Widgets: The 12 New Rules for Managing Your Employees as if They're Real People by Rodd Wagner

Widgets: The 12 New Rules for Managing Your Employees as if They're Real People by Rodd Wagner

Author:Rodd Wagner
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education
Published: 2015-04-13T14:00:00+00:00


THE TENTH RULE

* * *

Unite Them

ON AUGUST 8, 2013, BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY’S FOOTBALL PLAYERS arrived at the locker room for the team’s annual photo day to find a bad surprise. In place of their last names on the back of their jerseys were the words “Spirit” or “Honor” or “Tradition.”

“We have identified these as the core principles of what the program is going to be,” head football coach Bronco Mendenhall told the sports writers who showed up that day to get an early look at the team. “After eight years and the successes we have had to this point … and the vision I have for this program and what I see going forward, I intend that to be very visible for anyone who wants to know about our program and what it stands for, on the biggest stages.”

With the team, it was a huge fumble. “Many players were stunned and incredulous as they filed into the indoor practice facility to get their pictures taken in their new jerseys,” reported The Salt Lake Tribune.1 At a school that emphasizes civility and deference to authority, the reaction was more muted than it would have been elsewhere. “Several players with negative things to say about the change refused to comment publicly,” the newspaper reported. Those who spoke on the record were circumspect.

“I am not really sure how I feel about them yet,” said All-America linebacker Kyle Van Noy. “One thing I have enjoyed about playing here at BYU is having the last names on the backs of the jerseys… . So it is going to be different. I don’t know if it is for sure yet. I think they might be testing it out. I don’t think anyone said it is going to be there all year.”

For the university’s many Polynesian players, having their family names on the back had always been a source of pride, defensive tackle Eathyn Manumaleuna told the newspaper. The new jerseys would take some getting used to.

“All of us wanted our names on our backs,” Manumaleuna said. “We weren’t expecting this… . But it is a good way to keep us unified and keep us as a team together, both offense and defense. It also lets people who are watching us know what we are about. We are about tradition, spirit and honor. So this is probably a pretty good way to do that.”

Like employees of any boss, the football players weren’t in a great position to tell Mendenhall to take a hike. Others were. The blunder quickly got hashtagged “Jerseygate” on Twitter.

“Just when I thought you couldn’t possibly be any dumber, you go and do something like this,” tweeted a fan of rival University of Utah. A BYU fan rushed to his NCAA rulebook to confirm that slogans are not allowed on a college jersey, and tweeted “Breathe easy” to his fellow supporters. “Absolutely the dumbest thing ever,” tweeted former BYU linebacker Jordan Pendleton.

In an emergency meeting with the players several hours after the media left,



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