Lack of Evolution Leads to De-Evolution

"I've never sent an e-mail and I never will." -- Bud Selig

Bud Selig is the commissioner of Major League Baseball.  He made those comments a few weeks ago, was the butt of a few jokes, and now it’s gone away.  Bud (I think) is going to retire in a year and baseball will move on.

I point this out, not to make fun or pass judgment, but to shine a light on its symbolism.  What this represents is baseball’s inability to evolve.  Our nation’s pastime, baseball is stuck in the past while its competitors - football and basketball - are proactively moving forward.  

Pick your issue - steroids, instant reply, player marketing, speed of the game, etc. - baseball moves at a snails pace. Baseball has a history of being reactive, rather than proactive.  The evidence of baseball’s relative decline are in the ratings. 

Become complacent, stop making positive progress, stop evolving, stop growing and the gradual decent to extinction begins. This is true of any business including wealth management, portfolio management, and the delivery of client advisory services. Whether it’s a company, economics, or an advisor, the key is to be reasonably progressive.

Change for change sake is not what I am talking about: that is silly, futile and empty headed.  But, rather evolution to improve productivity and services to the end user is that to which I refer. Give the customer/client not just what they want, but give them that which they didn’t even know they could have. Set the bar high and then exceed it. Baseball could take some lessons from companies, who strive for excellence, something we attempt every day. Our website contains a page entitled, Guiding Principles, which are some general principles, which MLB could afford to adopt.

Certainly I am not suggesting baseball change the game, no more than I would suggest a successful investment manager tearing up their strategy and starting from scratch.  What I am suggesting is that in order to maintain that success, the focus must be on the future and not the past, on how it represents itself to the public and on those who it seeks to serve.

When looking at a stock, a manager, an advisor, or what sport will have the highest likelihood for a favorable outcome moving forward, the safest bet is the dynamic one.