The Pat Gillick Guide to being a successful GM

The game of baseball has changed a lot since Pat Gillick became general manager of the expansion Toronto Blue Jays in 1976.

"I guess you've got to be a good texter to be a good GM now," he said with a laugh earlier this season.

Still, some core principles don't change. Here are Gillick's bedrock verities for being a successful executive.

Listen: "You've got to be a good listener. Sometimes people hire people to do jobs and then they don't let them do their jobs. They don't listen to the scouts and the information they bring back. So you've got to be a good listener," he said.

Be patient: "It's very difficult in these times,'' he conceded. "But you have to be patient. Right now ownership isn't patient, fans aren't patient, the media's not patient. I'm usually not a patient person. But in baseball, you have to be patient."

Delegate responsibility: "In baseball you have to be not so much a good selector of players, you have to be a good selector of personnel who can select players," he explained. "In other words, you have to hire the right people. The general manager can't go out and see every player. You have to put the right people in the right spots."

Adapt: "I'm not saying I follow it directly, but you've got to be flexible," he said. "You know, it's ever-changing. From the time that I first became a general manager, going back in the '70s and until now there's been a number of changes that have taken place. It's just like anything in life We have new technology and we have new things that arise in baseball.

"So I would have to tell the general manager, 'Be ready. Don't go by your own way the entire time. You're going to have to adjust.' "