What Franchise Brands Can Learn from Curt Schilling's Approach to Leadership

There is no doubt that COVID-19 has changed the business world, and the franchise industry is no exception. Now, as states start to reopen, franchisors across many segments are strategizing new ways to support their franchisees, keep customers satisfied, help local communities and come out stronger on the other side of this crisis.

1851 Franchise Publisher Nick Powills and Internicola Law* Firm Founder and Partner Charles Internicola spoke with former Major League Baseball pitcher and business owner, Curt Schilling, about how leaders can learn from the COVID-19 crisis. 

The Leadership Perspective

First, Schilling notes how important it is for business owners to develop the right perspective. “The topic of recovery needs to be thought of from the perspective of leadership,” he said. “Just like in sports, a company’s team is only as strong as their leader. This crisis will be an enormous test for leadership, and it needs to be about people first and foremost.” 

That people-centric approach isn’t only focused on customers, but team members as well. “Employees should be proud to wear the uniform,” said Schilling. “People who don’t have pride for the company they work for are just ex-employees waiting to happen.” 

If leaders are worried about being disliked, Schilling notes, they just need to make sure they are disliked for doing the right thing. That way, in the long run, employees can be proud of working for a company with a strong and competent leader.

Amid COVID-19, a team-centered focus is more important than ever. When leaders assign smart, focused people to the same task, there is nothing the team can’t achieve. The leadership of a company needs to be able to facilitate that focus. Plus, in terms of the labor pool, there will likely be an immense amount of talent looking for work soon. 

“The reasons businesses succeed — whether through hard work, diligence, core values or endurance — will never change,” said Schilling. “For example, great customer service is never going to go out of style.” 

New Priorities

As the country emerges from this crisis, a brand’s priorities will be very simple: get back to those principles that allowed the business to succeed in the first place. Sometimes, businesses need to go through a crisis to be able to build the strongest model. 

“There will undoubtedly be new questions that companies will need to answer moving forward,” said Schilling. “Primarily, franchisees, customers and employees are going to want to know how the brand took care of their people during this crisis. Franchisors need to be transparent and communicative as the company adapts to the times, allowing team members to express their concerns and fears.” 

When it comes to the new normal, Schilling notes that there will now be an entire generation of young people who understand the importance of being prepared and always having money saved. “No matter how carefully we budget, the unexpected will always come up,” he said. “Companies will no longer be able to survive payroll by payroll — and that's a good thing.” 

An Honest Plan

On a final note, Schilling talks about how he struggled during his first month of playing baseball in the big leagues. He quickly realized he wasn’t good enough to play with the top players — yet. By being honest with himself, he was able to develop a strategy for getting better and to meet all of his personal goals in baseball until the day he retired twenty years later. 

“Sports really taught me that just because you want to, doesn’t mean you can,” said Schilling. “It is important that leaders are honest with themselves in terms of how they can and cannot succeed. If business owners truly care about those truths that keep them up at night, they won’t need others to motivate them. Business owners need to take the right steps in order to get into the recovery mindset.”

If business owners can embrace a growth mindset and acknowledge the areas where they can improve, they will be much better prepared to start the recovery process.