Why Your Project Team Needs a Seventh-Inning Stretch

Lonnie Pacelli is an Accenture/Microsoft veteran with four decades of learnings under his belt. He frequently writes and speaks on leadership, project management, work/life balance, and disability inclusion. Reach him at [email protected] and see more at ProjectManagementAdvisor.com.

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Topics: Leadership, Teams

I love baseball. I grew up playing as a kid. I had a pretty good fastball and a knee-buckling curve. I like to think I could have broken into the pros if it only I was bigger, stronger, faster, and had more talent. (Only a few minor details that stood between me and the Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame.)

I particularly enjoy going to spring training games in Arizona. This year, I went to four games in five days, including a day and night game on the same day. At the night game, Patty and I took my 91-year-old father-in-law. I bought good tickets that minimized the number of stairs, and we sat in the section behind home plate.

We had peanuts and beer during the game. The weather was beautifully comfortable; not too hot or cold. We stayed until the middle of the 8^th inning and left to avoid traffic. The one thing from that game that will stick with me into my old age was during the seventh-inning stretch.

In case you’re not familiar with baseball, the seventh-inning stretch occurs in the middle of the (natch) seventh inning after the visiting team bats and before the home team gets in their swings. During the seventh-inning stretch, the fans in the stadium are encouraged to stand up, stretch their arms and legs, and sing along with an organist playing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”

When the middle of the seventh inning arrived, most in the stadium …

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