During our Titans Xcelerator call this past week, one of my astute members asked me the question:
“Brian…what did you make of the firing of the Jets head coach Robert Saleh?”
I will assume that none of you know who Robert Saleh is…or what the member is referring to…and therefore his firing was not in any news feed you subscribe to. 🙂
However, since the discussion turned into one about leadership in business (using football as the entry point), I wanted to share with you today what I shared with the Xcelerators…and what they shared with me.
I was told by many on the call that the discussion got them thinking about their own leadership (and management) styles…and what they can do to improve the culture of their organizations.
Without getting in the weeds of football, Saleh was fired (for the most part) because he lost a lot more games than he won over his three-year tenure as head coach.
Bad performance leads to getting fired in many industries…including football.
However, because I am a lifelong fan of this losing team, I watch every minute of every game, and I was personally asked the question, I have some credibility (albeit outside looking in…I am not part of team meetings nor am I on the field calling plays), to share some additional takes on his firing.
I narrowed it down to two specific and fundamental reasons, beyond wins and losses, why he was probably not suited to be the head coach in the first place…which eventually led to his firing:
- Accountability: He didn’t create a culture to make sure his players (i.e. employees) were accountable for their actions (especially when they fell short). Examples included not creating consequences for players missing mandatory practices, players making mental mistakes on the field, and players exhibiting conduct not conducive to being a valued teammate and/or winning.
- Decisiveness: Not being decisive on the field (i.e. “his office”), during the most critical moments of a game…specifically, not being able to make quick decisions adequately (i.e. being wrong more than right with those in-game decisions).
This also includes decisions that are not in the moment too…which is about preparation for those moments…and part of the same “decisiveness” issue.
More on both levels of decision making below.
I am not saying that Saleh is not a good football mind or a bad leader of men…but when you are wearing the crown (i.e. head coach, CEO, being the “buck-stops-here leader”), you need to take it up a notch…which this coach was not prepared (or had enough experience) to do.
I am not condemning him for it…it was obvious he wasn’t ready to become the “King” after being a “Prince” for less than a decade (i.e. a successful assistant coach).
And my guess is that he will get another chance…just as many failed CEOs get another job with the benefit of going through trials and tribulations—and failure– the first time around.
This is also true for many entrepreneurs who might go through a bankruptcy only to get back on the horse after experiencing the “benefit of failure” too.
Football is just another business, but unfortunately, it is one that is on full display for millions.
Leadership through accountability
In my career…when I became an owner and functional CMO of Boardroom (the company I grew up in over 34 years), I was not prepared to take on a leadership role around making my staff truly accountable.
But I learned over time.
It is a leadership skill anyone can learn…but it doesn’t happen overnight.
Initially I didn’t practice a key fundamental in this area:
”Hire slow and fire fast”
I was a “hire slow and fire even slower” kind of leader. 🙁
But after some painful experiences…for example, hanging on to one employee for 9 years when he was “fireable” in year one…I learned some valuable lessons.
One thing I did was to create trial employee contracts—both sides “trying before buying”—with specific objectives and metrics that would determine if full time employment was in the cards.
And many other ways—learned from my business mentors, books, personal experience—to create accountability metrics for all my employees.
Sounds simple— “why didn’t you figure that out sooner, Brian?”—but those of you who have run companies and staff (both large and small) know that it’s easier said than done.
The fact that I am a nice guy (well I’ve been told that I am!) made it even more difficult to practice a more ruthless flavor of leadership.
At least that is my excuse.
But when I realized that ruthless leadership (i.e. making everyone accountable for their actions, good and bad), equated to survival, I got ruthless…fast.
One more example of this premise in play, going back to football.
Last week there was a player who was a repeat “fumbler” …he couldn’t hold on to the ball (i.e. he fumbled four times in four games)…not a good thing for a football player to do…and the coach had a rule (to stress severe accountability):
If you put the ball on the ground your ass will be put on the bench.
Or something like that. 🙂
Which is what happened.
He also made the benching public…which makes it more severe and consequential…and you must be a confident leader (with the respect of your team/staff) to do it that way.
And this example of ruthless accountability, which happened the same week as the firing (a bad ending) of my coach, this one has a happier ending:
When the fumbler eventually went back in the next game…after sitting out for a while…he had his best game of the season.
In this case at least, message received…and a lesson learned (for both the player and the coach).
Leadership through decisiveness
This is a learned skill as well…and equally important.
In football, specifically for coaches and general managers, there are two elements to being decisive:
- When you have a long time to think about things…like picking players in the draft, trading for players, coming up with a game plan each week.
- The decisions you need to make quickly, in the moment, during a game, when you have 30 seconds or less to accept a penalty, challenge a play or call a timeout.
It’s the same in business:
“You have to make a call.”
And the “game” or the “season” or dare I say your career, depends on those decisions you make…the ones that you have thought about over time (with research, practice, redundancy) …and the ones you need to make when you have 30 seconds to say “go” or “no go.”
I’m mixing football with business here intentionally…because the similarities regarding making decisions as a head football coach have all the same characteristics as a leader of a company.
Also note: The thought-out, highly prepared decisions you make are directly related to the snap decisions you make…you can’t have one without the other.
Your ability to make snap decisions “during the game”…without the repetitions before that moment comes…doesn’t happen by magic.
And the guidance from mentors and those who came before you is all part of the decision making mix.
That’s why I used words like research, practice and redundancy.
Long way of saying, “practice makes perfect.”
To which one of the Xcelerator members on the call this past week spoke to the idea of “perfection getting in the way” in high level decision making …at least some of the time.
That is, it might be crucial to make a quick decision without 100% of the facts…and hopefully 60% to 70% of the facts combined with your accumulated business acumen (and a little bit of gut feel) will get you the positive result you desire.
When the moment of decision comes, you need to work with what you’ve got.
That includes daring to prepare…as much as humanly possible…but if the buck stops with you, know that you may not be ready in some aspects regarding the decision of the moment.
It’s a little different spin…but it’s all part of being a decisive leader, always looking for a win.
Then another Xcelerator chimed it:
What role might your subconscious play in making snap decisions?
And are some people built for this kind of decisiveness (by genetics, DNA, intuition, magic)?
I won’t dismiss these notions…that some people are built for making decisions under stress…but throughout my career, it comes down to hard won experience in the trenches, learning from your elders and accumulated knowledge—converted to wisdom—which gives you the foundation to being a decisive leader.
But magic is always welcome. 🙂
Warmly,
Brian
P.S. Direct response marketing is all about accountability and decision making.
Accountability in that you always need to believe your (statistically significant) numbers—they are all you’ve got—numbers that tell you whether something worked…or it didn’t.
That’s why direct response marketing is synonymous with measurable marketing…marketing that must “pay out.”
Decision making is step two after you have statistically significant numbers…and fortunately, you rarely need to make snap decisions if you know how to read those numbers.
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