I have met a number of leaders who made critical mistakes. These include but are not limited to financial impropriety, sexual misconduct, anger issues, drugs and alcohol, and inappropriate language and behavior. Finally, there have been times when leaders I have met made critical strategic leadership mistakes. This speaks to a lack of competence and skill.
Such an event occurred Thursday evening, May 31st. The Cleveland Cavaliers, led by LeBron James and his iconic 49 points scored up to that point, were tied with the heavily-favored defending champions Golden State Warriors with 4.7 seconds left to play. Cavaliers point guard George Hill stood at the free throw line with a chance to put the team ahead.
By now you know Hill missed the free throw and the ball was rebounded by Cavs guard J.R. Smith. Smith inexplicably dribbled away from the basket as time expired sending the game into overtime. By all appearances and the video above, Smith did not know the game’s score. He incorrectly thought his team was leading.
Not knowing the score was an egregious mistake by a 14-year veteran which will go down in sports infamy. Ben Glover of SI.com wrote a full article on Smith’s error which you can be read here on SI.com.
Glover points out blunders which are infamously remembered have three qualities:
- There is a critical error in a situation which is routine.
- The guilty party is the last one to realize what is happening.
- Once the guilty party understands what is happening, it is too late.
I then gleaned the following 10 items from the remainder of the article which make up the Anatomy Of Critical Leadership Mistakes:
- A Leader Often Makes A Critical Mistake Because Of A Lack Of Discipline – This speaks to character, accountability and boundaries. Both Stephen A. Smith and Brian Windhorst of ESPN stated the team had been unhappy throughout the year because of Smith’s lack of commitment to his behavioral lifestyle.
- A Leader Makes A Critical Mistake When They Lack Situational Awareness – Smith appears to be telling LeBron James as regulation ended, “I thought we were up.”
- When A Leader Makes A Critical Mistake It Often Comes After Several Minor Organizational Mistakes – Prior to Smith’s error, the referees made a questionable overturning of a Kevin Durant charging call. And obviously, Smith would have never made the rebound in the first place had George Hill made the free throw. However, questionable calls by referees and missed free throws are everyday parts of the game.
- A Leader Makes A Critical Mistake By Being Too Passive And Not Engaging The Issue – Once getting the rebound, Smith could have taken a shot.
- A Leader Makes A Critical Mistake By Not Utilizing The Skills Of Their Teammates – Once getting the rebound, Smith could have passed to James who has already hit two buzzer-beaters in this year’s playoffs alone.
- A Leader Makes A Critical Mistake By Not Taking Time To Reevaluate Their Current Situation – Once getting the rebound, Smith could have called a timeout.
- A Leader Makes A Critical Mistake When Things Are Moving Too Fast For Them To Comprehend – In the postgame press conference, Cavaliers’ head coach Tyronn Lue said, “He thought it was over. He thought we were up one. It just happened too fast.”
- A Leader Loses Influence When He/She Makes A Critical Mistake – James said, “I don’t know what J.R. was thinking… I don’t know his state of mind.”
- Your Church, Team Or Organization Can Often Not Recover From A Leader’s Critical Mistake – A leader’s critical mistake often creates such negative momentum the team cannot recover. Once overtime began, the Warriors scored the first nine points and won with a comfortable 124-114 score.
- The Leader Must Take Responsibility For The Critical Mistake Once It Is Made – Rather than taking ownership for his mistake, Smith began making a series of excuses. In postgame interviews, Smith said, “I thought we were going to take a timeout because I got the rebound. I looked over at LeBron and he looked like he was trying to get a timeout. I stopped, and the game was over.” He then added another claim, “I knew it was tied. I tried to get enough space because Kevin was standing right there. I tried to bring it out and get enough space to maybe get a shot off. He already had [three] blocks so I wasn’t trying to become the [fourth].”
What is one thing you learned from J.R. Smith about making critical mistakes?
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