Every week, the team at Peak will offer concepts, thoughts and takeaways about leadership or personal development from the world of sports. The goal is to make you think, to inspire or to help in some small way. This week’s newsletter is written by Rustin Dodd. You can follow Peak here.
One Great Way to Connect: Origin Stories
Anthony Iapoce is, outside of baseball, a relatively anonymous first-base coach with the Detroit Tigers. But his story is worth knowing because he’s dreamed up a creative way to connect with, and inspire, his players.
It begins with a simple question: Where did it start?
In this case, Iapoce wants his players to tell him about the exact location where they fell in love with baseball. It could be a local park, a youth field, or a backyard. With the help of Google Earth images and a little artistic talent, he then creates a “Where did it start?” photo illustration for each player.
“You try to get to know them as people, understand who taught them baseball, who was important to them in their life,” said Derek Johnson, a pitching coach and former colleague of Iapoce’s with the Chicago Cubs. “What were their experiences that led them to this place? It’s an attempt to figure out who this guy is — and to get the player to identify who he is as well.”
Iapoce’s method is the subject of this wonderful story from The Athletic’s Tyler Kepner. It’s worth reading.
It also reminded me of a story we ran last week at Peak about former Reds star Joey Votto and the theory of high-quality connections, an idea from a professor at the University of Michigan.
Jane Dutton, the Michigan professor, has researched the idea that short, meaningful connections with colleagues can lead to transformational changes for organizations. The interactions don’t need to be long. But Dutton has outlined the three best ways to achieve them.
1. Respectful engagement (a few words of praise or affirmation)
2. Task enabling (helping someone finish or accomplish something)
3. Creating trust (often by disclosing something important) In other words: Asking a colleague or teammate about their “origin story” is a natural opportunity for what Dutton would call a “high-quality connection.”
When I was a younger journalist, I loved asking co-workers about their “origin story” because it helped me visualize a path for my own career. But as I’ve gotten older, I love asking co-workers for their origin story because they immediately sound so similar to mine. The connection is almost immediate. And I usually remember the moment. 
