How to Win and Lose like a Team

Leadership through difficult times 

A good lesson was illustrated in a Sunday Night NFL Football game on 10-23-2016 between the Seattle Seahawks and the Arizona Cardinals that ended in an overtime tie of 6 - 6. The lowest overtime score in NFL history.

Arizona was the first to strike with a winning field goal. The ball hit the left goal post. The Arizona coach slammed his playboard to the ground from his head with an angry face when he realized the kick was bad. Seattle received a big gift from Arizona. 

Seattle was able to get in position with a game winning field goal with time running out. The kick went wide missing the inside of the left goal post. The Seattle coach reacted with anticipation for the kick and then showed disappointment in his face with the bad kick.

The Seahawks coach Carroll:

“I love him and he’s our guy,’’ Carroll said of Hauschka.

The Cardinals coach Arians:

Arians said of Catanzaro “Make it. He’s a professional. This ain’t high school. You get paid to make it.”

Two different reactions and comments towards players that could have been a game hero. 

The Cardinals coach is not a leader. Slamming a player is poor leadership. Develop and work with the player.

The Seahawks coach is a real leader. He knows he will need that kicker in the future and he stands by him.

In the business world we should lose as a team and win as a team. No finger pointing. Learn from failure and regroup. Move on with synergy. It's all about a cohesive team.

Project Management Tips by Drake - #3

Multidimensional 

Project Managers and Quarterbacks have a lot in common when they support their team. 

Quarterbacks need to:   
(1)  Execute plays from their coach.

(2)  Make play decisions on the fly in crunch time.

(3)  Run the ball and take a hit when an opportunity exists to gain needed yardage.

(4)  Make tackles for interceptions and fumbles. 

(5)  Be humble, confident and accountable.

Project Managers need to:   

(1)  Execute the project plan for stakeholders. 

(2)  Make key decisions to keep the project on track when roadblocks are encountered.

(3)  Jump in and help the team to keep the project going. 

(4)  Be able to stop scope creep when changes are requested that have no merit to the project.

(5)  Be humble, confident, and accountable.

The Little Seattle Seahawks

The NFL regular season has started and they sure start young in Washington State to support their Seahawks. 

The 12's aka The 12th Man celebrates Blue Fridays wearing the Seahawks jersey to show their team pride. It's really neat to see a state come together by wearing Seahawks jerseys and saying Go Hawks to anyone wearing the Hawks jersey.

Washington State is very proud of their team. They wear a jersey to work on Blue Friday. The schools celebrate Blue Friday by letting students wear their jersey to show their pride for the team.

Go Hawks!

*Tom Brady - Super Bowl 49 Champion

My final thoughts on #DeflateGate is that Brady knew about the deflated footballs in the 2014 AFC Championship game. The coach and team owner also knew about it.

A Quarterback knows when a ball is under inflated give me a break. Brady has no balls in his handling of this serious charge made against him. He got caught so he should just apologize and man up to the charges and take his punishment like a man. What does Brady do? Continue to fight it. The owner of the team is fighting it too. The Patriots owner Robert Kraft also owns Kraft Foods.

When you destroy a request cellphone to be examined by the NFL. Huh? What did Brady have on the phone that he is hiding? Instant messages to the Ball Boy or pictures of his stuck up wife. Well we can only speculate now. 

Brady does not have a spine. He will win at any cost. The New England Patriots Organization has no morales. 

How to be a Champion

Super Bowl 49 the Patriots vs Seahawks on the grand stage to battle it out to find out who will be the champion on a Sunday afternoon on February 1, 2015. You can be in a game giving it all you got by battling your way to a possible victory in your hands in the last seconds of the game with a great coach and team behind you.

What happens when you failed to execute by literally throwing your chance away in a split second by an unanticipated obstacle in your way that ends your chance of a spectacular victory?

Your season is over in a heartbreaking loss. You lose as a team and win as a team no finger pointing. We can learn from the Seahawks Quarterback Russell Wilson, he bounced back with a new haircut on Monday and visited the Seattle Children's Hospital on Tuesday after the heartbreaking loss on Sunday. He is going on with his life moving forward leaving the past in the past.

The moral to the story is to not let any loss or misfortune take you down and eat away at you. It's natural to ponder what if? Learn from the past and lift your head up high and say we will be back again and move on and live in the present not in the past. If you can do this you are a champion.

Go Hawks!

Project Managers and Quarterbacks

Running projects and playing football have similarities you are working toward a goal. Projects have milestones and football has touchdowns. The project manager will direct and manage project execution making adjustments along the way to keep the project moving. The quarterback will run plays and make adjustments to guide the team down the field.

Project Managers and Quarterbacks are leaders that your teams depends on and looks up to for guidance. Both positions are in the spotlight requiring charisma and professionalism. Both positions will take the fall for any failures of the team.

Your key to success is motivating your team that everyone has an important role on it. Continuous process improvement to find better ways to execute.

Communication is so critical that you need to be a good listener and follow up with any concerns or issues brought to your attention. Always follow-up.

Take care of your team and they will follow you.

People in the Spotlight

President Barack Obama compares marijuana to alcohol claiming both are the same. Right on! Hey man I got the munchies and how do I sign-up for that ObamaCare dude?

  

First Lady Michelle Obama considers actress and activist Jane Fonda once known in the Vietnam War era as "Hanoi Jane” a role model. She insulted our Armed Forces by socializing with the Viet Cong our enemy at the time. Someone must have been sleeping in History class.

Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman shoots off his mouth in rage after his defensive skills won the game for Seattle in the NFC Championship against San Francisco. Seattle is going to the SuperBowl after Sherman denied San Francisco wide receiver Michael Crabtree a game winning touchdown with less than a minue left in the game. Sherman said in good sportsmanship "Hell of a game" to Michael and extended his hand to him and received a disrespectful slap on the helmet instead. Hey Richard was on an adrenaline rush caught in the moment of excitement and Michael caught in the agony of defeat and poor sportsmanship.

He is in the news again Justin Bieber a Canadian citizen. His latest troubles are DUI, street racing and resting arrest in Florida. Just deport this idiot and send him to Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. I think the two will hit it off.