Every Team Needs A Sick Individual

In Bob Uecker's book, Catcher In the Wry, he relates a story about former major leaguer Doug Rader. Doug was in a terrible slump and was hurt and thinking he was going to be released any day from his contract and be out of baseball. Instead his manager kept him on the team because "Every team needs a sick individual on it and for me you're it!"
Rader's manager didn't mean sick as in "ill." He meant sick like "crazy, weird, bizarre," just someone that can keep the team loose.

In baseball you spend 8-9 months with the same group of guys there is going to be tension, conflicts, and fights. In sales and recruiting it is the same way. We spend 8-10 hours every day with the same group of people doing our jobs. No matter how great a team is, they need someone to make a joke, start a conversation, or something to break up the monotony. It helps recharge the batteries. Break up the routine. Make us all human rather than being sales robots always spitting out perfect closes and cold call introductions.

If your team is hitting the numbers but there is something missing that you can't put your finger on. Maybe it has to do with the chemistry of your team. Even a team of sales and recruiting superstars needs someone who can play the role of class clown from time to time.

The opposite can also be true. You've recruited and trained better people. Everyone is doing the right activities but you just can't quite get to the top of the billing sheets. Maybe your team is too tense. If they loosen up a little bit maybe the performance will improve. Jerry Kramer of the Lombardi era Green bay Packers tells a story that before one of the games with the Chicago Bears, Coach Lombardi sensed that the team was too tense. Too Hyped up. When he came in to do his pregame speech, the player expected a great philosophical fire and brimstone speech. Instead they got a little joke (I can't repeat it here). After a stunned silence everyone started laughing. The joke let off just a little bit of tension for the players and they went out and won the game.

Who do you have on your team that fills that "sick individual" role? What do you do in your professional day to keep yourself loose?

Thanks!
Ev
A Heck of  A Nice Guy