Leadership Thought: A Valuable Lesson We All Can Learn from Last Night’s Super Bowl Game.

Dear Friends,

Mistakes, there were sure a lot of them in last night’s Super Bowl game. What was anticipated as being one of the greatest Super Bowl matchups ever, turned into a mistake laden game with the Chiefs looking every bit like they wanted to shoot themselves in the foot at every opportunity.

The Chiefs efforts to give the game away, began in the first half. They committed eight penalties for 95 yards, six of which gave the Bucs a first down. One penalty was an inexcusable a 34-yard pass interference penalty in the final seconds that set the Bucs up for a touchdown. The Chiefs also lined up in the neutral zone on a field goal attempt, giving the Bucs a free first down, which resulted in a Brady touchdown pass on the very next play to make it 14-3. Everyone who hoped for a game that would go down to the last second was disappointed, as Chief mistakes  proved too costly to overcome.

Unlike a number of his players who continually complained about the  penalties called on them, coach Reid had little in the way of excuses for his team’s poor performance. In as near and apology as a coach might make, Reid said, “It was a bad day to have a bad day.

Mistakes, we all make them, but those who make them and who are successful, are those who learn from them and don’t repeat them again. Hopefully this will be true for the Chief’s as well.

So often it is true that when we make a mistake, we try to hide it, much like the young Navy pilot on maneuvers who prior to take off, had been ordered by his commanding Admiral to maintain absolute radio silence with anyone engaged in the exercise. But one pilot mistakenly turned on his radio and was heard to utter, “Boy am I fouled up.”

The admiral grabbed the mic from the radio operator and said will the pilot who broke the radio silence identify himself immediately?”

There was a long silence, and then a voice was heard over the radio, “I may be fouled up, but I’m not that fouled up.”

I would often tell the students I taught and coached, when you make a mistake, admit it and learn from it. “Fess up when you mess up,” was hopefully a good reminder to them that it is better to admit our mistakes than to try and hide them. Covering them up is a waste of energy and generally only makes matters worse.

One of the greatest opportunities we have as believers is to be vulnerable enough to admit  and acknowledge our mistakes when me make them. It may be uncomfortable to be so transparent, but in doing so we provide a teachable moment from which others can learn.

Hopefully, Andy Reid’s players will learn from his honesty and be the better for it. Yes, “it was a bad day to have a bad day,” but tomorrow will be a better day if the Chiefs  learn not to make those same mistakes again.

Yours in faith and friendship,

Tom