Texas A&M’s electric quarterback Johnny Manziel, will take the field tomorrow for another episode of “Johnny Football”. He might be the most exciting player in all of college football.
His football instincts and ability to make the big play on the biggest of stages has defined him and added to hislegend. On the field, he takes his craft seriously.
But his story is about more than just athletic accomplishments. It’s about immaturity and attitude. It’s about rules violations and unethical behavior. It’s about tweeting that he can’t wait to leave college (and I presume his teammates and team) behind. How would you like to have him as your leader? Would all of the winning make up for everything else?
In a story on ESPN about Johnny Football that included a round of golf with Johnny and his father Paul, here is what Paul had to say about his son Johnny:
"I don't enjoy playing golf with him because I don't want to see that temper," he'll say. "I honestly do not. I cringe when he wants to play golf. I don't want to do it, but I know I have to do it. Because he still needs love. He still needs guidance. He still needs to see he's wrong -- and how to control his temper. And if I give up on him, who's gonna take over? The school sure… isn't gonna do it."
A friend of mine from Cleveland, a lifelong Browns fan, is hoping they tank this season to position themselves to draft Johnny Football. He was strongly arguing that Johnny Football would go down as possibly the greatest quarterback ever (“smarter than Peyton Manning” he said). As an equally devoted Indianapolis Colts fan, it made me sit back and appreciate all the years we had with Peyton.
Do I wish the Colts would have won more than one Super Bowl with Peyton at the helm? Yes, I sure do. There were lots of winning seasons that ended too early come playoff time. But I never had to answer questions from my 9 and 11 year old sons about Peyton’s ethics like I do about Johnny Football. I never had to explain why the leader of a team would send a tweet saying he couldn’t wait to leave. I never had to discuss rules violations. Nope, we just had to deal with the heartbreak from a tough loss in the playoffs and know that Peyton would dig deep, prepare even harder, and be back chasing his dream next year.
The question is this. Why would someone with so much talent and ability not care more about being a better citizen and teammate? Why would they recklessly put so much future success at risk? As my friend pointed out the NFL will still come calling next year for Johnny Football. And with it some team – maybe the Browns - will spend millions of dollars hoping that his maturity will catch up with the undeniable talent.
What’s The Risk?
At some point, character outweighs and overshadows talent. The risk is knowing when and how to take action. There are people with loads and loads of talent, but their behavior holds them back. Sometimes it’s how they treat people internally. Other times it’s what happens on the outside. I bet you see this same thing in your business.
Should we hang in there like Johnny Football’s Dad, wanting and believing that someday, things will change and they’ll get it together? Or do we cut our losses knowing you can’t help someone that doesn’t want your help?
These are tough questions to answer. I can tell you I’ve been on both sides of this argument in the past and understand the vantage point of each. However, the longer I’ve been in business, the more I’ve been around talent of all types, the more I appreciate how Peyton has carried himself all these years.
I see the same thing from new Colts quarterback Andrew Luck. Sure the sample size is smaller than Peyton’s but sometimes you just know, right? So while my friend from Cleveland is hoping for Johnny Football, I’m going to just appreciate Peyton’s body of work and the good fortunate of getting Andrew Luck. I’ll be sitting in the stands in Indy in a few weeks when Peyton, now a Denver Bronco, returns to face my Colts. It will be a little bittersweet. I hope Peyton has an awesome game and the Colts win. No matter what, I’ll be thankful for the great run he gave Colts fan and just as importantly how he did it.
