- [Narrator] Funding for this edition of One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been provided by Seton Hall University.

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- This is One-On-One.

- I'm an equal American just like you are.

- The way we change Presidents in this country is by voting.

- A quartet is already a jawn, it'’s just The New Jawn.

- January 6th was not some sort of violent, crazy outlier.

- I don't care how good you are or how good you think you are, there is always something to learn.

- I mean what other country sends comedians over to embedded military to make them feel better.

- People call me 'cause they feel nobody's paying attention.

-_ It'’s not all about memorizing and getting information, it'’s what you do with that information.

- (slowly) Start talking right now.

- That's a good question, high five.

(upbeat music) - Hi everyone, Steve Adubato.

I'm about to introduce a segment that Mary Gamba, my colleague on "Lessons in Leadership", did with me with this author, Evan Drellich.

He's the author of "Winning Fixes Everything: How Baseball's Brightest Minds Created Sports' Biggest Mess".

It's about the Houston Astros' cheating scandal of 2017 against my New York Yankees.

And the whole idea that this team, the Astros, were part of a cheating scandal that wasn't just cheating in a particular game or a series, it was a culture.

It's about leadership, it's about sports culture, about ethics.

And does winning fix everything?

Obviously not.

And Evan Drellich talks to us, Mary and I, about that, and we wanted to share it with our larger audience.

I can get that out.

Here it is.

Welcome to "Lessons in Leadership".

We are honored to be joined by Evan Drellich, who is the author of a compelling, important book.

While it's about baseball, it's also about leadership, and ethics, and culture.

He's the author of "Winning Fixes Everything: Baseball's Biggest Minds Created Sports' Biggest Mess".

Evan, great to have you with us.

- Thanks for having me, Steve.

- Now, I said this right before we got on the air, I'm a Yankee fan, hardcore.

The Houston Astros, the Yankees, a very big series.

A little cheating going on.

Could you set the context for your reporting in this book?

What it has to do with the Astros, the cheating scandal that the Astros apparently still don't admit, and what the heck it has to do with the larger picture of Major League Baseball?

Loaded question, I know, go ahead.

- Yeah, it's interesting.

Even when I speak to non-business focused audiences, I do say that this is a management culture book with a baseball setting.

There's a cover of a baseball on the cover, a picture of a baseball on the cover.

But, you know, it's really about the front office and the operation of a baseball team.

And we had this major event happen, this famous cheating scandal now.

The 2017 Astros were cheating.

They won the World Series that year.

And I was actually, along with a colleague, the first reporter to break the story of them cheating.

And I had covered the team in person, and so I set out to write a book about how did we get here?

How did we arrive at a point that you had this massive scandal where major figures in the sport, top executives are fired?

And it's really a 10-year or even longer story to understand the set of factors, what was going on, systemically in baseball, as well as inside the Astros management culture, to bring us to this cheating scandal.

- If I have this wrong Evan , correct me.

They've got cameras where you're not supposed to have cameras.

The camera is looking at the catcher calling signals.

They're watching the pitches so they can figure out what number the catcher's calling and predict the pitch.

The Astro batters are aware of the pitch coming.

Look at that advantage.

I went 1-for-16 playing baseball at JV, which is why I never made the varsity.

I didn't, if I knew that curve ball was coming, I might have hung in there sooner.

They're cheating, and then Mary, they're banging a drum.

- Oh yeah, yep, I was gonna say that part too, yeah.

- And the drum, and the number of hits on the drum, Evan, if I have this wrong, tells the batter, the Astros batter what pitch is coming.

That's insanity!

And how long was that going on?

- Yeah, I mean this, so this is at home during the 2017 season.

You basically described it right.

They did have a camera in center field.

Having the camera alone at that time was actually legal, but the usage of it was not.

So the camera fed to a television monitor that was very close to where the Astros sit during games, the dugout.

And they had a, (scoffs) they had a standard garbage can, kind of large, dark green, plastic garbage can there, that, they're out of sight of the field, but very close to the field.

They would hit it with a baseball bat, and that would signal to the hitter what was coming.

And if there was no bang on the garbage can, it meant a fastball.

If there was one bang, it meant a curveball.

