Coaching With A People-First Philosophy | MLB Coach of the Year, Donnie Ecker

Donnie Ecker (0:00)

When I thin slice that, mastery is the combination of self-awareness and an application. Can we be self-aware and then can we go do it?

Michael Gervais (0:18)

Okay, welcome back or welcome to the Finding Mastery Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Michael Gervais, by trade and training a high-performance psychologist. And I'm really excited to welcome Donnie Ecker as our guest for this week's conversation.

Donnie is a highly respected and accomplished major league baseball coach. He was entering his second season as bench coach and offensive coordinator for the Texas Rangers. Before his tenure with the Rangers, Donnie was recognized as Baseball America's 2021 MLB Coach of the Year, when he helped the San Francisco Giants to a franchise record 107 wins and 241 home runs. Remarkable. But this is not a conversation about baseball. Donnie is an expert in biomechanics and analytics and all that makes him a great coach, but it's his people first philosophy and his ability to help his players work from the inside out that makes his leadership style so powerful and so effective.

And I love how he's navigated the tension between taking care of himself and taking care of those around him. Best of all, it's forged in a great life story.

Donnie has skills that we can all learn from and to try to implement in our own lives, in business, in sport, in our own communities, in our own families. So whether you're a baseball fan, a coach, a business leader, or someone looking to level up your own performance, I think you're really going to love this conversation. So with that, I want to introduce Coach Donnie Ecker.

Donnie, how are you?

Donnie Ecker (1:53)

I'm great. It's great to be here.

Michael Gervais (1:55)

I'm stoked that we are having this time because, what was it, a year ago?

18 months ago, I think we connected online. You have become, you've received an incredible award. Can we start with that award just for a moment?

Donnie Ecker (2:11)

Sure.

Michael Gervais (2:12)

Yeah, I mean, let's just celebrate that award.

Donnie Ecker (2:14)

Yeah.

Michael Gervais (2:15)

MLB Coach of the Year.

Donnie Ecker (2:18)

Right.

Michael Gervais (2:20)

Okay, that's pretty cool. So how long have you been coaching?

Donnie Ecker (2:24)

Man, I say my whole life.

And it starts at moments that you look back and you go, okay, why in 13 years old flag football, how come I wanted to call plays?

And so I didn't know that at the time, but I was also playing quarterback, but the dopamine hit wasn't dropping back and making the throw. The dopamine hit was, hey, let's get together. If we do this and they do this, we'll do this. So I was always drawn to Mike. And that transformed in my life to, you know, going to Australia and trying to fight to keep a career going. But a part of that deal was you're going to coach 12 year olds. So then I was doing that. And just my whole life in some form or the other, I was really drawn towards towards coaching.

Michael Gervais (3:13)

OK, so let's let's do a little bit of the the chapters of your life, if you will. Right. And so we'll do a quick little flyover. And then if you allow me to pick some of those apart, that would be fun.

OK, good. And the things I do want to make sure we connect on is like how you teach and work through failure, because baseball is a game of failure, as it's it's respectfully known. And then I also want to understand how you work with people. This conversation for me is about how coaching is really how you work with people and how that your insights translate into other rooms, like board rooms, living rooms, you know, decision making rooms, whatever that might be.

And so let's start with chapters of your life. So I don't know how many chapters have you had so far.

Donnie Ecker (4:01)

I don't know. I don't. You know, it's the way my brain works. It's not one, two, three. It's just this constant line. You know, it's like one long book.

But I think if you start at the beginning, it is the first eight years of my life for a double wide trailer in this beautiful part of California called Bakersfield. So you're probably familiar. There's no ocean there.

It was across from a Frito-Lay plant. So my biological parents, they were six months pregnant with me when they got married. And some of this is getting older and wanting to figure out the answers. But it really starts with a single grandmother raising me in a dirt lot from birth till eight years old. And I say that because when you're that young and you don't have structure, you lean towards curiosity, exploring, and you get a little taste of problem solving on your own. I didn't have a be home at this time. I did not have a do this or don't do this.