Confession, I know nothing about baseball. But even I can’t ignore Derek Jeter, the captain of the New York Yankees. He announced that he will retire next year, which is probably the biggest thing to happen in baseball in years.

I won’t go through all his achievements in baseball. He doesn’t have the best numbers. But as captain of the Yankees, he clearly knows a thing or two about leadership. He is universally respected and admired…even by the opposing teams. He is a quiet leader who leads by example. No scandals, no embarrassing publicity, no regretted tweets.  Ever.

One of the quotes from him that I love is the following:

“You can’t be afraid of failing. You have confidence if you’ve had success in the past. I’ve done it before, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to be successful again.”

Often people avoid the tough situations because they are afraid of failing or making a mistake. But you also don’t learn anything new.  If you have lots of different experiences and take the tough assignments, you will learn what it takes to be successful. And while it’s no guarantee of future success, it does build your confidence so that you can handle the new challenges that get thrown at you. Confidence doesn’t mean arrogance. Confidence is believing that what you’re doing will get you to the right outcome.  If you don’t believe, why should anyone follow you…and isn’t that what leadership is?

Thank you Derek Jeter, for someone everyone can look up to. Check here for his last game at Yankee stadium. Unbelievable.