Since the Superbowl is almost here, I wanted to do one more post related to Scapegoating following the AFC and NFC Championship games two weeks ago. My last post centered around the 49ers loss and the young player who made two crucial mistakes that contributed significantly to the loss. I thought it was a great picture of how individuals, and even young ones, can help redirect anxiety into productive and respectful action.
The other game that day had a couple of players who have taken their share of criticism and there’s been scapegoating there as well – but not as much. I can’t help but think part of why is how the team handled itself and in particular how team leader Ray Lewis led his team in the aftermath. This well publicized speech I believe spoke not just to the team, but to the fan base as well. The team’s following I believe was helped to move on even while still feeling the pain.
Here’s the video which runs about 70 seconds:
Here’s the Transcript via The Tucson Citizen:
God has never made a mistake, it ain’t about one play.This year, we did what we were supposed to do, we fought as a team… There will be one Super Bowl champ crowned at the end of this year, that’s it. So the way we feel, somebody gonna feel like that tomorrow, and somebody gonna feel like that in a week. That’s a fact. And the fact is, we gotta come back and go to work to make sure we finish it next time. That’s all we gotta do.
Joe, you played your (butt) off. You hear me, man? I’m telling you, man, don’t ever — don’t ever — drop your head when it comes to a loss, dog, because there’s too much pain outside of this that people are really going through. This right here makes us stronger. Let’s understand who we are as a team, let’s understand who we are as men, and let’s make somebody smile when we walk out of here. We got the opportunity to keep going, men. Let’s be stronger as a team, men. Let’s be who we are.
See a larger article on this here from the huffington post.
There’s great lessons here! For sure it’s charismatic and inspirational – but it’s effective. And similar to the lessons from the last post, scapegoating can be stopped in its tracked by leadership helping create space to grieve the loss maturely, take responsibility like adults, and yes – even think of others while still hurting from the loss! That’s a big part of how leaders can help guard against the destructive nature of scapegoating. (Though I’m not a fan of the God never makes mistakes line)
That one day of football has provided several great examples of how to transform pain into meaningful community experiences and moments as opposed to letting them become destructive and toxic events that damage individuals and community in significant ways.
What do you take away from Ray Lewis’ speech and leadership in this moment?
