I tell our baseball players to never wait for a walk.  If it looks good, swing the bat.  Good things may happen. 

I realize that some coaches tell players to look at the first strike.  There are adherents to this philosophy and I understand their thinking.  They will argue - correctly - that it adds pressure to the pitcher.  They explain that walks are important part of the game.  I get it and that may be fine for some.

But I like hackers.  I like kids who want to hit the ball. 

The danger of imparting the "wisdom of walks" - especially at the early stages of a kid's baseball experience - is that it all too often becomes the easy option.  To me it isn't any fun.  Walks paint the experience in muted grays.  Walks in baseball are a safe but painfully mediocre experience.  They are contagious too.  Soon batter after batter is standing in the batter's box. . .not batting.  The game grinds to a halt, the fielders begin to fall asleep and baseball lives up to its reputation as a dull sport.

"Good things happen when we hit the ball."  I prefer that approach.  It turns the dull colors bright.  It creates line drives, soaring high flies and bouncing grounders.  It moves the fielders and sets the runners in motion.  It creates a competition and results in great plays.  It is what baseball was meant to be.

In business I suppose emails and voice mails are the walks of the world.  "I left him a message" or "I sent them an email" are safe actions.  Maybe something will happen but everything slows down as the waiting starts.  We follow-up, we play "phone tag" and we empty our inbox but nothing much ever happens.  Did an email ever sell a case?

"Reaching out" and "getting in touch" create the same safe but vacuous feeling.  They are an action (maybe) but we really aren't sure what happened when someone says "I reached out to the prospect".  Did you call?  Did you stop by?  Do we have an answer?  The honest answer would be "I left an electronic record of my existence with them; I'm waiting for a walk."

I prefer hits.  I prefer hackers.  They make life interesting.  They make a difference.