What are your thoughts on the current NFL concussion issues?
For those of you who are NFL fans, you probably saw what happened to the Dolphins QB, Tua Tagovailoa over the last few weeks. He initially got hurt (clearly a head injury – stumbled over his feet) against the Bills in Week 3, but entered back into the game soon afterwards. The Dolphins came out after the game, claiming it was a back injury, which is a questionable ruling, to say the least. Then, Tua was hit in Week 4 against the Bengals on Thursday Night Football, with drastically worse head trauma and neurological reactions. Some say he shouldn’t have been playing, and now the whole NFL concussion protocol is being called into question. Needless to say, the Dolphins and the NFL have some questions to answer. In the #CJJblog this week, I give you my thoughts and discuss the importance of actions matching your words. What are your thoughts?
- Black eye. There is now a huge black eye on the Dolphins and the NFL. Who messed up? Was something covered up? Safety first can be preached all day long, but it has not been practiced with this situation.
- Questions. Here are two questions not only relevant to this situation, but what you should be asking yourself every day as a leader: 1) Is Integrity one of my most important values? And 2) Do my words consistently align with my actions?
- Evaluation. The Doctor who evaluated Tua after the first incident against the Bills has been let go by the team. What specifically did they do wrong and why did they do it? Will we ever know the truth? As leaders, we should always be evaluating right vs. wrong and valuing the long-term effects over the short-term gain.
- Leaders. As a head coach for 30+ years, I have some experience with integrity and it’s importance on the success of your program. As a leader, you should be… 1) Clear about your personal mission (write it down and live it every day), 2) Clear on your team mission (lead by example), and 3) Clear on aligning your two missions (team and personal).
Did You Know? Check out this podcast episode with Jason Hewlett, entitled “Keeping the Promise”
Life Tip #28: When people think of a person with integrity, they think of you.