If it was two, it meant a different pitch, usually a changeup, some sort of off-speed pitch.

And you know, this is using electronics entirely off the field to influence what we think is, you know, an on-the-level, fair competition on the field.

And that, you know, it's beyond the pale for most people who enjoy competitive sports.

You're supposed to be competing on the field, not off the field.

- So Mary, who's a huge hockey fan, appreciates this, 'cause she also said this.

José Altuve of the Astros is coming around, (laughs) (Mary laughs) he's coming around third base and they're about to congratulate him.

He's like, "Don't take my shirt off!"

- "Don't take my shirt off!"

(laughs) - Because this- - Evan, what was going on underneath his shirt?

- So yeah, there was a lot of speculation of rumors that well- - Allegedly.

- Does he have a buzzer?

Does he have some sort of electronic device that he's wearing on him- - Vibrating.

- To let him know what pitch was coming?

I didn't find evidence of that.

Major League Baseball did not find evidence of that.

So that's never been a confirmed thing.

But it was, you know, this happens right around the time we break the story of what they'd done two years earlier.

So it's a conspiracy theory at this point; it is not proven.

But yeah, people speculate and believe that he could have been doing something even worse than that garbage can scheme.

- Before Mary jumps in, what the heck does all of this, the Astros, what they did, Major League Baseball, how they handled it from a managerial leadership point of view, what does this have to do with leadership and culture?

If you go back to the origin of this management group under which this cheating scandal grew, you had an ex-McKinsey consultant brought in by an owner who was a first-time owner in the sport, who had had a lot of success outside of baseball but had no experience in baseball.

And they set out to create this really cost-efficient operation built on the principles of the outside business world.

Sounds good; it's not unreasonable.

More than that, they became incredibly bottom-line focused.

It was really about wins and making money, which yes, are naturally two goals for a baseball team.

But they didn't focus really on anything else.

There was no focus on compliance.

There was no focus on making- - What about ethics?

Ethics?

- Same thing.

One of the people I spoke to for the book is the Dean of Rice University's Business School, a fellow named Peter Rodriguez.

He studies corruption in business settings.

And his point was that often in environments where there could be rule-breaking or there could be ethical violations, it is on leadership, be that the general manager of the team, or in this case, maybe centrally at baseball's office, the commissioner's office, to really get in front of that with people.

You do have- - They didn't.

- You have to deliver a message of, "We know you could have temptation here to cheat, and we expect you to behave in X, Y, and Z ways."

As opposed to sitting there and assuming that people are just gonna know, "Oh, we shouldn't break the rules."

There was none of that in Houston.

- Yeah, Evan, I want to talk a little bit about trust and leadership.

And for any young adults, and I watch almost every Yankees game now with my dad and my husband and my son, Joey.

And after every pitcher comes off, we know, you see them, they're checking the hands, they're double-checking the glove.

The other day, they had, you know, Nasty Nestor, you know, sharpie out the 44 on his glove, 'cause it could be a distraction.

Because business leaders are cutting corners, they're doing what it takes.

Where is that line between trust and leadership, and what message is it sending?

I know it's a loaded question.

- Yeah, I don't mean to be too bleak about it, but people are always gonna try to get ahead.

People are always gonna try to find an advantage.

They're gonna try to justify their behavior.

"Well, this guy's using sticky stuff to enhance his pitches.

So, you know, I can do the same."

When you actually said "trust", the first thing that came to my mind is about the organizational need to create buy-in and trust such that you can prevent these types of things from happening once they get going.

In the case of the Astros, there was very little trust between the general manager and the field manager, the players and the front office operation.

There were various ways really on kind of the business side where the front office tried to take advantage of and frankly screw over players in different ways.

And so, what happens?

What happens when you, in the middle of a baseball season, drop in McKinsey and Company on not your business operation, but your baseball operation?

- McKinsey, the consultants, came in and they were helping to manage this team.

- Right, you know, they were literally evaluating what manager A.J.

Hinch was doing.

So if you're manager A.J.

Hinch, you're the field manager, you're the guy in charge of that dugout and those players.

You have your boss, Jeff Luhnow, dropping in these consultants on you in the middle of the season.

When you have this cheating scheme unfolding, do you think you're gonna stand there, if you're A.J.

