Perhaps it was the most fitting piece of advice to offer college students, but when John Mozeliak, senior vice president and general manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, warned his listeners to beware of entitlement, his words took on a subtext of their own.
Mozeliak was the keynote speaker for the opening event of the second annual Business Week hosted by the John Cook School of Business and the Business School Governing Assembly (BSGA).
Although Mozeliak addressed an RSVP-only crowd of aspiring business leaders at 3:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 13 in the Anheuser-Busch Auditorium, business students were not the only ones in attendance. Arts and Sciences senior Bob Hudec attended the event “because [he has] grown up a huge baseball fan and [has] always been curious about the inner workings of a baseball organization.”
Coming off a World Series win in 2011, Mozeliak has been faced with many difficult challenges as a business leader. Yet, his message was one concerning character.
“Understand what you’re good at, what your weaknesses are and what you need to work on,” Mozeliak said.
A graduate of the University of Colorado, “Mo,” as he is often referred to, got his start in Major League Baseball working in IT for the Colorado Rockies.
While he found the job tedious, Mozeliak recognizes ambition, leadership, confidence and self-evaluation as keys to his success. After joining the Cardinals in 1995, Mozeliak took over for Walt Jocketty in 2007. He helped assemble successful teams that included the acquisition of outfielder Matt Holliday and signing pitcher Adam Wainwright to a long-term deal. Mozeliak considers his job comparable to any other business leadership position.
“My job is much bigger than managing the 25-man roster and making deals. That is fun, though,” Mozeliak said. He now oversees 250 employees and emphasizes the importance of person-to-person communication.
“Our widgets are people,” Mozeliak said.
The following question and answer session dealt largely with the changes that a larger market would enact on baseball and how the newly passed collective-bargaining agreement would affect the game. But one topic continued to bubble under the surface.
“Fifty-four million dollars. That’s a tough bridge to gap. I don’t care how rich you are,” Mozeliak said. Scattered applause and chuckles acknowledged the contract status of Albert Pujols, which had until then been referred to by Mozeliak and the audience as “recent events,” and “a negotiation like that.” Finally, Mo addressed questions about “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named” before returning to his main theme. For all those who have been living under a rock the past few months, Mo was referring to a certain Albert Pujols.
Mozeliak cited management and leadership as “crucial for defining success and for how you will be successful,” whatever the circumstance.
BSGA hopes that Business Week will give them the tools to succeed in business and to answer two questions Mozeliak believes are essential to that success: “Do you have the passion?” and “What sets you apart from the others?”
