Do You Have a Leader or a Hero?

After watching the Super Bowl, I discovered these statistics and found them interesting. Based on a conversation with a good friend of mine, I believe it has some legs and makes good food for thought for folks serving in a similar capacity as myself.

Without further ado, let’s look at the raw data from the starting quarterbacks of the NFL’s Super Bowl from this year:

Here are the stats for Jalen Hurts of the Philadelphia Eagles.

• He had the 2nd most fantasy points by any player in the super bowl (41.16).
• He ran 15 times for 70 yards (a Super Bowl record for a quarterback)
• He ran for three touchdowns (tying the record for any player at any position)
• He scored 20 points (3 touchdowns and a 2-point conversion - also tying a record for a player of any position)
• He completed 27 of 38 passes for 304 yards and one touchdown.
• He had no interceptions and one fumble.

Here are the stats for Patrick Mahomes.

• He completed 21 out of 27 attempts for 182 yards and three touchdowns.
• He ran six times for 44 yards.
• He had no fumbles or interceptions. 

Here, also, are the stats for the number one fantasy point holder Steve Young, with 41.90.

• He completed 24 of 36 passes for 325 yards and six touchdowns.
• He rushed five times for 49 yards.
• He had no fumbles or interceptions.  

The NFL offense is made up of 12 players, 7 of whom are “skill” players—wide receiver, running back, tight end, and quarterback, in a variety of combinations. With few exceptions, the quarterback is responsible for looking at the defense and determining if the play they have called is going to work. The quarterback gets the ball on just about every play. It is their job to hand the ball off to a runner or pass the ball to a receiver. As such, the quarterback position is often referred to as the leader of the offense.

When the offense huddles up before a play, it is the quarterback who calls out the play to the team. The quarterback exhibits many of the qualities of a great leader:

• Empowers the team,
• Is self-aware, humble, authentic, fully present,
• Is a role model for others, dependable, tenacious, strategic, inspirational, and continuously seeking improvement.

So if we consider our quarterback our team leader and look at Philadelphia through this lens. What does it say about their performance?

Hurts had 15 carries for 70 yards. Putting this into perspective, all three running backs on their team totaled 17 carries for the entire game combined. Hurts ran for three touchdowns and passed for one to AJ Brown. The other three running backs had no scores.

Mahomes’ three touchdowns went to Travis Kelce, Kadarius Toney, and Skyy Moore.

While Patrick ran 6 times for 44 yards, the other players (Isiah Pacheco, Jerick McKinnon & Skyy Moore) ran a combined 20 times for 114 yards.

Isiah Pacheco ran for one touchdown, and Nick Bolton, on defense, recovered a fumble for a touchdown.

What about Steve Young’s game?

Steve Young passed for six touchdowns—Jerry Rice (3), Ricky Watters(2), and William Floyd(1).

Young ran 5 times for 49 yards. In comparison, San Francisco’s players (Ricky Watters, William Floyd, Jerry Rice & Dexter Carter) combined for 26 rushes for a total of 90 yards.

I propose that in the NFL, the touchdown is the player’s moment in the spotlight. That player gets all the attention at that moment. So if it’s the job of a leader to shine a light on individuals from the team, how do we feel the Eagles did in this regard?  Is that the decision of the quarterback? The coaching staff? If that’s how they’ve been functioning all season, is that just part of their culture? If you’ve been on a team—how do you feel when one person is getting all the recognition? Do you feel differently if you are recognized and celebrated for your contributions? 

There’s an argument to be made that the players contributed to the game, even without touchdowns. However, I think the touchdowns matter more than perhaps fans realize. See Mike Ditka’s regret about Super Bowl XX. We measure what matters, no? Touchdowns are measured and players receive incentives, bonuses, and awards based on their number of touchdowns.

In Charles Duhigg’s book The Power of Habit, Tony Dungy speaks about how so many football teams are often just a bunch of guys playing in the same uniform.   You can read a bit about that here. A team isn’t a team because they’re put together; a team is a team because they are able to function as one entity made up of several individuals. They are able to leverage their individual characteristics for the greater good of the team’s goal. The reason we want to work in teams is that the product of a team is greater than the sum of its parts. Getting a group of people to bond as a team is complex and somewhat magical.

Are there any similarities to the teams we have in our corporate workplaces?

There’s a bit of convergence of concepts in the study of motivation for complex work (problem-solving, creativity, etc.). Dan Pink suggests we need the following:

• Autonomy - some control over what you do, how you do it, when you do it, and where you do it.
• Mastery - a chance to improve at something that matters and progress at meaningful work.
• Purpose - one part is that we are serving something greater than ourselves, and the other is that we are able to see the impact of the work we are contributing toward.

Patrick Lencioni discusses three roots for motivation for complex work:

• The first of these roots is anonymity. People need to have their efforts recognized to feel valued. It’s crucial that somebody – ideally their employer – takes the time to understand their potential and appreciate their abilities. When people feel invisible and that their presence wouldn’t be missed, they become despondent.
• The second root problem is irrelevance. When you do a job that makes a positive impact on other people – even if it’s just one other person – you feel your work is worthwhile. If nobody is benefitting from your work, you will feel as though your efforts are pointless.
• The final root of job misery is immeasurement. This comes about when people have nothing against which to measure their achievements. If you don’t know what your goal is, how can you determine whether you have achieved it? It helps to have a clear idea of what it looks like to perform well and what can be done to improve. Otherwise, you will end up without motivation and ultimately dissatisfied.

So if we look loosely at these in the scope of the football game, the broad strokes are that the players are paid to perform when asked. A wide receiver is evaluated on how many times he catches the ball when it is thrown to him. A running back is evaluated on how many yards he is able to run each time he is handed the ball.

But these players are not robots. And you aren’t, either. Would you have the same motivation if you were never handed the ball to run? Would you feel like you had contributed to the game if other players made the plays?

Is there a negative impact on the team which outweighs the scores by Jalen Hurts doing so much of the work himself? Is there a greater reward to the teams in the acts of Patrick Mahomes and Steve Young by sharing the workload and touchdowns with the rest of their teams?

Jim Benson speaks about individuals working in teams to create value. Each individual on the team brings their unique skills, experiences, and perspectives, and it is through their collaboration and interaction that the team is able to create value for their organization and their customers. In our scenario, this means winning games and rewarding the team owners & fans with Super Bowl victories.

Lao Tzu best captured the magic of leadership: “A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.”

Leaders, look at your organization. Who do you celebrate?