It was a small scene, but an important one: On Monday afternoon, just to the right of first base, Brodie Van Wagenen led a discussion with two members of his braintrust, Allard Baird and Luis Rojas.

The trio was not only masked, but standing in triangle formation at least six feet apart. With players watching, the boss adhered strictly to health and safety protocols, never drifting toward his manager or assistant GM.

The moment was indicative of Van Wagenen’s behavior during this public health crisis, when even underlings who have been skeptical of his performance as GM note a strong leader in the face of crisis. The Mets are running a tight camp, monitoring players closely to keep them safe from the coronavirus. By all accounts, Van Wagenen has set a clear example of how to act.

Combine that with what the industry widely viewed as a strong draft last month -- not to mention his praise of players speaking out about structural racism and police violence -- and Van Wagenen has enjoyed his best stretch as Mets GM since taking the job. With bids due on Thursday from prospective buyers of the team, that can’t hurt his chances of remaining on the job after a sale.

No one, Van Wagenen included, denies that his tenure began with more rhetoric than results. We all know that the early returns on the Robinson Cano/Edwin Diaz/Jarred Kelenic trade are not good. He should have pushed to fire Mickey Callaway last May, before the team dug itself so deep a hole in the standings. The office culture has been bumpy at times. We could go on.

But during a year of crisis, Van Wagenen appears to be finding his voice. When spring training shut down in March, he told players to think of their health first, and the team second -- an ethical message and one not offered by all employers.

Now that the team has reassembled, Van Wagenen is stressing adherence to protocols. Even more importantly, he is modeling them.

It might not seem like a big deal that he changed his Twitter profile pic to one in which he was wearing a mask, or that he told players to stay ten feet from one another rather than six. But it was. At a time when we lack leadership on a broader level, people in smaller positions of authority assume an extra burden. We need citizens, parents, bosses, cops and teachers to step in and model good behavior.

As an example of the opposite, I was back in Manhattan last week after several months away, and was chagrined to see several police officers walking on relatively crowded sidewalks without wearing masks over their faces.

Where it might seem unfair to criticize this -- it’s hot out there, shifts are long, etc. -- those officers are supposed to be leaders in public. They are supposed to demonstrate safe, responsible and lawful behaviors. They are supposed to earn the moral authority to tell us what to do.

In his handling of the pandemic and return to play, Van Wagenen is earning that authority with the Mets. He can tell people to do the right thing because he himself is doing it.

He has met the moment in other ways, expressing private and public support to players from Dom Smith to Pete Alonso and others who have spoken out about racism after the death of George Floyd. Van Wagenen is showing that in his company, it’s acceptable to engage in potentially divisive discussions.

For ages, the mentality throughout the leadership and PR departments of baseball teams has been to discourage players from expressing opinions on race, politics or current events. As a Major League head of communications once explained to me, “You’re alienating half your customers when you do that.”

That is probably true, but it wasn’t Van Wagenen’s guiding thought. He wanted his players to feel comfortable and supported, even if speaking out was bad business.

We don’t yet know if Van Wagenen is capable of being a successful GM. We don’t yet know if he’ll hold onto his job after the ownership change shakes out.

But this spring, he has grown into his position as leader of an organization -- and it’s having a demonstrable impact on the behavior of workers in the company.

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