As the clock ticked down, there was no doubt of the outcome of the championship football game. There were less than four minutes to go in the fourth quarter and the team favored to win came to a stark realization that depressed everyone within the organization. The owner realized it, as did the general manager, the coaches, and most of the players. They were playing at home and had the superior talent but they didn’t have the leadership at the most crucial position of the football team. The quarterback had the power over his teammates but lacked the ability to influence them.
The other team’s quarterback was considerably less talented by every physical measure but yet he had full control of the team. The way all of his teammates supported him and followed his lead, even when they had fallen behind early in the first quarter, made the general manger rethink the process of choosing talent over intangibles. Their quarterback was part of the team, a key member of the in-group (Northouse, 2022). His quarterback was definitely part of the out-group, none of his teammates going the extra mile for their ‘leader.’ They did their job as best they could and that was it. The most telling sign was noticing him stand alone, away from the team, looking across the field at his counterpart.
The assistant general manager leaned over and sarcastically pointed to the one bright spot of the game. Their prized quarterback had turned a broken play from a disaster into an eighty yard touchdown scramble. The home crowd were delicious. No one noticed at the time that instead of the rest of the team running down to the end zone to join the celebration, they jogged back to their benches as a unit. Only other person was excited about the touchdown and celebrated with their quarterback and that the wide receiver that had provided the key block that sprung him. Now, as the nightmare of a game came to an end, with the home crowd quiet, that celebration crystalized their error. They had drafted a talented manager and given him the power but they should have drafted a leader.
Their quarterback had been told he was a leader since his freshman year in high school. He believed it and didn’t bother to develop that skill because he had been given legitimate power as the starting quarterback. Legitimate power is “associated with having status or formal job authority (Northouse, 2022, p. 11) and being as talented as he was, he was also given coercive power, able to penalize or punish others by holding them accountable not only for their own mistakes, but for his own (which in his mind, he only failed when others didn’t do their job correctly). The coach believed his quarterback and took those players out of the game for a play or more until they got with the program. At every level, based on his skill set and self-confidence, he was given the power by coaches and fellow players because he gave them the best chance to win the game. The quarterback confused these attributes of power for leadership. He had a high need for personalized power, caring more about his own personal success, like getting drafter number one and becoming the greatest of all time, than whether his team won or lost (Hughes, et al., 1993). He didn’t seem to care if he lost as long as he had good statistical game and had the best highlight of the contest.
That was not the case, however. The quarterback had been taught through repetition to internalize outward displays that could come across as a weakness. That’s why, when he lost, he seemed aloof about it. “Winning is contagious,” his father told him constantly, “Losing is for losers, and you are not a loser! Don’t look like it.”
Now, he stood there, stoic and alone, watching the clock tick down on his first professional season. He had been told that his organization had better talent but clearly they were losing to the better team. It was a bitter feeling but he would improve in the offseason and he would definitely have a talk with the general manager about getting him better players. Just then, his quarterback coach approached him and showed him his fabulous play from the first quarter. As he was about to wave him off, not interested in watching himself, the coach insisted. “No, I don’t want you to watch you score – look closely at the end of the play.”
He saw himself run unto the end zone, the nearest defender on the ten yard line behind him. As he spiked the ball and preened for the home crowd, the coach paused the screen and zoomed out to show a bird’s eye view of the field. “Where are your teammates?”
He looked closer and saw only one more player from his team running into the end zone to celebrate with him. His wide receiver roommate. He looked for the running back since the play had been designed for him but he had run out of bounds around the twenty yard line and was heading back to the bench. The offensive linemen were doing the same. The other wide receiver that had been on the other side of the field was talking to a few defenders who had stopped chasing, knowing they would never catch up to prevent the score.
The quarterback was about to say something when the coach held up his finger and showed him another play. His counterpart took the field after his own touchdown and on the first play, dropped back and was going to throw deep but his protection broke down. A defensive end rushed him from his left. When he turned right, instead of having space to move, the free safety had blitzed and had come untouched. The collision was massive and he went down hard. The crowd roared with approval, the defensive players screamed and danced in unadulterated ecstasy. “Watch this,” the coach told him as he zoomed in on the quarterback on the ground, “this is why we lost this badly today.”
