I drove straight from the airport to a Dodgers–Cubs game and met Rick Sutcliffe as I was walking in. As we headed toward the dugout, he shared a story he’d heard that day about from Cubs’ great Billy Williams about Buck O’Neill shaping his career. Then, as we parted, he flipped me a baseball.
For a moment, I felt like 42 years had slipped away—and I was a kid again.
That’s a perspective worth hanging onto.
Not in a distracted way. Not at the expense of the work. But alongside it.
Because as leaders, we’re called to be focused and prepared. But if we’re not careful, that same focus can narrow our view until we stop noticing where we are and what we’ve been given.
The challenge is to hold both.
To do the work with excellence—and still see it with fresh eyes.
So wherever you are this week—even if it feels familiar—step back for a moment.
Take it in.
There’s probably more there than you think.
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