Hinch, and go, "You know what?

I trust my boss here.

I'm gonna bring it to him, and I'm gonna get ahead of this"?

No, the whole operation was so bent on always being 20% better, always being 20% better.

That can deliver results, and in Houston, it did deliver results.

- Did they ever admit, I'm sorry, we have a time issue here.

Did the Astros ever admit to cheating?

- Yes, it depends on the individual, but yes.

The overall, the commissioner's office found that they cheated, we found that they cheated, and players acknowledged it.

Not every player; but yes, players have acknowledged it.

- Does winning fix everything?

- I don't think so, but I hope people read the book and answer that question for themselves.

- It'’s a great book, I'’ve enjoyed it.

The name of the book is, "Winning Fixes Everything: How Baseball's Brightest Minds Created Sports' Biggest Mess".

Evan, great job, and we appreciate you being with us.

- Thanks, Steve.

- You guys stay with us; we're right back.

- [Narrator] To watch more One on One with Steve Adubato find us online and follow us on Social media.

- I wanna welcome Bob Garrett, CEO of Hackensack Meridian Health.

Good to see you, Bob.

- Good to see you too, Steve.

Put it in context, please.

- Yeah, so unfortunately we're seeing significant increases in violence at our hospitals and in schools, in society in general.

The stats are really overwhelming, Steve.

It's really, and I just, I just shake my head when I think about this but gun violence now is the biggest killer of children in the US, which is really staggering.

48,000 people in the US died by gunfire last year.

So we've declared it, along with 50 other health systems across the country, as a public health emergency.

And what we're trying to do is certainly prevent it wherever possible.

- Oh, I'm sorry, Bob, why do you think there's such an uptick?

- Well, I think, I think part of it has to do with the pandemic and the mental health issues that have related, have been a result of that pandemic.

- Right.

- I think that's certainly a major factor, Steve.

But we actually saw the number of violent incidents going up even before the pandemic, so it was going in that direction.

But I think the pandemic certainly exacerbated those trends.

So what we're focused on is prevention and then we're also focused on being able to help victims and their families of gun violence.

So on the prevention side, again, we have signed a pledge along with 50 other health systems across the country.

We're part of a consortium that is being led out of Northwell Health in New York.

And what we're trying to do is find strategies to help prevent gun violence and we think by declaring it a public health emergency, maybe staying out of the politics related to the Second Amendment and guns, but just understanding that whatever your position is on the Second Amendment, this is a public health emergency and we have to, whether you're a gun owner or you're not a gun owner, we have to take steps to try to prevent this senseless killing, particularly of of young people like children and adolescents.

So we're working with these other health systems to find the right strategies, but we also have put in programs that help victims of gun violence as well.

- Bob, sorry for interrupting, we actually, I'm sorry for interrupting, we actually had one of your physician leaders engaged in something called Project Heal.

- Yes.

- What is that and how is it connected to the fight against prevention of violence as a public health issue?

- So Project Heal actually is a program that helps victims of gun violence or their families.

So it's a program that's funded through federal funds as well as state funds.

And we set up Project Heal at Jersey Shore University Medical Center.

We hope to expand it at some of our other sites but what it does is we help those victims by referring them to the right help.

They might need behavioral health types of assistance, they might need social assistance, they might need additional medical assistance.

Also, it's a crisis for their families so we also make referrals for their families.

And I'm happy to say the program just celebrated its two year anniversary and we've already helped over 400 families, which is really, really significant.

And we're hoping that because it's been so successful that we can demonstrate that it's a model that should be replicated not just throughout New Jersey, but throughout the country.

And we're gonna start at Hackensack Meridian by offering it at some of our other hospitals as well.

- It's so interesting.

First I'm gonna disclose a couple things.

One, that I teach in the Hackensack Meridian Health Physician Leadership Academy, and I've gotten to know many of the physicians there, many of whom are involved in dealing with those who are victims of violence.

And also that HMH is a long longtime underwriter of our programming with Bob.

One more quick follow up on this.

You talked in our previous interview about fiscal challenges, long-term fiscal challenges at HMH and other healthcare systems, hospital systems across the nation face.

A lot of it, much of it COVID related.

