The 2012 Red Sox were a disaster. As a die-hard Sox fan, it brings me no great joy to say that, but it’s the cold, hard truth.

The season began with high hopes. The roster was stacked with future Hall of Famers. Ace Josh Beckett, slugger David Ortiz, infield phenom Dustin Pedroia. The odds were in our favor.

That is, until they weren’t. A team plagued with injuries was soon also plagued with clubhouse drama, and worst of all, terrible management. High hopes were soon replaced with anger and no love for manager Bobby Valentine, who was booted out the door the day after the season ended.

The point being? Even the best team, the strongest, fastest, smartest team, will fail under poor leadership.

Perhaps writer and public speaker Stephen M. R. Covey said it best, “Without trust, we don’t truly collaborate; we merely coordinate, or, at best, cooperate. It is trust that transforms a group of people into a team.”

Bottom line: for a team—or a company—to be successful, its members must be able to trust that their leaders will guide them down the right paths and make decisions that won’t compromise outcomes.

Let’s consider what makes someone a good leader. Strong leadership requires:

• Communication. Remember the childhood game Telephone? You start by whispering one thing to the person standing next to you, and by the time it is repeated by the last person in line, it’s completely different—and often nonsensical. But unlike a game of Telephone, a good leader is able to clearly express expectations, even under the most difficult circumstances, and knows how to convey exactly what he or she is looking for without confusion.
• Patience. In any—and every—work environment, questions will arise. A good leader encourages questions and knows that it is better for employees to ask than to bumble through, hoping for the best outcome. At Polaris, Joe Maloy—our president and COO—gave us this advice: “If you come to a fork in the road and don’t have clear directions on which way to go, stop and get directions. Taking a 50/50 chance of being right is always wrong.” Likewise, if you don’t know the answer, stop and ask the question. Don’t just close your eyes and hope for the best.
• Humility. In the words of Swiss philosopher Henri Frederic Amiel, “There is no respect for others without humility in one’s self.” A good leader is not afraid to admit when he or she is wrong, doesn’t accept (or expect) all the credit, and knows that he or she doesn’t always have all the answers. At Polaris, our leaders rely heavily on others (including our clients) for input because they know that when we work together, we are stronger.

And so, I’ll end this article the same way I began it, by saying this: even the best team, the strongest, fastest, smartest team, will fail under poor leadership. And while we will never know if the 2012 Red Sox would have won it all had it not been for Bobby Valentine, one thing is not up for debate: leadership can make or break a team.

Disclaimer: The baseball views expressed in this article are strictly those of the writer, and do not reflect the views of the staunch New York fans in the Polaris office. The writer cannot predict the future and has no influence on which of these players is voted into the Hall of Fame.

About the author: Melanie Gray is Creative Supervisor/Copywriter at Polaris Direct, a nationally acclaimed high-volume direct marketing services company in Hooksett, NH.