Mr. Newton, Leadership Begins with Character!

Following a 24-10 defeat in Super Bowl 50, the stage was set for Carolina Panthers Quarterback Cam Newton, the National Football League's recently named Most Valuable Player, to rise above all not only in play on the field, but also in personal class, maturity and overall leadership. Admittedly, his play and his team's play on the field were less than stellar. He was pelted repeatedly by Von Miller and the Denver Broncos defense. The Panthers had numerous turnovers, penalties, missed tackles and missed blocks. They were soundly beaten by the Broncos; no one can deny this fact.

Instead of being gracious in defeat, instead of appropriately representing the NFL, instead of displaying the maturity of an adult,?instead of exhibiting the?behavior of a leader of a

professional sports team, in his post-game interview, the new face and poster boy of the NFL sulked, smirked, looked?down instead of looking at the questioning media, answered questions in three?words or less, and ultimately, walked out of his?post-game press conference.

Surprisingly, some in the media and here on LinkedIn have tried to rationalize?Cam's behavior in the press conference by citing his age and/or his obvious disappointment at losing the biggest game of his short NFL career. To that, I say Cam is 26 years old.?At 26, he is an adult, not a child - although he acted child-like in the post-game press conference. At 26, he knows (or at least, he should know) that his behavior was not that of a mature leader, let alone a mature adult. I am sure Cam was disappointed at?losing to the Broncos. However, leaders face disappointments all of the time and rise above their disappointment. On a personal note, I have lost sales to competitors. I have lost entire accounts to competitors. I have even lost promotions to colleagues - many of whom I thought were undeserving to receive "my" job. What I have never done is display the lack of maturity and leadership following those disappointments that Cam Newton did on Sunday night following the big game. See for yourself below.

What should Cam have done? What would a leader do? What would you have?done??I can tell you what I would have done. I would have stepped up to the mike, held my head high, expressed my disappointment, gave the Broncos their due, and answered every question until the last question was asked. No, I would have not have been happy to be there at the post-game press conference. No, I would not have been happy about losing the biggest game of my career. No, I would not have been happy with my team's performance. No, I would not have been happy with my performance. But, I would have put on my "game face" because I would have been mature enough to know that I was just voted the Most Valuable Player of the National Football League, a $12 billion business entity [1]. I would have been astute enough to know that Carolina Panthers fans, my teammates and my coaches were watching. I would have been smart enough to know that my family was watching. I would have been wise enough to know the world was watching. I would have been mature enough to know that I had signed a five year, $103.8 million?contract that included a?$22.5 million?signing bonus with $60 million guaranteed, and an average annual salary of?$20.76 million and that?I could not make that kind of money and behave so badly [2]. I would have known that the only act to display in the post-game interview following the biggest loss of my professional football career was that of a gracious, yet disappointed class act. I would have known that leaders exhibit leadership behavior?in the face of disappointment and adversity.?I would have known that leadership begins with character. I would have known that adversity does not build character, it reveals it!

That is what I would have done.?What would you have done?

Thank you for reading my article. Mr. Newton, Leadership Begins with Character! is the 23rd?article from Dr. Michael Edwards. If you enjoyed it, please subscribe to my Newsletter,?Leadership Explained,?to get notified when I publish a new article. Please 'share' this article with your network, click 'like', and/or leave a comment.?Click 'Follow' if you wish to follow me on LinkedIn. Have a look at my other Leadership Explained articles by clicking here.

?References

1. Wattles, J. (July 2015). NFL sees big jump in revenue.?CNN Money.?Article retrieved from?https://money.cnn.com/2015/07/20/news/green-bay-packers-revenue/.

2. Retrieved from?https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/carolina-panthers/cam-newton/