The Patriot Way Redux

I don't like the New England Patriots.  I don't like Bill Belichik.  I don't like Tom Brady.  However, even I have to admire the winning culture - the so-called "Patriot Way" - that they have established in the National Football League (NFL).  You simply have to admire what they have done over the last several years (almost two decades, in fact).  Since he has been the Head Coach, the Patriots have won 5 Super Bowl championships (most recently coming from behind against the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI last year) and have lost two others (both times to the New York Giants).  He has continued to win, year after year, and he will likely go down as one of the greatest coaches in the history of the NFL.  And he probably deserves it.  Tom Brady has been his quarterback for all of those Super Bowl wins (and losses), and he too will likely go down as one of the greatest NFL quarterbacks of all time.  And he probably deserves it too.

The radio sports talk shows and ESPN television have been buzzing with a recent story by ESPN writer, Seth Wickersham, indicating that there is some tension at the Patriots headquarters.  Apparently, the tension revolves around two issues (the whole "Deflate-gate" controversy is probably a third issue that is involved, though the story doesn't specifically address this theory) - the whole TB12 issue (Tom Brady has been working with a new fitness and health guru, Alex Guerrero, that he claims is one of the reasons why he can still play at such a high level at the age of 40 years - apparently there is some friction there between his head coach and Guerrero) and the recent Jimmy Garoppolo trade, that apparently Belichik did not want to do).  Reportedly, Brady was so upset with Coach Belichik that he went over his head and went straight to the Patriots' owner, Robert Kraft.  Kraft sided with Brady over his head coach (the Patriots have publicly denied these allegations).  In other words, the so-called "Patriot Way" is not immune to drama or ego. 

Leadership is a key aspect of establishing a successful culture.  How leaders manage their superstars (athletes as well as employees) is a key aspect of driving high performance.  The cliché, "There is no 'I' in team" is particularly relevant here.  Ego tends to lead to unnecessary drama.  Drama tends to lead to losing or lack of success (paraphrasing the old Jedi Master Yoda here - "Fear leads to Anger.  Anger leads to Hate.  Hate leads to suffering.."). 

It will be interesting to see how the Patriots handle all of this - I wouldn't be too surprised if this was all a big sham engineered by Coach Belichik to motivate his team.  Probably not, but I would not put it past him.  Anyway, if the highly favored Patriots fail to win their sixth Super Bowl this year, the pundits will point directly to this controversy.  Time will tell.