When I was captain (yeah, scary I know) of my soccer team I faced one of those "leadership" moments. Down 2-0 at half time, one of my teammates was complaining incessantly about the ref. He was right. The ref was a douche. But I feared he was losing focus and felt I had to set him straight. I told him to stop whining and to play above it. One thing I hated - still do - is when someone persists in their complaints. Worse, they blame others or unfortunate circumstances for their troubles. Hate it. I'm not saying sometimes it's not legitimate but when it defines your existence, then you have a problem.
I told him and the team it was likely the calls were going to go against us in the second half and there was nothing we could do about it but play our game. Doing anything else was wasting energy.
I think of this whenever I hear about leaders complain about the "mess they inherited." Don't we all up to a point? In the case of a public figure, it becomes even more annoying to hear them lash out because no one asked them to take the job.
Stand straight. Stop bashing. Look forward and fucking lead.
Oh, we lost 3-1 but the team hung in. The ref was an asshole. But what can you do?
No comments:
Post a Comment
Mysterious and anonymous comments as well as those laced with cyanide and ad hominen attacks will be deleted. Thank you for your attention, chumps.