Leadership Fail: Lessons From The Worst Super Bowl Play Ever - InformationWeek

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Comments
Leadership Fail: Lessons From The Worst Super Bowl Play Ever
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Joe Stanganelli
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Joe Stanganelli,
 User Rank: Author
2/7/2015 | 12:34:54 AM
Re: Overthinking the clock
@Dave: Actually, I haven't played with that partner in months!  ;)

I was thinking about writing a piece about management lessons from bridge...but really one would be better served by reading Victor Mollo's books.
David Wagner
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David Wagner,
 User Rank: Strategist
2/5/2015 | 8:14:42 PM
Re: Overthinking the clock
@Joe- And that's why you still have a partnership. A good lesson in leadership form the bridge table. As someone who has never screwed the bidding and has been saddled with partners who always do, I can't relate. :)
Joe Stanganelli
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Joe Stanganelli,
 User Rank: Author
2/5/2015 | 7:08:08 PM
Re: Overthinking the clock
Good points, Dave.

> at any rate, If the Seahawks were concerned about time at all with 26 seconds and three plays they failed to focus on the proper goal. The goal is moving the ball 1 yard.

Sometimes there's just no accounting for very bad decisions.  It reminds me of when I've made terrible mistakes at the bridge table.  I remember a confused, agitated partner asking me after a flawed auction, "What kind of bid was two diamonds?"  Without hesitation, I exasperatedly replied, "A wrong one."
David Wagner
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David Wagner,
 User Rank: Strategist
2/3/2015 | 6:26:14 PM
Re: Leadership: Where the rubber meets the road.....
@Technocrati- When I worked for Sloan Management Review in a previous life, I worked with several management faculty who proudly displayed their belts from their Six Sigma training. I found the whole concept of belts to be hilarious for management. But in the process, it got me into learning about all sorts of various management philosophies. While I think some aspects of Japanese managment don't translate, Kaizen is one I think we should all think about more. 
David Wagner
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David Wagner,
 User Rank: Strategist
2/3/2015 | 5:57:57 PM
Re: Gray area: a football play equals leadership
@Charlie- Well, you can hit a receiver within 5 yard of the line of scrimmage so the defender was fine.

And it isn't really about drawing lessons from a play. It is about how humans handle failure. Handling failure is one of the most important and fundamental parts of being a human being. We need to take lessons in how others handle it.
Charlie Babcock
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Charlie Babcock,
 User Rank: Author
2/3/2015 | 5:53:49 PM
Gray area: a football play equals leadership
Pictures of the play show the Seahawks receiver being knocked out of the position from which he would have caught the ball. If the Patriots defender had collided with him a quarter of a second sooner, wouldn't it have been necessary to call pass interference? Did the defender time it that well or did he just get lucky? And if the play had gone the other way, what lessons would we be drawing from it? Drawing leadership lsssons from one football play is a desperate undertaking. Football is a game and maybe we should leave it at that. As someone who has watched Pete Carroll's teams make a lot of good decisions versus the San Francisco 49ers, I'm not prepared to judge him on the basis of that play. 
David Wagner
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David Wagner,
 User Rank: Strategist
2/3/2015 | 5:49:41 PM
Re: Leadership: Where the rubber meets the road.....
@Technocrati- The only thing I know about Asian leadership is from comic books and movies. Do you still have to offer to kill yourself if you screw up there? :)

No seriously, clearly they don't. One reason why I think Japanese leadership tends to be better is the idea of Kaizen. If you have a philosphy around always improving, you can always admit mistakes.
David Wagner
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David Wagner,
 User Rank: Strategist
2/3/2015 | 5:49:23 PM
Re: Leadership: Where the rubber meets the road.....
@Technocrati- The only thing I know about Asian leadership is from comic books and movies. Do you still have to offer to kill yourself if you screw up there? :)

No seriously, clearly they don't. One reason why I think Japanese leadership tends to be better is the idea of Kaizen. If you have a philosphy around always improving, you can always admit mistakes.
David Wagner
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David Wagner,
 User Rank: Strategist
2/3/2015 | 5:13:57 PM
Re: The football side
@TerryB- He was already taking some flack from fellow players. Richard Sherman especially. 

On the football side, I don't really have that much problem passing if he tried something out of the teeth of the defense. But he's looking at a jumbo package with guys stacked up in the mddle. Then he throws the ball into the middle. He threw into the strength of the defense. If he throws outside, he's throwing away from the play call. 

You're right that sports is always about second guessing. But business and sports is about risk-reward analysis. The reward (a Super Bowl) is huge. The risk of the throw is higher than the risk of the run. Given the size of the reward, good business is to look for a lower risk play.
David Wagner
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David Wagner,
 User Rank: Strategist
2/3/2015 | 5:10:25 PM
Re: Leadership: Where the rubber meets the road.....
@Technocrati- You're welcome. Sadly, I don't see many leaders doing this. Most of the time they expect it of their employees without modeling it in themselves. 
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