Mark Shapiro: How to Run a MLB Team in a Tough Neighborhood

When you walk into Toronto Blue Jays CEO Mark Shapiro's office, you see white boards with notes and lists on leadership, motivation, and winning. Some courtesy of New Zealand's famed All-Blacks Rugby Team and some that Mark has developed himself. Mark is one of those rare leaders who has immersed himself into what works and what doesn't in the wild world of leadership, where anyone can call themselves a guru but few can back it up. And to do so in professional sports, dominated by analytics, with endless pressure to just win, well, that's something I was interested in. In this episode of The Sydcast, Mark and I talk about all this, as well as the particular challenges that come from competing in the same baseball division as two of the wealthiest teams (NY Yankees and Boston Red Sox) that have the resources to regularly buy top talent that the Blue Jays can't.  It’s Major League Baseball’s All-Star Week, so what could be better than slapping on your headphones to listen to Mark and I talk about where advantage comes from in a world where just about everyone has the same information yet your ability to develop world-class talent is nonetheless the single most important determinant of the bottom line - getting to the World Series, and winning it.