- 04 March, 2009 12:55 PM EST
- BPM Champion: Playing the Game
As a kid, I played a mean game of neighborhood softball. You know the story: 1960s to very early 70s, red mud fields, wooden bats, marginally-stitched softballs, bases made out of left-over building material, neighborhood friends, neighborhood bullies, no uniforms, shoes optional. Yeah! You played it too? Do you remember how we determined which team batted first? "Flip a coin?" You guys had a coin to flip? Wow! Not us. We used a much more aggressive approach.
Who's On First? One team tossed the bat - upside down - and the big cheese on the other team caught the fat part of the bat where you normally would smack a ball. Then, taking turns, you each raced hand-over-hand up the bat to see who got to the very top (er, bottom?) of the handle. The top guy (the guy holding the end of the handle) was then declared the winner or had to defend your one attempt to knock the bat loose. If you remember this, you know how hard it was to defend when your top grip was basically three knuckles and a bruised thumb. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, it's probably because you grew up ATS - After Tang's Supremacy. Also, my reference to guys is not sexist. We didn't have any girls on the team - ever. They weren't interested and neither were we, I think. Well, they weren't interested, ok?
That little back-and-forth with the bat was probably good training for you BPM Champions, and a pretty good metaphor, too. It goes like this: If you're a senior executive and the BPM Champion, your life is pretty good, unless someone higher in the food chain is anti-BPM. Then - hand-over-hand it goes - they trump you and make your life and mission miserable. Better to have the higher-ups be neutral, but if there's a vocal anti-BPM opponent, you either have to let him/her bat or you try to knock the bat from his/her grip. A good Champion will always try to knock the anti-BPM forces back.
This is a pretty good metaphor isn't it? So, while we always advise that BPM success requires a Champion, I think you need to remember the corollary. Just having a Champion doesn't assure success. A Champion is necessary, but not sufficient. If the Champion is overshadowed by a naysayer from a better perch on the org chart - an Overlording Anti-BPM Champion - it might be like having no BPM Champion at all; like matter and anti-matter
I knew there were good reasons we all played ball during the summer when Gilligan was in re-runs. You play ball too. Take on your top naysayer, knock the bat from his or her hands. I can assure you of this: Anyone who is an anti-BPM Champion in 2009 is holding on with a lot less of a grip than three knuckles and a bruised thumb. He or she hasn't got a chance. Take your best shot, and batter up! And, when you win, celebrate with a glass of Tang. It's never to late to take up the habit, you Champion you!
