March 24, 2025

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Jerad Head

Director of Business Development

Lessons From A Career In Baseball

Before joining Mammoth as director of business development, baseball was my life. I signed for the Cleveland Indians and achieved a lifelong dream. I’ve coached, managed, and scouted at the highest level. 

There are 162 games in the baseball season. Every game is full of failure. You strike out…you drop a fly ball…you blow a lead…your team loses the series. That’s just how it goes. 

But the wins come too. Baseball is a lot like life in that way: it’s full of lows and highs. What I’ve learned from my career is that how we face challenges makes all the difference. With the right mentality, you can turn any L into a W. 
 
Here’s how to do it: 

Stay Consistent 
At my very first spring training for Cleveland, I was surrounded by some of the best players I had ever seen. I mean, they were good. They were just as good, if not better, as me. What was their secret?  

What they had was a routine. They would get up and train. Every. Single. Day. And that was it: staying consistent. Baseball, more than any other sport, is about consistency. Consistent fielding. Consistent throwing. Consistent hitting. Making it to the professional levels requires some natural skill. But it also takes a lot of focus on the minor details. Pros will work on their skills until they develop muscle memory. They don't stop when they get it right, they work until they can't get it wrong.
 
Keep doing your reps. Keep making your cold calls. Keep practicing your presentations. It will pay off. Then you can show off in front of the rookie. 

Learn How To Deal With Failure and Success In the Same Way  
Learn from the wins and losses with grace. Staying even keeled will keep your emotions level. Baseball requires overcoming a lot of failure to be successful. An all-star bats .300. That means they only have 3 hits for every 10 at bats. They could fail 7 times before they succeed, yet they are still considered the best in the game. 

Likewise, in business, if you’re on a hot streak in quarter one, don’t celebrate too early. There are still three quarters left in the year. And if quarter one is full of losses, go easy on yourself. It’s not over until it’s over. We pop champagne on December 31 for a reason. Stay even keeled. 

Focus On What You Can Control  
From enduring long bus rides to early morning flights after a night of extra innings. From the constant daily grind to unexpected rain delays. Baseball will challenge you in all sorts of ways with no guarantee of a return. It takes serious resilience and perseverance.  
 
Every setback and challenge I’ve had laid the groundwork for who I am today. Baseball taught me to focus on what I could control and adapt. I didn’t have control of the weather or our game schedule. But I could control what I was eating, how much I was sleeping, and my workout routine. 
 
Remain resilient. Focus on your skills, habits, and routines. These are what you can control.  

Watch Game Film (Especially If You Don’t Want To) 
If you really want to be better, you got to do it. 
 
Learning from your mistakes isn’t easy. It’s humbling to look in the mirror and admit that you’re not perfect. 

Even if it’s not pretty, you should watch the game footage. Identify what you’re doing wrong, see what adjustments you can make to be better the next time you are called upon.
 
Final Thought: There Are No Shortcuts  
Sorry. There is no secret sauce. At the end of the day, you need to put in the work. The baseball season (or sales, or construction or whatever) is long. But if you stay consistent, stay even keeled, focus on what you can control, and learn from your mistakes, the success will follow. I promise. 
 
Now get back out there.