The Rickey Henderson Effect

Gary Vaynerchuck

I was recently reminded of a post Gary Vaynerchuk wrote a few months back called the “The Rickey Henderson Effect.”In the piece he recounted an incident that took place in 1985 at Yankee Stadium. Yankee outfielder Rickey Henderson was running toward the dugout after catching a fly ball to end the inning. On his way to the dugout he looked over at the then 10 year old Vaynerchuk and gave him a wink. Vaynerchuk then goes on to talk about how special that simple gesture was to him and how he became such a huge fan.

Maya Angelou once said “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” For the 10 year old Vaynerchuk that effortless wink that Henderson gave him made him feel special and nearly 30 years later he is still telling the story.

Remember the “Rickey Henderson Effect” when preparing a speech. This is apparent in certain speeches such as speech 10 in the Competent Communicator Manual which calls for an inspirational message. However, when giving informative or research speeches it is essential to mix in some emotional content to capture the audience’s attention and make the speech memorial.

The “Rickey Henderson Effect” is clearly more applicable in the leadership zone of Toastmasters. I once had a boss that left me waiting in the lobby of a hotel for over an hour while he checked his email. I remember telling my wife later that night that my boss had a real knack for making me feel unimportant. My call to action is this: as you become more involved with the leadership team in your Toastmasters Club look for opportunities to make your club members feel wanted, appreciated, special.  

Marshall Lehr, CC, ALB

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