They Go Bat ***t Crazy
I know you’re taking it in the teeth out there but the first guy through the wall...he always gets bloody, always.
This is a threat not to just a way of doing business, but in their minds it’s threatening the game, but really what’s its threatening is their livelihood, its threatening their jobs, it’s threatening the way that they do things.
And every time that happens, whether its a government or a way of doing business, or whatever it is, the people who are holding the reins, they have their hands on the switch, they go bat shit crazy.
I mean anyone who is not tearing their team down right now, and rebuilding it using your model...they’re dinosaurs. They’ll be sitting on their ass, on the sofa, in October, watching the Boston Red Sox win the World Series.
I'm obsessed with the movie Moneyball. I admit it. It has a permenant spot in my optical drive of my little Macbook Pro. I watch it when I have just a bit of time on my hands. Why? Because of quotes like the one above.
The quote above is a monologue given to Billy Bean (Brad Pitt) by the owner of the Boston Red Sox (Arliss Howard). It encompasses everything that Pitt's character had been doing the entire baseball season of 2002.
Billy Bean sought to change the game of Baseball. How? By taking statistical data, most importantly On Base Percentage (how many times did a guy get on base) and building a team around a bunch of guys who got on base a lot, but because of the traditional way Baseball scouts looked at players (how good looking they were, how their swing looked, how much "potential" they had, how good looking their girlfriend was, no I'm not kidding), they had been rejected, despite getting on base a lot. Everything else was ignored by scouts, because they "knew" the game of baseball better than statistical bean counters. Bean was able to pay a fraction of what these players were worth, and was able to build a winning team around them, despite calls in the press for his head, as well as personal jabs.
Is it a perfect system? Nope. It did, however, allow Bean and the Oakland A's to win 20 games in a row (a new record in baseball) and make it to the playoffs, with older, less attractive (by traditional assessment) baseball players, for 1/5 of the cost per game compared to other teams. It was extremely effective.
And despite all of that, there is a vocal majority in the world of sports writers, baseball experts, scouts, authors, who all hate Bean and the Bill James (founder of the system Bean used) way of playing baseball. The monologue above illustrates that despite all of this negative stuff, what Bean did was necessary, and when he started to change things and be successful (20 games is no fluke) people started to go Bat Shit Crazy. They couldn't stop what was happening, so all they did was sit on the sidelines and complain and yell. It happens all the time, and founders, you need to avoid these people, even if they are close to you.
When starting a company like Twitter, Amazon, Square, and yes, even Facebook, people are going to say "You can't do that" or "That won't work" or "I don't get it, therefore it's dumb." Founders and startup workers...our lives are not easy. You need to endure, and that is so hard at times, but again it's necessary. Why? Because you are helping people get out of old systems that once were great, but have gotten to the point where they aren't helping them anymore. Rather, they are preying on them and you can change all of that.
Banks all over the US are scrambling because of the simplified world of taking payments with credit cards thanks to Square.They now are training their merchant account reps to scare people with "Square isn't secure and your information can be hijacked." Which is not true as the information travels encrypted through the air. Or "Square is much more expensive than us with their 2.75% fee each swipe." They conveniently leave out that their (the banks) predatory fee's per transaction, merchant account set up (proctology exams are more awesome) and binding contracts (early termination fees out the wazoo) are hurtful to businesses and that Square is the devil, not them, when in fact it's the exact opposite.
Disruption is rarely carried out well, despite being necessary in many fields. Just be aware that if you are going to rock the boat, some people will like the ride, and others will not. You have to be brave, and when bad things happen, you have to forge ahead despite what people will say about your product, and worst of all, what they will say about you.
Be a squeaky wheel. It hurts, you will make mistakes, you will annoy some people, but ultimately, you will win. You will change whatever you are doing in this world forever, because you made that tough decision to be different. The people see you for who you really are, a brave person who did what was necessary to help people, and you will inspire them to change the world.