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GREAT COMMUNICATION SECRETS OF GREAT LEADERS
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journey into the complexities of his mind.” An indifferent student, Veeck
was an autodidact who loved to read; in the process, his span of knowledge
became encyclopedic and he was able to converse learnedly on literature, his-
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tory, tax law, and even gardening.
PROMOTION AS A CORE VALUE
Promoting the product was what Bill Veeck was noted for, and his ideas for
promotions were as broad and diverse as his reading habits. Veeck was the
first to give away free bats, and his reach in promotion knew few limits: free
balls, free pickles, free hot dogs, free lobsters, free ice cream, and then . . . free
tuxedo rentals, along with pigs, chickens, mice, eels, pigeons, ducks, and, yes,
50,000 nuts and bolts. 13
And this is only the free stuff. Veeck did more than freebies; he was the
impresario of event packaging—Squirrel Night; a bicentennial-themed open-
ing day in 1976; Music Night with free kazoos; special games for A students,
teachers, bartenders, cabbies, and transit workers; and even Disco Demolition
Night. (Well, even Veeck might go too far once in a while.) 14
Veeck’s promotions revolved around a desire to tickle the imagination.
“You give away a radio or a TV—so what? What does that do for the imagi-
nation? Nothing. . . . If I give him 50,000 nuts or bolts, that gives everybody
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something to talk about.” And Veeck knew that when people are talking
about your product, they will be more inclined to pay money to come out and
see it. Veeck’s promotions sprang from his values; he was a “giver.” 16 He
wanted to entertain his customers, and he wanted them to have something
extra in return for their patronage. Veeck’s final bit of advice on promotion
was, “No one has a monopoly on ideas. You can always think of something.” 17

GRAND STAGE
Upon the death of Bill Veeck in 1986, Tom Boswell, baseball writer and
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thinker for the Washington Post, wrote: “Cause of death: Life.” Not a bad epi-
taph for a man who loved and lived life to the fullest and brought us along for
the ride.

Leadership Communications Lessons

Listen to the fans. Ask your stakeholders what they need, want, and
aspire to. Bill Veeck did this and made a business out of it.
Know the score. Veeck realized that the media could make or break
his business; he played the game with them and made certain that
they had good stories to write and good times to write about.