I Do It Myself

It’s a cult classic. Don’t even try and argue. 1989s’ Major League was everything for yours truly, as an, at the time, 19-year old Public School league baseball player from Detroit’s mean streets. The caricatures of baseball players as characters written so marvelously by David S. Ward were outlandish and comedic in their exaggeration, but the situations they were put in are identifiable with every athlete out there that never made it all the way, regardless of where in the journey each of our own stories end.

While I’ve identified with the struggles of each of the characters in the movie (it might even be suggested by some of you which character my story most closely resembles, but that’s for the comments section), I’ve lately found myself most closely identifying with the idol-worshipping, cigar smoking, non-English speaking one trick pony of a hitter, none other than Pedro Cerrano, the future Allstate Insurance baritone spokesperson of the century and the President of the United States, Dennis Haysbert (“24” reference, people!)

A physical specimen capable of tape measure-worthy home runs, Cerrano is plagued by a miserable and complete inability to hit a curveball. Cursed with the idea now firmly incepted into his and everyone else’s head that his is an incurable disease, the cursed hitter turns to an idol named Jobu to help rid him of his certain career-ender of an Achilles heel.

In his climactic scene in the movie, the despondent Cerrano decides once and for all to fail as all players should fail, willing to give it whatever it takes to get the hit and win the competition, swearing off reliance on anything other than personal effort.  

“I cheesed-off, now, Jobu, Look, I GO to you, I stick-UP for you. You no help me now, I say f&^#-you, Jobu, I do it myself.”

As the ball clears the wall for the triumphant home run, we each rejoice right along with Pedro Cerrano and all the other underdog Cleveland Indians as they make a run to this cinematic World Series Championship. We recall our own moments of redemption when we decided to stop letting things stand in our way and decided “I do it myself." 

I’ve had many of those moments over the course of the last few years, and the turns my personal and professional lives have taken have been shaped by the desire to want to achieve in the moment when, finally, it’s my time.

“When people make a conscious effort to create change, beautiful things can happen. But, when BUSINESSES decide to create change, MOVEMENTS happen.”

Leading from the front means believing enough in what you see so much so, you’ll change your life for it. Leading from the front means being driven by concepts so central to your personal belief system, you’re willing to make it what you wake up each morning to do.

I always thought I’d be asked to be part of something others were doing. To be a part of a team I admired with people I respected working alongside me. What I’ve come to realize is I’m doing things other people want to be a part of, and it’s up to me to change my thinking to allow that to be the reality. It’s only just recently I’ve gotten comfortable with this notion, but now it’s inescapable; it’s what has to happen.

I want to see a movement happen, and I’m dedicated to its success. Who’s with me?