There are a number of critical mistakes a leader cannot afford to make if they want to maintain their influence. Leaders cannot violate trust. They cannot misappropriate the organization’s financial resources. Leaders cannot fail to build a quality team around them. Some leaders may even lack the courage to make hard decisions. But one of the worst mistakes a leader cannot make is blaming others for their team’s performance. They must own responsibility for the organization’s results.
On Sunday, November 20th New York Jets quarterback Zach Wilson had one of the worst days of his professional career. Wilson completed only nine of 22 passes for a paltry 77 yards against the New England Patriots. Even worse, many passes were embarrassingly under or overthrown to wide open receivers.
Afterwards, in the postgame news conference shown above, Wilson was asked, “As an offense though, you were only able to score three points. The defense only gave up three points. Do you feel like you let the defense down?” To which Wilson answered in a deadpan fashion, “No.”
It was the type of response which could divide a locker room. Wilson’s statement could be a catalyst for creating an internal offense vs the defense culture. Unity could be destroyed. Why?
Because when leaders don’t take responsibility for the organization’s performance, a blame game ensues. People will also not follow a leader who they do not feel has their back. Whether true or not, Wilson came off like a leader who was all about himself, not others.
Wilson’s response should have along the lines of, “I’m the quarterback. I’m the on-field leader of this team. Whatever happens, happens on my watch. We all need to get better but first and foremost, I need to get better. Three points is not enough to win in this league. Did I let the defense down? Yes. I also let the offense, the coaches, our ownership, the Jets fanbase, and I even let myself down. Tomorrow, we will look at the film and learn from this game. We’ll figure out where we can improve and get back to work. We’re still in the play-off picture. There’s a of football left to play. And I need to improve so we can finish the season strong.”
That’s what leaders do. They take responsibility for the entire organization. As the old saying goes, they don’t point fingers, they pull the thumb. Improvement starts with the leader. But because Wilson did not give this type of answer, we will have to wait and see if the Jets can truly finish the season strong.
Everything rises and falls with leadership. So when there is failure, it starts with the leader. I’m sure many, many people reminded Zach Wilson of this leadership truth after his press conference. Perhaps you need to be reminded of it as well.
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