But you're also now talking about violence as a public health issue, which only expands upon the demands of hospitals and hospital systems.

Is there a disconnect between A, the need to cut expenses, be more fiscally conservative while you're expanding programs to deal with public health issues like violence?

- There's a tremendous disconnect there.

And our mission is to transform healthcare, it's to improve the health of our communities.

And a public health crisis like gun violence and violence in general is something that's near and dear to our mission.

So we have to, we have to continue to fund programs like that, but that's why we're asking for assistance from our partners, whether it be the state government, the federal government, to fund programs like Project Heal because these are tough times for healthcare networks and for hospitals.

But honestly, as you're pointing out, the demand for these types of services and this type of help is incredible.

There's never been more of a need for it than now.

- And that also includes behavioral health, mental health issues, violence, a whole range of issues.

Bob Garrett is the Chief Executive Officer of Hackensack Meridian Health.

Bob I wanna thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us.

- Thanks for having me, Steve.

- You got it.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

- [Narrator] To watch more One on One with Steve Adubato find us online and follow us on Social media.

- Hey everyone, Steve Adubato.

Recently, my colleague on our sister program "Lessons in Leadership", Mary Gamba and I talked with Patricia Stark.

Patricia's doing a new show with our longtime friend Ernie Anastos and they're doing a show on 77 WABC Radio every Sunday night from five to six.

It's called Positively Ernie and Patricia.

It's all about being positive, being happy, taking the worst possible situation and finding something positive in it.

So, while Mary and I did it on that platform, we thought it would be relevant because listen, the public television audience needs to be positive as well.

This is Patricia Stark being positive.

Mary and I are pleased to welcome my longtime friend Patricia Stark, who is the author of this book, Calmfidence: How to Trust Yourself, Tame Your Inner Critic, and Shine in Any Spotlight also co-hosting a new show on 77 WABC with our longtime friend, Ernie Anastos.

The name of the show, Patricia is?

- Well, it's so great to be here with you both, first of all and the name of the show is Positively Ernie and Patricia.

- All right, look, you are the two of the most positive people I've ever met.

How the heck, first of all, you've worked together in the past before.

- Yes, Ernie and I have known each other for many, many years.

Did some work at Fox Five, did some things with a national show that he had done called Positively America, and we always said we wanted to host a show together that was all positive, good news, all uplifting, inspiring, and we got our wish.

So, we're extremely happy right now.

- How dare you do something positive in the media.

- (Laughter) Describe the show, the format of the show.

And by the way, we'll put up the website so people can find out more.

We are on public broadcasting and other outlets but we also wanna share the work of our colleagues that are doing important work.

Please, Patricia.

- Well, thank you both so much for the opportunity to share the good news.

So, it is live every Sunday from 5 to 6:00pm Eastern and it is a call and talk format.

We start with the topics, we have guests that could be anywhere from a celebrity to a guest expert, to a newsmaker, educator.

Doesn't matter, as long as they have inspiring tips and stories, things that are going to kind of refill your cup before another work week.

And that was one thing we were so pleased with getting the five o'clock time slot on a Sunday is, you know, that's really when you're poised to start a new week.

And if we can do something to help refill that cup recharge those batteries launch into a good week.

It's really been working great.

And over the last month and a half since we've launched, we've been taking more phone calls and you can tell that listeners really appreciate the fact that they get to call in with their words of wisdom and things that are working for them, you know, and it's not all just good news and, you know, giggles, we really tackle subjects that are important and that might be tough, but in a solution oriented way.

- As Mary jumps in, Patricia and I have known each other for a long time as well and she has been coaching, mentoring, teaching others how to communicate with more confidence and connect with the message they want to get across in a very passionate and meaningful way.

And I've learned a lot from her books and her work for a long time.

Mary, jump in.

- Yeah, and I was gonna say, there's probably no accident that you went from "Calmfidence", communicating with a sense of calm and confidence at the same time, and also the power of positivity, the power of thinking.

And we all have that inability, right?

To reframe our thoughts to, I've always heard this a million times, it's not what happens to you, it's your reaction to it.

Can you talk a little bit about the connection between our positive thinking and then just overall our outlook on life and then ultimately how that ties into what you're doing with Ernie and the show?

