Most of life's lessons are well hidden, but once in a while we get smacked in the face with a big, bad, obvious one, like Tiger's tale earlier this year, or the French soccer team's drama at the World Cup. Or this week's spectacle around LeBron James' decision to sign with the Miami Heat in the National Basketball League, a spectacle of his own doing.
There are lessons here to learn and share, especially with our children who are glued to the television set following idols like LeBron, Tiger, or if you are French, Les Bleus. Whether you are a parent or just an adult, you have to take the important lessons of these incidents by some of the Sport world's biggest personalities and make sure our young learn them, understand them, and value them so they don't make the same mistakes. These guys are not role models in these instances, but they can be amazing teachers.
So first I guess I should state what my beef is with LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavs. Well, its simple. Neither LeBron or Dan Gilbert, the Cleveland Cavs' owner, showed an ounce of class or respect in how they handled 'the decision'. First lets talk about LeBron. Let me be clear, he is no villain in my book, but he showed incredible poor judgement in the way he handled the circus around his decision to leave his current team to join his new one. It was pure lack of class and it will cost him in legacy no matter how many NBA titles he ends up winning (and he better win one or two after all this smack talk).
You might be thinking steady there, aren't you being a bit tough, Broumand? Am I? Imagine what would happen in the professional world? Lets say you spent 7 years working for a company that gave you the opportunity to build a successful career. You rose from an entry level position (Rookie) to Manager to Senior Manager to Vice President (self-proclaimed King). Along the way you were recognized by your industry as an expert (MVP x 2), a thought-leader. After 7 years the headhunters and recruiters come knocking, offering you opportunities with competitors who are perhaps better positioned in the market, or have some unique products (Wade & Bosh) that your current employer doesn't have and hasn't proven they ever will (Cleveland Cavs). Its a free market and you are not bound by any contractual commitments (free agent), so you decide its time to leave. So far all is good. The question is how would you leave things with your current employer?
Anyone who is in business will know the old adage "Don't Burn Your Bridges". And that is exactly what LeBron James did on Wednesday with the crass spectacle he put on. After 7 years with the Cleveland Cavs and their fans, LeBron burned his bridges in the most disrespectful of ways. 8.4 million viewers watched LeBron's announcement and it was tasteless in my humble opinion. What makes it doubly tasteless is that I truly don't believe this lack of class reflects the person LeBron James is. Its just pure lack of judgement from a naive 25 year old who's handlers (mom, agent, wife, networks) failed him, and this is the lesson we have to teach our kids not to emulate. But then again they say you either have class or you don't...who am I to say who or what LeBron is?
As I said at the outset of this post, its important we take the lessons and learn from them. There is absolutely nothing wrong with LeBron's decision to move to Miami. He was a Free Agent after all. He gave 7 great years to the Cavs. 5 consecutive Play-Offs. He honored his contractual commitments and was the heart and soul of a franchise that was frankly mediocre at best before his arrival. You can't criticize the decision, its how he went about announcing it that was just wrong. And its the people of Cleveland, the Cavs' fans who supported James these past 7 years that I feel sorry for. They deserved a lot better from James...and from their owner too.
Lesson number 2 - when your star employee decides to lawfully leave the team, thank him for his years of service and wish him well. In other words, don't burn your bridges. After the shameful antics of LeBron's announcement, Gilbert turns around and does him one better by penning an open letter to Cavs fans that was just shameful. To understand what I mean you will need to read the letter he wrote following the announcement.
This is Management 101 material in what NOT to do when you are a multi-millionaire owner of an NBA franchise, not to mention Chairman and founder of Quicken Loans Inc. Mature business folks will know that in situations like this the best way to handle is to avoid open confrontation. James threw the glove at the Cavs organization and fans, Gilbert picked it up and threw it right back. It was a mistake and again truly lacking class and judgement. Gilbert had every opportunity to demonstrate the Cavs are a classy organization and he failed. The spotlight is not as bright on LeBron's antics anymore. It makes me wonder what the next Cavs' recruit will think? I also feel for the Cleveland Cavs organization and fans. If I were a fan I would feel orphaned after reading Gilbert's words, and hearing James' announcement on national television. Its a double let down by 'mom and dad'.
And lesson number 3 comes from the French national soccer team, Les Bleus. Anyone following the World Cup will know that the one-time World Champions and last tournament's finalists were eliminated in the first round of group play in South Africa a few weeks back. Defeat is not shameful, but again it was the way in which this team of multi-millionaire soccer players went about the business of representing their country at the world's biggest sports tournament.
The mismanagement surrounding the French team is still unclear, but from my perspective it started with the French soccer federation announcing right before the tournament that Coach Raymond Domenech will be replaced after the tournament by former player and popular personality Laurent Blanc. So imagine you are head of Sales for your organization and are bidding to win the biggest contract in the history of your company with your sales team when management announces that after the bid process you are going to be replaced. Um, as I re-read what I just wrote it just sounds dumb. But this was the scenario under which 22 professional soccer players from France boarded a plane for South Africa in early June. Management screwed up.
The trip was doomed from the start, but you would expect professionals to behave like, well, professionals. No such luck for the French (much to the amusement of the rest of the world I might add). Star striker Nicholas Anelka (plays for Chelsea, aggregate transfer fees of $150m over career, weekly salary of $140,000) insulted the Coach in practice and was subsequently sent home. The rest of the team decided to 'go on strike' (who thinks striking is a positive form of protest?) and not practice two days later, resulting in an altercation between the team Captain, Patrice Evra (plays for Manchester United, weekly salary of $90,000) and the strength coach, all caught on video and on display to the world. Needless to say poor performance on the field and a 2-1 loss to host nation South Africa resulted in France crashing out of the World Cup. It was the only goal the French managed to score in three games.
Here is what I told my little cousin who loves following the World Cup - when you play on a team its about the team first, not you as a player (otherwise take up Tennis or Karate). The Coach is in charge and you have to follow his leadership and direction, even if you don't feel he is the best person to coach you. What the French players did was disgraceful and it reflects poorly on their country. French people do not deserve this. They have made an incredible contribution to the World Cup and sport in general for the past 50 plus years. All of that achievement and goodwill was destroyed by a group of selfish, overpaid players who, through their actions, mis-represented their country. Its a harsh message but I can promise you my little cousin is not going to forget what it means to put the team first as he grows up playing competitive team sports.
I would like to end this post with a final lesson, one that came to me as I finish writing this post. I think its important to teach our children the importance of the positive. Not all lessons come from negative aspects of life. Negativity just happens to make those lessons more obvious to the critical eye, but there is so much more to learn from the positive aspects too. They are just less obvious sometimes. I am really pleased for the city of Miami to have landed a player like James. I really hope they will have what it takes to build a legacy like Kobe and the Lakers, Jordan and the Bulls, or the amazing Boston Celtics franchise. I applaud Pat Riley and the Miami Heat organization for going after James, Wade and Bosh and being successful in signing the three. They are doing something right down there, something other franchises in New York, New Jersey and, yes, Cleveland, have a lot to learn from. Good management and good people make things happen.
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