Ta Ta to T.O.

Ever have a really big star on your team?  You know, the new marketing hotshot who was brought in because she "really understood the youth market"; the great designer who had "absolutely fabulous taste"; the new president who was going to "return the brand to its former prominence."  It happens all the time; we Americans love stars. 

When the White Sox won the World Series a couple of weeks ago, I wrote a piece about great performance more often than not being the result of ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

And now, the Philadelphia Eagles have ended their relationship with the archetypal star, wide receiver Terrel Owens.  T.O. is magic on the football field.  After suffering a broken bone in his leg last season, he returned after three weeks to help the Eagles almost upset the Patriots in the Super Bowl.

Unlike so many of the alleged stars that get brought into your organization, this one could deliver the goods.  But, like so many of those stars, T.O. is a poisonous team member.  Nobody counts but T.O.  Nobody contributes but T.O.  T.O.'s ego is easily bruised.  T.O. gets to say whatever T.O. wants.  It's all about T.O.  (Tip: whenver an individual speaks of him/herself in the 3rd person, watch out!) 

No matter how brilliant, a star who can't function effectively (that's effectively, not perfectly) with others will create more havoc than results.  The brilliance of their performance is soon eclipsed by the rancor they create. 

This is one of the reasons I love sports.  There are plenty of other venues in which to learn these kinds of life lessons, but none of them involve larger than life figures like T.O. playing out themes that are as old as civilization itself.

Tags: Terrell Owens Team Performance

 

Comments

[Howard]

Excellent post Tom!

Made me think of that overused, but often proved, saying that there is no "I" in TEAM.

Real teams (sports or business) not only increase the speed of success but they are far more resilient to adversity.

One overwhelming star upsets the power of that team.

The lesson to be learned, I think, is to remove anyone or anything that disrupts the team focus as soon as it is noticed as it never gets better over time.

[Tom]

Thanks, Howard. I'd be interested in hearing examples of "overwhelming stars" who did not upset the power of their team.

[Tom]

Thanks, Howard. I'd be interested in hearing examples of "overwhelming stars" who did not upset the power of their team.

[Jeremy]

Nicely done Tom. Now, do you have a commentary on his idiotic agent's press conference yesterday???

NEXT QUESTION
NEXT QUESTION
NEXT QUESTION

What a fool!

[Tom]

I saw that "press conference" rebroadcast this morning. Drew is quite the buffoon, and really did T.O. no favors as his representative, encouraging him to renegotiate his contract last summer and generally stirring up this already volatile guy.