- Yes.

Well, thank you.

So, I really believe that everything starts from within.

Whether it is your calm, the foundation of how you're launching into your day, your communications with others, your interpersonal skills, everything starts in our internal world.

And if we don't work on that first, then we have a shaky foundation for anything.

And that can affect, again, our success, our leadership skills, our relationships.

So, taking the time to do that inner work and trying to come from an optimistic perspective or at least somewhat of a positive slant on things which is what we do have control over, by the way.

You know, a lot of people will say, oh, they're naturally an optimist or a pessimist but you know what, once you're an adult, you actually get to make, it is a choice, you decide.

Am I going to lean in one direction or another?

And it might take a little bit more work to be positive and to be optimistic, but it's certainly worth the payoff.

And when I was doing the research on the book and interviewing a lot of clients and students and they all wanted that sense of calm and confidence simultaneously, that all still started from what are the stories you're telling yourself internally?

What are you visualizing ahead of time?

And if it's garbage in, it's garbage out.

If it's negative in, it's negative out, and of course, positive in, positive out to the best of our ability.

- You know, and because we've had and, Ernie on so many times, and check out our website that'll be up on the screen at SteveAdubato.org.

We've had Ernie on many times in the past and he and I have worked together for a long time at different networks, at different times, and he's gotta be one of the most positive people I've ever met.

I mean, over a lot of years.

And so, here's where I'm going with this, Patricia.

Given all the polarization, the divisiveness, the negativity, the if we disagree, Patricia we must be enemies because you must be a terrible person if you disagree with me.

And January 6th is only a piece of the larger mosaic across the country.

How the heck do you do a show on positivity with that going on?

- Oh, it's kind of, you know, like a ship in an ocean locking off any of the holes or issues to not sink, right?

So, it's compartmentalizing and saying for this hour, for the prep leading up to this show, we're gonna focus on what is going right.

What can we each of us do to be more kind to each other, to have more civility to try to find that common ground?

Because all this divisiveness does is dehumanize us.

You know, once we sit down on a human level, and realize that we all want the same things.

We all wanna be with people we love, we all want safety and security and to make a decent living and come home to a safe home and neighborhood and be with, again, people that we care about.

I mean, that really is what it all comes down to.

Everything else is just noise.

And, you know, I'm really a big believer that there are whether you wanna call it entities, agendas, people, whatever, they wanna create so much external noise that we forget the power that we all have inside and internally to determine our daily lives.

So, it's so important to watch what you're letting in, what are you focusing on?

- Including media.

- Because what you focus on becomes your reality.

I'm sorry for interrupting, Patricia.

Including media slash social media.

What you let in, influences your ability to be positive or not.

- Right.

Right.

And it doesn't take much to be kind, it doesn't take much to just look around and say, you know what, these are other human beings and what are we all fighting about?

And you know, I understand that people have their political views and they hold strong to them.

- But does it make us enemies?

- Right.

Well, you can't just blindly say you're on that team and I'm on this team because when at the end of the day we're all Americans and beyond that, we're all human beings.

I can remember as a kid, thinking to myself and having a conversation with my dad at one point, even before there was this much divisiveness and saying, wow, you know, I wonder if aliens ever landed on the earth.

Is that the only way that we would all join together to be us against them and have it benefit us?

You know, it sounds like a crazy thing, but it was from a kid's perspective.

But there's a little bit of truth in that and I think we're getting nowhere by, you know, forgetting how to respectfully disagree and to, I think there should be signs all over the city that are little reminders that just say, be kind.

Just be kind and to be so divisive is getting none of us anywhere.

Patricia Stark and her colleague, our good friend Ernie Anastos on 77 WABC and also Patricia's book, Calmfidence.

Important book, important work.

Patricia, thanks so much.

We appreciate it.

- Thank you both so much.

Really appreciate it.

- You got it, we'’ll see you next time.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by Seton Hall University.

MD Advantage Insurance Company.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

The New Jersey Education Association.

PSC.

NJM Insurance Group.

Choose New Jersey.

The Adler Aphasia Center.

And by Delta Dental of New Jersey.

Promotional support provided by ROI-NJ.

And by Meadowlands Chamber.

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