Monday, March 24, 2014

It’s easy to win - Give credit and take blame

At the risk of piling on, it is March and you all know I’m a hoop fan.

While the emotion and drama of the NCAA tournament are without equal, I look at the character of the participants, particularly the coaches.  Last year we shared the Jimmy Valvano’s 1993  ESPY speech that displayed amazing character in the face of grave adversity.

On a smaller scale, try to watch and listen to the words of the losing coaches in the post game interviews.  See what they say and how they say it in the worst of times. This is when true character comes through.  It is easy to be a winner.  At the youngest of levels, the Boys & Girls Club teaches “Win with character, lose with dignity.”   Listen to the amount of ownership the head coach takes in the loss.  It says a lot. I was taught to “Give credit and take blame.”

How about you as a leader in the work setting?  Do you take ownership of the missed deadlines or failed efforts?

2 comments:

Peter Galicz said...

While as your team's coach you need to take responsibility for your team's failures in front of the media and/or your superiors, you still need to go back and break down the game film afterwards to see where the break down took place to make sure it doesn't happen in the next game or project. If you build a culture that fosters and motivates people to learn and grow from their mistakes you can put together a better team product the next game or project.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful lesson, John (as always!).

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