The Dez Bryant Syndrome

Disclaimer: I promise I'm not obsessed with football, even though I have two posts in a row on the subject :)

One of the big things people need to know about me is that I'm crazy loyal (sometimes to a fault). That loyalty can be clearly seen in how I'm a die hard, life-long Dallas Cowboys fan. For as long as I can remember, they are "my team". We've been through so many rebuilding years that I've lost count, we have a not so great owner, but I LOVE our current team.

Earlier this week, news came out that the Cowboys released Dez Bryant, who was one of the greatest receivers in the game. He could jump higher and run faster than pretty much anyone... the only problem was that he knew it too. He was well-known for his whining on the sidelines when he wouldn't get thrown to and pretty much blaming everyone else if he had a bad game. He really wasn't the best team player.

The other day I was meeting with some people and I heard from a guy in charge of talent acquisition for a company that he had a matrix where on one axis he had "attitude" and on the other axis he had "benefit to the company". The people with a great attitude and really were rock-star employees were in the top right corner, while those who had terrible attitudes and really didn't do much for the company other than drag down their image were in the bottom left. If I were to put Dez in that matrix I would probably have to put him close to the bottom left corner. His attitude was terrible, he earned A LOT of money, and he really didn't play that great last season with a ton of dropped passes.

Having Dez get released and hearing about this matrix concept was pretty eye-opening to me as one who's typically on the outside of companies looking in. It also challenged me in respect to examining myself of where would I be if I worked for a company? I'm a part of several organizations, which box would I fit in? This idea really isn't rocket science but still a reminder that we need to watch our attitudes as well as the attitudes of our subordinates and when it comes time for annual reviews/evaluations, the attitude should carry nearly as much weight as how much they're helping the company's bottom line.

#teamplayer #football #dallascowboys #business #pride #value #evaluation #humanresources #businessownership #employees