Leadership Thought Don’t Get Caught Up in the Blame Game.

Dear Friends. 

This morning I stared at the news screen on my computer and the headlines read “Mc Connell Slams Classless Obama for Virus Comments” and “Trump Abruptly Ends Virus Briefings  Over Contentious Exchanges.” I've had enough of the "Blame Game." I want to scream at both sides, “Will you stop blaming each other, put your big boy pants on, act like grown men, and get something done for a change?” 

The “Blame Game” is not new. It reared its ugly head on  the first pages of the Bible. It appears right in the middle of the garden. “Yes, I ate it, “ said Adam, “but the woman you gave me brought me the fruit, and I ate it.” And when the Lord turned to Eve and asked her how she could eat of the fruit, she had her own excuse. She said,  “The serpent tricked me, and that’s why I ate it.” Genesis 3:12-13

We are a society that has grown accustomed to blaming others for our own problems. Rather than accept responsibility, we quickly point our finger at someone else. That is why the courts are inundated with frivolous lawsuits that get more preposterous with every passing day.

Several years ago, I clipped the following excerpt from a magazine,  as a reminder to myself to not get caught up in the blame game. It was a quote by one of my sports’ heroes, John Wooden, who quite possibly is the greatest basketball coach who has ever lived. He said, “Nobody is ever defeated until they start blaming others.” If more people would follow this advice, I suspect we could wipe out the disease of ‘victimitis’ or  ‘the “poor me disorder.”

In Steve Jamison's book Wooden on Leadership,  which happens to be one of my favorite leadership books in my library, Coach Wooden comments  “You can stumble and fall, make errors and mistakes, but you are not a failure until you start blaming others, including fate, for your results. Always believe there is a positive to be found in the negative. Things usually happen for a reason, even when you are unable to discern the reason.” Quoted from a devotional by Craig Impelman from the Internet. 

I have a quote in my files (not sure of the author) that I think might serve as a good reminder to all of us of the pernicious nature of blame.

"Blame never affirms, it assaults.

Blame never restores, it wounds.

Blame never solves, it complicates.

Blame never unites, it separates.

Blame never smiles, it frowns.

Blame never forgives, it rejects.

Blame never forgets, it remembers.

Blame never builds, it destroys.” 

As I close let me leave you with these words to remember: “When you blame others, you give up your power to change.” Robert Anthony

Yours in faith and friendship,
Tom