Dole Institute director Bill Lacy, left, listens, as Kansas City Royals general manager Dayton Moore answers questions from the audience during a talk at the Dole Institute on Thursday evening.

Currently, the Kansas City Royals have players on the roster from nine states and six different countries. That bit of information lends itself to the notion that the team’s general manager, Dayton Moore, just might know a thing or two about globalization, said Howard and Dawn Easley.

Thursday evening, the Easleys drove nearly an hour, from Raytown, Mo., to hear Moore speak on both leadership and globalization at Kansas University’s Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, 2350 Petefish Drive.

“He has a team that would allow him to have perspective on globalization,” Howard Easley said. “That’s a huge topic in all arenas of life right now.”

Dole Institute director Bill Lacy, left, listens, as Kansas City Royals general manager Dayton Moore answers questions from the audience during a talk at the Dole Institute on Thursday evening.

While the Easleys say they have been dedicated fans for a long time, this year’s World Series win gave them additional motivation to hear Moore speak Thursday.

“It was exciting in ’85, and it was exciting this year,” Dawn Easley said. “It was great to see, this year and last, how many people across the country and the globe became Royals fans, not just from the city.”

Addressing about 200 people in attendance, Moore outlined his career, from George Mason University to the Atlanta Braves and eventually to the Royals. One common thread throughout those organizations was a sense of leadership that helped him grow, he explained.

“I had great mentors,” he said. “I’ve just had a lot of really, really neat people that poured into me.”

Now in a top leadership position with the Royals, Moore highlighted a leader’s need to settle disputes quickly, exceed expectations and support the other members of an organization.

“When your leadership at the top is selfless and relentless about doing things the right way, it permeates throughout your entire organization,” he said. “There has to be an atmosphere of winning, togetherness and commitment of doing things the right way from the bottom all the way to the top. The culture has to be the most important part of it.”

As the topic shifted toward the globalization of sports, Moore noted that between 1996 and 2006, the Royals’ recruiting programs south of the American border were dead last in expenditures, something that needed to change if the team were to succeed.

“A lot of your high-ceiling talent in Major League Baseball is coming from Latin America,” he said. “And we knew we needed to compete for those players.”

While upping their competition in Latin America has paid off for the Royals, other countries are clamoring to have their own baseball teams, Moore said. That means the international competition and globalization of baseball will only continue to expand.

“You may see a true World Series some day,” Moore said.