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Something Worth SharingStop The Bus Having watched the Beckham documentary on Netflix, I was left almost dumbstruck by the way David Beckham was treated after the ‘World Cup’ incident of 1998. For anyone not aware of what this was, Beckham received a red card and was sent off the pitch during a match with Argentina. This led to the British public demonstrating unprecedented hatred and death threats towards Beckham. The whole Beckham family were treated in the most disgusting way possible. But this isn’t the worst of it. At the time, Glenn Hoddle (himself a former England player) was the national team manager. As such, at the end of the game he was interviewed and the sending off incident was discussed. The interviewer asked if, in his opinion, the sending off of Beckham was the reason for the team to lose the game. This is his reply: “of course it has. I’m not denying that.”
This is one of the most dreadful examples of poor leadership. Throwing your people under the bus is almost unforgivable. I see this happen too often in teams and businesses - where cultures exist without safety, trust and responsibility. The fear that is created when the people that are responsible for others, fail to protect their people is dangerous. The ripples of throwing someone under the bus go way beyond the immediate mistake or issue - they leave a long-lasting and negative impact both for the business and the individuals involved. Rather than throwing people under a bus, try stopping the bus and seeing what can be done to help and understand - then lift people on to the bus. Blaming others is often a deflection. Life is full of mistakes, challenges, failures, bumps and issues - my “learn” this week is that we need to better embrace these things and support our people unconditionally.
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