Thanks to the team’s generous tuition-assistance program, incoming Sox manager Robin Ventura is attempting to get a crash course on leadership, team-building and other key management topics via courses at the University of Illinois-Chicago.
Ventura, a former player whose lack of in-game baseball management experience did not deter the team from hiring him, was seen at the UIC Student Services building a few weeks ago registering for organizational theory and labor-management relations courses. He was also recently sighted sitting on a lawn near Jefferson Hall reading The Six Sigma Way.
“I’m learning all kinds of great stuff in these classes that’s going to help me turn this team into a contender,” Ventura said. “Important things, like how to set goals. After all, as [management guru] Peter Drucker says, ‘If you don’t know where you’re going, you might wind up somewhere else.’ Or wait … was that Yogi Berra?”
By Brian Summerfield
