I was stunned to read last night that the incredibly talented actor, Chadwick Boseman who starred in the movies, 42, Get on Up, Marshall, Draft Day, Da 5 Bloods, and Black Panther died yesterday of colon cancer at the age of 43 years. I recently posted about the character he played in the movie, "Draft Day" (Vontae Mack). His fight with colon cancer was not well publicized - in fact, he played a number of his roles while receiving treatment for his cancer. It was very sad news for all of us to hear. I realize that many, if not all, of his other roles (Jackie Robinson, James Brown, Thurgood Marshall, and the King of Wakanda) had greater impact than his portrayal of "Vontae Mack", but I will choose to honor him today with another lesson on leadership from his movie, Draft Day.
The whole premise of the movie centers on one of the main characters, Sonny Weaver (played by Kevin Costner), the General Manager of the Cleveland Browns. Weaver suddenly finds himself at the center of the sports world when he trades for the first pick in the NFL Draft. The Browns are in desperate need of talent (art imitates life, right?), and everyone thinks Weaver should select the Heisman Tropy-winning quarterback, Bo Callahan, with the first overall pick. The problem is that Weaver's gut instincts are telling him to pick the All American linebacker, Vontae Mack instead.
As the movie progresses, we learn that Bo Callahan has several red flags. First, he doesn't seem to have any friends. Weaver learns, for example, that Callahan had thrown a huge bash at a local bar on his 21st birthday, and not one of his teammates attended. As his college football coach suggested, this is certainly not a crime, nor is it reason alone not to draft him. However, while watching game film, Weaver notes that Callahan never celebrates with his teammates after a touchdown or win. Finally, Callahan failed the $100 test. One of the football teams sends a playbook to players that they are interested in drafting, and there is a $100 bill taped to one of the pages towards the end of the playbook. Test #1 is whether the players actually read enough of the playbook to find the $100 bill. Test #2 is whether they come clean and admit that they had found it. Callahan fails both tests.
In contrast, Vontae Mack seems to have just as much talent as Callahn (albeit on the opposite side of the ball), but is the quintessential team player. His level of dedication, passion, and commitment to his team is well-known throughout college football. He even adopts his two nephews (during college), after his older sister dies from cancer. Whereas Bo Callahan has all the talent in the world, he is not a team player, nor is he very dedicated to playing football. Vontae Mack, on the other hand, has all the intangibles as well as the talent.
So if you were Sonny Weaver, which player would you rather have on your team? Perhaps the answer can be found in a recent video from the motivational speaker and author, Simon Sinek (see also my previous post on this issue, "Do the Cleveland Browns Have a Trust Issue?"). In this latest video, Sinek talks about the U.S. Navy SEALs - specifically, SEAL Team Six, the elite of the elite. Sinek asked the Navy what kind of SEALs they were looking for when selecting for SEAL Team Six. They responded with a 2x2 graph - "trust" on the x-axis and "performance" on the y-axis. "Trust" equated with emotional intelligence, attitude, dedication, and commitment to the team. "Performance" was exactly what you would think - skills, knowledge, and expertise. The Navy avoids individuals who are in the lower left quadrant (low trust and low performance) - because who would want the individuals who don't perform very well and no one trusts? Of course they wanted individuals in the upper right quadrant (high trust and high performance) - that makes perfect sense too. But when Sinek asked the Navy who they preferred between the low trust / high performance and high trust / low performance category, the Navy said trust beats out performance every time.
Vontae Mack was a high trust / high performance individual at his best and probably a high trust / moderate-to-high performance even at his worst. Bo Callahan? Low trust / high performance for sure. The choice for Sonny Weaver wasn't that hard after all. "Vontae Mack, no matter what." How many times do we see that in our industry? Do hospital leaders build their teams around Vontae Macks or Bo Callahan's?
By all counts, Chadwick Boseman seemed like a high trust / high performance kind of individual. May he rest in peace.
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