It doesn’t only apply to technology. And furthermore, always keep out the SJWs and Karens:
In 2001, I was asked to coach the first 8-year-old all-star baseball team. My wife was concerned it would take up every weekend of the short summer we have in Massachusetts and she was dead against it. I declined but told the league if my son made the team I’d gladly help out…
The coach who accepted the position chose his team without having a tryout. I didn’t care that my son didn’t make it, but other coaches and parents demanded a formal tryout. I was asked to help out at the tryout so I put on the catcher’s gear and got behind the plate during batting. I also hit outfield later in the day.
The kids and their parents were told they’d receive calls in a couple of days… We got a call and my son didn’t make the All-Star team. In fact, other than two additional players, it was the same team the coach had already chosen prior to the tryouts. The tryout was simply a formality…
My son took it hard as did a lot of his friends, they wanted to play summer baseball. My son asked me why we played in the spring when it always rained and not in the summer when the weather was nicer and the Red Sox were playing. I told him that next year I’d start a summer baseball league so all kids could play summer baseball, not just the All-Stars…
My son wanted to go to the first game to watch his friends play and as much as I didn’t, I said okay. We watched as both teams made a dozen errors each and every kid either struck out or walked, there might’ve been two hits the entire game. At 8-years old there was very little difference between the kids who made the All-Star team and those who tried out and didn’t…
The next spring I spoke with the Director of Parks & Rec about my idea to start a summer league and she wanted me to pitch it to the Recreation Commission at their next meeting. At the meeting, I told the members about the need to start a summer baseball league so non-all-stars could play baseball through the summer and improve their skills. I told them how much I had enjoyed putting my glove over the handlebars of my bicycle when I was a kid, heading to the local playground, and playing baseball all day with my friends. I went on that these experiences weren’t available to our kids and that the league would be dedicated to recreating that sandlot experience where they would have fun without all the pressure put on them in other leagues… They liked the idea and were willing to support my league and make it a Park & Rec summer program, naming me as the director of summer baseball. They asked me to become a member of the Rec Commission, but my plate was full and I’m not big on board meetings, and so I declined their offer.
We advertised the new league in the local newspaper and I went to the equipment manager of the regular league and asked him if I could borrow four equipment bags for the summer. There were more than 50 not being used just sitting in the equipment room at the little league complex. He said he’d have to ask the league president. I called him back a few days later and he said it was going to be discussed at a “special meeting”…
I called a week later expecting the answer to be yes and why not, these were the same kids who paid to play in their league during the spring. They declined and said they unanimously decided not to lend me any equipment for my summer league…
Read the whole four-part article by initially clicking on Read Part One Here. This man did a really good thing, creating a summer baseball league for all the boys who weren’t permitted to join one of the official recreation league teams. It was a smashing success. However, he made a crucial mistake in not keeping entirely clear of the local Park & Recs bureaucracy, and ended up seeing the whole thing collapse while being publicly accused of criminal misconduct.
Never forget this: each and every and any success will attract parasites. So don’t accept any help, assistance, or investment from problematic people and organizations. The moment his request to use four equipment bags was rejected, he should have known that these were people of whom to steer well clear.
Also, if offered organizational power, take it. You can always resign later. One of my minor corporate missteps was rejecting a seat on the board of a public game publisher – you’d know the name – because what they really needed most urgently at the time was my design skills. But if I’d accepted the board position offered instead of successfully suggesting the alternative of a design contract, I would have outranked the lead producer, who then wouldn’t have been able to prevent me from implementing what needed to be done on the design side.
