The NCAA Basketball Tournament is once again upon us, with the ensuing Madness starting to heat up. It turned us to thinking about what lessons we can learn from a game of hoops and apply it to our business.

“It’s the most wonderful time of the year!” At least it is my favorite season. In 2020, that may be easier said than believed, Still—from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day, I find myself a little happier and a little more energized than the rest of the year. More than the general holiday festivities, work-life seems to relax just a bit, giving me time to reflect and plan. After 2020, I think we all need some downtime to just breathe and think. Despite all of the memes, I am optimistic about 2021.

While COVID-19 was busy turning our lives, our jobs, and our economy upside down, it also threw a severe wrench into the works of pretty much all sporting endeavors in the world. Baseball was in the middle of spring training when the pandemic panic went into overdrive, causing the cancellation of the rest of spring training and a huge uncertainty over whether we would see a baseball season at all in 2020. It took some time, extra precautions, and a massive amount of negotiations, but the baseball fans at the ClearBox offices got at least the 60 game season that is underway. It got us to thinking about how baseball is similar to business.