If leaders are so good at…

1. Recognizing the need for change in their people, and
2. Leading change in their organizations,

…why are they often so blind to change in their own life?

This week baseball lost an icon in the passing of “The Boss,” George Steinbrenner. By all accounts George was a complex, committed — perhaps over-committed — and demanding leader who almost maniacally pursued excellence in every aspect of his organization. So much so that in the first 23 seasons he owned the team, he changed managers 20 times.

His fanaticism with winning actually got him banned from ownership and kicked out of the league in 1990 for paying a gambler $40,000 to find incriminating information on one of his own players. He was so despised as an owner that the announcement of his ban over the PA system at Yankee Stadium drew a standing ovation.

Three years later he was reinstated to baseball, as a changed man. When he came back he relied on knowledgeable people to make key baseball decisions and run the organization, focusing instead on building the Yankee brand. And, in the words of New York Daily News reporter Bill Madden, he “got religion.”

Most tellingly, after his return the team was dominant on the field.

As a casual fan of the Tampa Bay Rays (who shares the common disdain for those “damn Yankees”), I have to tip my cap to someone who so influentially built and rebuilt an effective organization. As a developer of leaders, I am compelled to highlight that — by all appearances — George Steinbrenner successfully met the greatest challenge any leader will ever face: Personal transformation.

“The Boss” faced his own shortcomings as a leader, and reinvented himself right into baseball lore.

My sincerest condolences to the Steinbrenner family, and Yankee fans everywhere.