How to Hit a Curveball
Confront and Overcome the Unexpected in Business
By: Scott R. Singer, with Mark Levine
Published: April 1, 2010
Format: Hardcover, 256 pages
ISBN: 9781591843108
Publisher: Penguin/Portfolio
"If you want to make the majors, and have a future in either a corporate structure, as an entrepreneur, or as an independent professional, you need to be able to deal with unanticipated events and scenarios. The same is true for your personal day-to-day life", writes managing director and head of media and entertainment at the Bank Street Group, Scott R. Singer, and co-author and best selling writer Mark Levine, in their practical and enlightening book How to Hit a Curveball: Confront and Overcome the Unexpected in Business. The authors demonstrate that a rapidly increasing rate of change in society, and a constant upheaval of societal norms, create an environment where unexpected events become commonplace and must be met with decisive and creative responses.
Scott R. Singer has faced a series of events in his life that he never anticipated, and they turned his seemingly successful world upside down. He was forced to deal with those unexpected events that he describes as curveballs. Drawing on a baseball analogy, the author shares his vision for meeting challenges as they arrive, in productive and positive ways. The authors write that change is inevitable, while escalating in frequency, causing anyone who fails to recognize it as it arrives to fall by the wayside. These curveballs are not entirely without value, however. The authors make clear that unexpected problems are really opportunities, to discover creative and effective solutions, and move well ahead of the competition. A curveball doesn't always result in a strike out. The same pitch, if recognized earlyenough, can be hit out of the park for a home run.
Scott R. Singer (photo left) recognizes that America is in a period of rapid transition. The old political, economic, social, and technological paradigms are changing before our very eyes, leaving many people lost between the world they knew and the new emerging systems. As Moore's Law pointed out, change is increasing at an accelerating pace, making both anticipating events and responding to them ever more challenging for people.
As change occurs, it's accompanied by other dramatic upheavals that were both unexpected and unintended by the people involved in the actions. Because Americans are used to things working as they should, and turning out for the better in most cases, they are also less resilient when faced by a cataclysmic event that was neither expected or understood immediately. These societal changes make curveballs the norm, and not the exception. As a result, the ability to recognize and hit the curveball is an essential skill in the modern world.
For me, the power of the book is how Scott R. Singer and Mark Levine, understand the critical importance of understanding and meeting the challenge of unexpected change. Through an entertaining baseball analogy and format, the principles for meeting the curveball, and even anticipating its arrival in advance, are presented in an easy to follow manner. Combining the concepts with interesting and illustrative anecdotes helps to bring the ideas to life, building a stronger foundation for embracing the ever increasing changes in our society.
The message of the book is a positive one, that despite what seems like out of control and incomprehensible upheaval, is really a set of new opportunities. A person who learns to embrace the principles of change, and who follows the steps to hitting curveballs as they arrive at the plate, will gain huge business and career advantage. Since every problem contains the elements of opportunity and success, curveballs should be welcomed and not feared, once their intrinsic value is internalized by an individual.
I highly recommend the important and must read guide to anticipating and accepting change How to Hit a Curveball: Confront and Overcome the Unexpected in Business by Scott R. Singer and Mark Levine, to anyone seeking a key to deciphering the transformation of modern society into something new and exciting. Instead of being overwhelmed by the shifting winds, and striking out on unexpected curveballs, this books teaches the observant person to turn curveballs into high scoring home runs.
Read the perception altering and fun filled book How to Hit a Curveball: Confront and Overcome the Unexpected in Business by Scott R. Singer and Mark Levine, and discover the many valuable and critical lessons that can alter the way you see challenges. Instead of fearing and resisting change, even though its inevitability makes it ubiquitous to our society and economy, learn how to embrace those difficult curveballs that life throws your way. Instead of striking out, become a successful curveball hitter.
