Football and Corporations, Some Interesting Parallels

Professional and collegiate football has experienced some of its toughest times ever in the past few weeks with the passing away of three players. It seems to me that these events say a lot about individuals, groups, organizations and the roles of the top executives, the mid-level managers and the front-line employees.

Rashidi Wheeler was a senior on the Northwestern football team who had asthma. The coaching staff at Northwestern devised a conditioning drill to test recovery ability. The drill consisted of running 10 100-yard sprints, 8 80-yard sprints, 6 60-yard sprints, and then four 40-yard sprints. Rashidi Wheeler essentially collapsed after the 60 yard sprints and eventually died. In various reports, coaches, trainers and players have expressed astonishment that the player died. Astonishment? A person with asthma is told to run and run and run until he collapses, and people are astonished he died? So who is at fault here? Is it Rashidi Wheeler, who wanted to demonstrate leadership to the younger players? Is it the coaches who were on the field watching the drill unfold? Is it the head coach who allowed the drill to happen and created a culture where players felt they needed to push themselves to exhaustion in order to prove their worthiness as players and as leaders? Is it the university president who hires the coach and therefore endorses his behavior?

Korey Stringer played football for the Minnesota Vikings. He was an All-Pro player who weighed well in excess of 300 pounds. The day before he died a picture of him leaning over from exhaustion at practice was shown in the Minnesota newspaper. Consequently, he persevered the next day to finish a drill. In the end, he collapsed and never recovered. Who's fault is it?

In a corporation, who's fault is it when an individual works so many hours for so many years that they finally collapse in exhaustion? Or when an individual does exactly what they are told even though they don't believe in it in order to keep their job? Who's fault is it when a corporate group allows a member to berate the group and individuals within the group? Is it the individual doing the berating, the manager of the group or the other members of the group?

I believe all parties involved are responsible for the deaths of Rashidi Wheeler and Korey Stringer.

Individuals must maintain the ability to walk away from their job, regardless of the loss in salary or public acclaim or personal recognition. If an individual loses that capacity, then their personal dignity will suffer greatly and their self-esteem will erode. Once a person loses sight of the value they see within themselves, then their esteem becomes based on their labels and praise from others.

The members of the group are responsible for the behavior within the group. If an individual within a group is allowed to be destructive to the performance of the group, then every other individual is equally responsible for allowing it to continue. It is the responsibility of each member to say, "Look, that is not the behavior we condone in this group. Either we address and eliminate this behavior, or I will separate myself from the group.

Equally, the top executive within the group is responsible for the culture of the group. If he or she allows for and encourages people to have a mindset of pushing themselves beyond a reasonable parameter (whether it's dealing with physical or mental exhaustion or reducing their personal dignity), then they have condoned the individual tragedies within the group. The top executive must constantly study the culture and its impact on the individuals within the group, the group as a whole and the people the group is serving.

QUESTION OF THE MONTH:

Within the organizations you belong to,

Are you maintaining your ability to walk away with your dignity in tact?

Are the small groups you are part maintaining an adherence to the standards they have set for themselves or do they stray away from their roles and responsibilities in an effort to avoid conflict?

Is the culture of the organization one that allows for and encourages individuals to say no when they believe they are being pushed beyond reasonable limits or does it cause embarrassment for the individual?

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE FOR TOP PERFORMERS:

Bill Russell's book, Russell's Rules. This is an extraordinarily good book on the role of the individual, the team and the coach in generating long-term success. It explains in great detail how the Boston Celtics won 11 championships in 13 years from 1957 to 1969.

Take care and have a great month.

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