The BTM Book Report: ‘The Book of Joe’

The Book of Joe contains a wealth of knowledge from one of baseball’s greatest coaches of all time, Joe Maddon. As someone who worked his way up through the system for years before getting his first job in the Major Leagues, his experiences and perspective brought a unique approach to managing professional athletes, with a focus on relationships, fundamentals, and culture. Many of these lessons apply to athletes from all sports as they develop and progress to higher levels of competition.

The chapter “The Process Is Fearless” highlights Coach Maddon’s focus on process over results. While he’s not the first coach to tout this idea, he breaks down his four main principles that explain the importance of sticking to the process: the process lacks emotion, the process is the moment, the process is the mental anchor, and the process simplifies the task.

Each of these tenets is meant to highlight different aspects of trusting the process and following the path. By staying in the moment and staying objective, you can’t be afraid of an upcoming challenge. Sticking to the process helps remove doubt and simplify the steps to achieve your goal. A big goal can be daunting; a process of steps is easier to manage.

In “Attitude Is a Decision,” Coach Maddon shows that attitude and effort matter, even at the elite levels of professional sport. As one of the aspects of performance that athletes have full control over, it was a foundation of Coach Maddon’s message. Hard work is fundamental to success, and there was no way around it—even if it meant doing “basic” drills with professional players. The best players were the ones most committed to this level of effort in training.

To start one particular season, Joe Maddon was considering what his team address would be. He settled on what he called “The Five Levels of Being a Professional.” It’s a progression from “Happy to Be Here” all the way ...