344. How Great Leaders Win By Inches

Key Takeaways

• Great leadership isn’t about grand gestures or “home runs” — it’s about small, consistent, incremental actions that move the team forward.
• “Small-ball leadership” means focusing on steady progress: clarifying expectations, listening more, asking better questions, and choosing humility over ego.
• Success, both in baseball and leadership, is decided by inches — the small daily choices that compound into big results.

Actionable Insights

• Trade big swings for small wins: spend an extra two minutes clarifying a task, or take one more moment to understand someone’s view.
• Ego strikes out more than it scores — prioritize progress over perfection.
• Look for “middle-third moments”: the ordinary days and decisions that separate average teams from great ones.
• Lead like a coach, not a slugger — build consistency, patience, and precision into how you manage and communicate.

Leadership Challenge

• This week, stop swinging for the fences. Instead, focus on one small, incremental act each day that makes your team’s work smoother or clearer.
• Measure your leadership not by the number of big wins, but by how many inches you help your team advance.

Final Thought

Championship teams — and great leaders — don’t win through big plays. They win through small, steady, everyday acts of discipline and empathy. Success is built one inch at a time.