Enough.  It must be a slow news week.

Let’s take Vick first…from an emotional intelligence standpoint, we really need to question his competencies in integrity, organizational awareness and visionary leadership.  The questions that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell must consider when reinstating Vick is whether his integrity is now intact again.  Did 23 months in prison restore this?  Because he certainly did not have integrity going into prison given his track record of lying about his dog fighting involvement.  Second, if Vick returns, will he continue to put himself above his team mates and organization as he did before prison or will he show higher awareness of their needs this time around.  And lastly, what is vision for himself?   He seems to have just lived day-to-day in the past.  Does he have the self-respect to rise above that now?

Now for Favre.  There is not a more worn out subject.  You have to give the guy credit, he is showing high personal power, one of the emotional intelligence competencies.  However, he may be overusing this competency, thinking that his name will carry him further than his skill.  And, his self-assessment needs to be addressed as well.  What bothers me most is that at one time he did not seem like the kind of person who thrived on drama…but now.  A more emotionally intelligent person would not have set this up like this.

Lastly, today I will give the sports talkers the benefit of the doubt that there is not other sports news to report.  However, this is getting old.  Surely you can send a few reporters out and come up with something new.  We would call that awareness of your audience.

So the business lessons we can learn from this are:

1.  Deal with a topic/decision once and then move on.  Drama lacks integrity and organizational awareness.

2.  It’s okay to give people a second chance.  Just know what the basis is for doing so.  Set up the criteria.

3.  Quit talking about a topic once it is old/done.  No one likes a chattering teenage girl who keeps telling the same story over and over.  Move on.

4.  You can always find something new to spend your time on.  Just go talk to someone new.

To find out more about emotional intelligence and the 24 competencies plus how you stack up, go to: http://www.smartgrowth.com/new/emotional_intelligence.htm

The media appropriately chose to point this out.  These actions show a lack of Resilience and Integrity on the part of James.

We expect leaders to be good sports as well.  James’ inability to acknowledge defeat shows low self resilience.  If the Cavaliers failed to sign a new advertising contract with a promoter, wouldn’t he expect the executives to bounce back.

Integrity was compromised when James refused to admit to defeat.  I am sure we can understand his disappointment.  However, is shunning the other team the ‘right thing’ to do?  Good leaders ‘do the right thing’ even when they don’t want to.

If you would like to take the Emotional Intelligence Profile ™ and ascertain your strengths and weaknesses in the 24 competencies, contact Pam Watson Korbel, pam@smartgrowth.com or 303-790-9131.

Using the 24 emotional intelligence competencies to analyze this, the competencies of Powerful Influence and Visionary Leadership comes into qiestion.  Powerful Influence is the ability to persuade people to follow.  Visionary Leadership is a common understanding about direction for the team.   Several media accounts point to Hurdle’s inability to bring everyone to the same page.

Generally, in a leader, we would look for someone who finds a balance between being too tough, a dictator, and too soft, a pushover.  In Hurdle’s case, the presence of a variety of opinions about his leadership style leads us to believe that there is not a consensus about his style.  When people view the leader differently, then it is difficult to get everyone to follow.  Consequently, the team loses focus because individuals fill in the gap by creating their own personal focus.

In addition , the question of Integrity has also been raised through a Denver Post story that notes that player Clint Barmes was told her would be the starting second baseman and then was not in that position on opening day or many days hence and then one unidentified player was quoted as saying that he wished the team did not have a ‘jerk’ for a coach.   The lesson here is simple: once there is an appearance of a lack of Integrity then followership declines.  Even if this instance is not real, the perception outweighs reality.

Lastly, several media accounts bring into question the competency of Communication.  A lack of consistent communication  from other coaches, players and team executives causes great concern.  When organizations work well, messages are consistent and clear.  They have not been within the Colorado Rockies.

Can the leader change the direction of the team?  In Hurdle’s case, only time and their season record will answer that question.  In business, oftentimes, leaders are scapegoats for problems; and in just as many cases, the change of the leader will change the group for the better. 

Regardless of how the Colorado Rockies finish the year, Hurdle will always be noted as an upstanding person who showed high emotional intelligence through Accurate Self Assessment and  his Service Ethic.  He demonstrated high Emotional Self Control during his closing news confernce.

To complete an Emotional Intelligence Profile ™ to ascertain your strengths in the 24 competencies, contact Pam Watson Korbel, pam@smartgrowth.com or 303-790-9131.