When it comes to building a winning franchise from the ground up, no one in the history of sports is better than current Chicago Cubs President and General Manager, Theo Epstein. He’s the mastermind behind ending not one, but two, of the longest championship droughts in the history of sports.
Epstein began his tenure with the Boston Red Sox in 2002. In 2007 they won the World Series for the first time in 86 years. Epstein then resigned and took the same job in Chicago with the Cubs in 2012. In 2017, the Cubs won the World Series for the first time in 108 years.
In short, this guy knows what he’s doing.
It started with trying to be really transparent with the players. The more you do that, it’s kind of like a drug. You realize it’s just easier when you’re transparent. You don’t have to worry about remembering your lies or your slants or your coverups. Then you realize it works with everyone. It works managing up, it works with the media, it works with agents, it works with your fans. It’s kind of the best way to do things if you can pull it off. Something as simple as transparency is really scalable, because it quickly impacts the culture. And the culture is something everyone feels. –Theo Epstein, Chicago Cubs GM, President
Be honest with players. Be honest with staff. Be honest with agents. Be honest with the media. Be honest with the fans.
It’s something we here at SinBin.vegas have been harping on for a long time and are often met with resistance with people telling us, “it just doesn’t work that way.” Well Theo disagrees.
If upper management is really transparent with everyone, that has this amplifying effect. Then you tend to attract players who operate that way, on the same wavelength, coaches and fans. -Epstein
Now I’m not here to say the Vegas Golden Knights aren’t being transparent and open. Much the opposite in most cases. The Creator himself is one of the most honest sports owners out there. But there have been some hints from this budding franchise of wanting to go the Belichick route at times rather than the Epstein one.
It’s kind of the best way to do things if you can pull it off. -Epstein
When you can’t pull it off is when you are making decisions that are not in the best interest of your paying customers. Remember when MGM instituted their parking fees. This is how they sold it.
