From the Desk of the GM - Apr. 22, 2009

“Tigger or Eeyore”

Last night, the Goldeyes held their annual “Game Day Staff Orientation” at the ballpark. We do this every year at approximately the same time. It is an evening for new and returning staff to come to the ballpark, watch some videos about customer service, get fitted for their uniforms and to meet fellow game day staff. It is a chance for people who have worked for the Goldeyes in the past to meet the new staff and for the new staff to meet the front office staff.

It’s a chance for each department’s supervisors to meet with their staff to let them know what they expect from them during the summer. The main message we try and get across is the old adage that “you only get one chance to make a first impression”. Another message is that no department is more important than another, all departments need to work in harmony for the Goldeyes experience for the fans to be the best that it can be. We strive to be “Disney-esque” in our approach to customer service.

Which gets me to the reason for the title of today’s blog. About a year ago, Lois Horn, wife of our facility manager Scott, sent me a link to an inspirational and thought provoking video on youtube, called, “The Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving your Childhood Dreams”. If you have a spare hour to watch it, I highly recommend it. It’s been viewed millions and millions of times for very good reason. Mr. Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given only a few months to live.

The university at which he was a professor, Carnegie Melon, had a series called “The Last Lecture” in which professors were asked to give a lecture to students with the premise that if it was in fact, their last lecture, what would they want to impart on their students. The difference with Mr. Pausch’s last lecture was that it would, in fact, be his last. The hour long lecture involves him talking about how he achieved his childhood dreams, how his parents impacted his life and how much loves and will miss his three young children.

In addition to the Last Lecture he gave to his students, and as a result, to millions of people all over the world, he also wrote a book with the same title. In the book, Mr. Pausch offers some advice on many different topics. The one that I’ve listened to a number of times is the one about one’s outlook on life and how we choose to live our lives on a daily basis.

Randy was a huge fan of the Disney experience and used the analogy that people have the choice each day of being a Tigger or an Eeyore. Will you choose to be filled with joy and happiness and choose to bounce around each day like the crazy tiger from the Winnie the Pooh series, or are you going to be an Eeyore? If you are familiar with the series, Eeyore is the donkey who goes around with his head held low, down on the world and himself and is filled with pessimism.
I have, over the years, tried to be a Tigger in my approach to life. Life is way too short to be an Eeyore. It takes way too much energy to be an Eeyore. I try to be positive in my approach to life and I’ve tried to instill the same positive outlook in my kids.

Finally, the point of today’s blog. With respect to our game day staff, we want a game day staff full of Tiggers. It’s inevitable that there will be a few Eeyores that sneak through the screening and interviewing process, but they don’t usually last very long, either by their choice or ours.

It was a sad day on July 25, 2008 when Mr. Pausch passed away. Very sad for his wife and three young kids. He did, however, leave a lasting legacy that we can all learn from in his Last Lecture video and the book that followed.

Until next time…
-- Andrew