No blame, no shame, no one thrown under the bus

On the heels of my losing $19 on the Superbowl game yesterday, as promised to a dear friend and New York fan, Randyl, today's blog is about the GAME. The game of competition and teamwork. The game of winning the game of admitting defeat.

Most of you have heard that my Patriots came up short by a few points and the Giants won the game. For those that didn't have occasion to see the game, it was a nail biter with changes of fortune. (Now, does it bug anyone else that the sportscasters switch loyalty faster than a New York second when the tides change in the game?)

Anyway...there were many spectacular catches and one spectacular miss for the Pats. It was a game changing miss and when the cameras panned the benches the poor mooks own team mates were hanging their heads. I suspect in part sensing that that missed catch could cost the whole game, and partly feeling for the teammate that missed. Ouch. What great pain to let the whole team down.

In a follow up interview the Pat's coach was asked about that miss. His answer was inspirational. He said, in effect, that the player had made many fine catches for the team and clearly tried his best to make this one. No blame. No shame. No one thrown under the bus.

It is only the small hearted people that take any joy in another's failure. The finest know, without a doubt, that the miss could have been theirs.

The measure of the quality of any team is not how they behave in times of victory and elation, but how they hold together when the tide turns.

Bringing this closer to my work I am reminded of the great quote: "Success has many fathers, failure is always a bastard." The art of explaining a collapsed deal is to cover off honestly without venom. My question to myself and to you is if we're as noble receiving "bad" news as we are receiving fantastic news. Do we consider with our colleagues a way to fix the problem for this time or the next or look for someone to throw under the bus?

Champions in any field should play like champions no matter how the tide turns. Ecstatic in victory and honourable in defeat. The team stays focused no matter what. The coach keeps perspective no matter what.

No blame, no shame, no one thrown under the bus. Hope that's how we all roll!