The Villain or the Hero?
The past two weeks have been really hard for a lot of people. Not only are we thinking about the global pandemic killing thousands of people each day, we recently witnessed the brutal murder of George Floyd by a group of police officers who were entrusted to serve and protect. Their act of murder was blatant, cruel and calculated, and it deservedly spurred outrage.
Since then we have seen an eruption of emotions from all walks of life. Anger. Hurt. Pain. This is not the first time we have seen police brutality targeted towards African Americans - in fact it happens far too often and continues to do so with no signs of slowing. Yet, even with the act of murder by police officers of yet another African American what followed were debates over whether "Black Lives Matter" should be our focus. Arguments were made that "Black Lives Matter" was inaccurate or argumentative and we should be saying "All Lives Matter". That debate took away from the honour of George Floyd's life, and the war African Americans are forced to fight with police every day. How can a community care more about whether a statement is politically correct when a war is raging and segments of the community are fighting for their lives against injustice?
Let me put myself in their shoes for a moment. If my community and peers are being hunted, killed and brutalized in a "free" state because of the colour of our skin, will I care about political correctness in my response? In the human hierarchy of needs safety is the foundation needed by all, and the reality faced by African Americans is that they are not safe under the care and control of police or the law. The facts show it. The videos show it. The statistics show it. It's indisputable. Yet we focus on semantics - how is that recognizing the problem? How does that help address it? And how does it honour those who have suffered from it?
Rewind four weeks ago. "The Last dance" was the most watched Netflix series. In it, Michael Jordan was portrayed as a fierce competitor - perhaps the toughest competitor professional sports has ever seen. He pushed his team to multiple championships under extremely difficult conditions and with completely different teams. He retired, became a professional baseball player, then came back better than ever and did it again. He is a sports legend, and perhaps the greatest mind in sport in recent history.
The reaction? I saw posts on various social media criticizing MJ for being a bully. Comments about how he was too hard on his team mates, and was verbally abusive. I even read an article here on LinkedIN outlining how someone's 9 year old observed how MJ was mean to his team mates, and was therefore not someone they looked up to. The discussion ensued that MJ would not be a person they would hire at their firm, and how he was a poor leader because of how he treated his team mates. The discussion got to a point where the 9 year old was actually celebrated for being emotionally intelligent for their observations.
As I read the comments, and realized the person posting was genuinely trying to provide a positive motivational message through their 9 year old offspring - who obviously got their brilliance from them - I saw the pattern.. Their intentions were not bad - however the results are potentially cancerous in our society. The inference was that MJ's brilliance, skill and leadership was offset by his tough love for his team mates - that indeed MJ was what is now prevalently called an a##hole, and his behaviours would not be tolerated in their workplace.
The discussion infuriated me. Not only did the people writing (including me) have absolutely no idea how hard it is to reach that level in any field, never mind the top of the world in basketball, they also had no idea what MJ had to sacrifice to get there, or what he faced along the way. They also had no idea how much he pushed his team mates to be the very best they could be - and is that not the ultimate honour a team mate can give?
I then started to think about WHY - why did the discussion around MJ and The Last Dance become about how nice (or not) he was? Why is it his significant contributions to sport are not honoured without judgement? Why did it have to become about what was wrong with him? I've never even been close to that level in sport or business, but I do know that the higher you get in any field the tougher it is. And the people are tougher, and expect more too. So while I read the dialogue around the wisdom of a 9 year old regarding the greatest athlete of all time - I got angry.
In the documentary MJ repeatedly admitted that while he was tough on team mates he never asked anyone to do what he did not do himself - he just happened to have higher standards, expectations and drive to win than any other human alive. Not exactly an easy standard to live up to, but then when you're a professional basketball player would you rather reach the height of your potential, or have nice team mates? Certainly if you work at a 9-5 type organization and want work-life balance, you will clearly be uncomfortable with a person like MJ - because you don't have his drive or work ethic. But in the NBA, it fits. In fact, it's a requirement to win.
Fast forward again three weeks later. While many were proudly displaying black images, or reposting someone else's post about recent events what did MJ do? He didn't talk, he acted - like he always has. He took a stand to the level no one had, and he did so with class.
Wow, what a bully.
I stand with Black Lives Matter. I stand with Nike. I stand with Michael Jordan. I stand with all those standing up for what is right. And I don't think political correctness is appropriate when discussing those facing a war on their safety and well being. I believe we should be celebrating those who inspire us, push us to be better, challenge us, and respect us. And we should respect one another, but also push ourselves and our peers to be better also. We certainly should expect more from those entrusted to serve and protect, and from our governments who oversee that. And we most certainly should expect more from our court system, and politicians.
Thank you Mr. "Air" Michael Jordan for showing us all what it really means to be a leader.
Team Building, Leadership, Business Strategist, Team Development, Edutainment, Lead Facilitator
4 年Yes Tim - Love it - every word my brother!!!
Director, IT Solutions & Digital Enablement
4 年Tim - thank you for your words. It is never easy to approach controversial topics with gentleness. People tend to stand on one side or the other and call out all others with nastiness. Standing up for truth, right, and hard work is tainted by those who color things for their own means. MJ was a crusader for hard work for outcomes. Challenged on every step he was singular in his focus and drive and not afraid to call a spade a spade. We have all worked with people like this at one time or another. Gene Wickman calls it 'getting on the bus' as do many other business guru's. I find it very unfortunate that political correctness had to become a thing. Wouldn't it be so much easier just to call something out for what it is in the moment? Perhaps we have become too sensitive in the wrong areas about a word here or there and not sensitive enough to what really matters. I am greatly saddened whenever I see any life taken. All I know is we can do better and it starts with us right here, right now.
Chief Commercial Officer at Air North, Yukon's Airline
4 年It is pretty hard to buy into the notion that there was something wrong with Michael Jordan's leadership. I think it speaks volumes that some of the main people who were in his camp in Chicago and have gone on to win elsewhere appear to be solidly behind him (Steve Kerr and Phil Jackson namely). At the end of the day, you have to be yourself as a leader, and I think it is important to recognize that Michael was a very unique individual with a very hard-nosed mindset and with incredibly high standards, and as a result I think his approach was very specific to who he was. Trying to lead like Michael Jordan probably won't get you very far if you don't have a similar mentality to him, and if you can't back it up the way he can, but it clearly worked very well for him. I haven't bothered reading a lot of the stuff out there about whether or not Michael Jordan's leadership would be good in business; I think it is pretty obvious that his approach probably wouldn't be something you could blindly incorporate in business, but if any business or individual replicated his sense of accountability and his ability to set goals and persevere towards achieving them you'd be hard-pressed to not achieve success.
Perform better. Grow faster. Achieve more. | Board director | exec coach | strategic consultant | respectful disruptor| intn'l speaker
4 年Tim Barnes, a thoughtful and insightful post. Thank-you for sharing your feelings.