Jackrabbits in the Outfield (John Hindle)

Excerpt from Chapter 4

"There was a lot of love in the office. We lived in close quarters 14 hours a day in the summer, under some serious pressure. Of course, there was the odd office conflict. I tried my best to have the disagreements dealt with openly and resolved quickly. It seemed like every year at some point, I would have to pull out the “A” speech at a staff meeting. I couldn’t use this speech often, but on occasion it was useful.

Basically, it included a teamwork theme. There was one special rule that I expected everyone to abide by. No one was permitted to talk about a staff member to another staff member unless the person being talked about was in the room. Anyone could come to me with an issue about another staff member but my response was usually to get both parties in the room and have it out until we were at peace. People are people so sometimes they broke the rule. I believe, though, that having that philosophy helped the office flow as smoothly as possible."

Excerpt from chapter 3

"I was actively participating in everything. On occasion, I would try to take a deep breath, sit back, and take stock of what was happening. The job had become all consuming. I felt like I had to be involved in every decision in every department. I didn’t have the skills to prioritize very well in those days and found myself responding to every request or phone call. Frequently, several jobs would get half-done and then be interrupted. It felt like I was living in organized chaos. It was fun but a little frustrating some days.
As the staff grew over the years, I learned to back off and allow people to accept responsibility and be accountable for their job functions. In that first season, however, everything was so new I was not even sure what tasks should be assigned to someone else. I, therefore, ended up doing a lot of things myself or in conjunction with another staff member. Somehow, we managed to accomplish a great deal in a short time. Hard work can take you a long way on most jobs."