All of the offensive lineman and the running back had rushed to help their teammate get back to his feet. They held him, steadied him and patted him on the helmet. When the wide receivers who had streaked downfield made it back, they too joined the circle and checked on their leader. The quarterback sought the running back who missed block and put his arms around his shoulders and talked to him, coached him on the field. “That’s what leadership looks like” the coach said and stared down his quarterback.
“I don’t get it – I’m better than him. That running back missed the block! I would’ve – what’s your point?”
“They’re a team and teams need leaders. Look, you have the traits to be a leader, no doubt there. I read a book by Peter Northouse not long ago and he stated that leadership is a process by which an individual influences a group to achieve common goals. Furthermore, leadership is not power, it’s more about influence, the interaction between leader and followers (2022). You have the power as the quarterback of this team, but you do not have the influence yet. That is a learnable skill. We can work on that.”
Incredulous he turned to face the coach and locked eyes with him. “How am I not a leader? I’m the quarterback – this is my team! I’m the face of this franchise! They know it – everyone knows it!”
“Ask yourself this, if you weren’t given the title of ‘leader,’ how many of these men would follow you? I’m betting none.”
“Whatever! What you’re talking about is inspiring others. I don’t do that with words. I’m a winner. Winning is inspiring by itself.”
“If we hadn’t invested so much in you, I would just let it go and let you flounder. Unless you’re living in an alternate universe, we’re getting our butts handed to us and if you look around your teammates, they’re picking each other up, everyone but you. That’s not inspirational at all. But we can work on it, as I said before. It starts with the Leader-Member-Exchange, which basically boils down to being in an in-group versus at out-group, like you are now. But more than that, it has been proven that the higher the quality of exchanges between leaders and followers produce better results (Northouse, 2022). This team has to be an in-group, you understand what that means?”
“Yeah, I did go to college, you know.”
“Well, you went to an SEC school so. . .” They laughed. “Leadership is about the leader, the follower and the situation “
“Look, coach, I understand what you’re saying. I see my error. I should be the first one encouraging these men, building relationships with them. And I have failed. I have had my head up my butt for so long, I didn’t see that I wasn’t leading. I was simply issuing orders, and although that may work in some circumstances, leadership is the ability to adapt to the situation at hand.”
The quarterback extended his hand out and shook the coach’s hand. “Great game plan, coach. This loss is on me. But I promise you, it won’t happen again. Now excuse me, I have to apologize to my team.”
The coach smiled. They had finally found their franchise quarterback, the leader that would produce positive organizational outcomes.
References
Hughes, R., Ginnett, R. C., & Curphy, G. J (1993) Power and Influence. Leadership: Enhancing the Lessons of Experience. Homewood, IL. Irwin. 0256102783. Ch. 5. pp. 107-131.
Northouse, P. G. (2022). Leadership: Theory and practice (9th ed.). SAGE.
This was a very engaging and creative post; I loved how you wove storytelling and leadership theory together. You bring up a great point in leadership, applicable to several leadership styles and theories but rarely mentioned directly in leadership books (Zenger, 2022). President Harry Truman once had a sign on his desk reading “The Buck Stops Here”, referring to an expression “passing the buck”, which meant shirking responsibility to the next person. When you had the quarterback prepare to apologize to his team, that is his demonstration of admitting to mistakes and taking responsibility and assuming accountability for his actions.
This trait can make the difference between success and failure, willingness to take responsibility for both outcomes, and comes with the drive to make success happen (Zenger, 2022). Along with it comes the humility to admit to errors, which gives listeners a greater sense of the leader’s humanity and authenticity. This is represented by the “internalized moral perspective” and “relational transparency” aspects of authentic leadership, and adopting the “socialized power” and applying some of Cialdini’s social influence principles, notably “reciprocity”, “commitment and consistency”, and “liking” from power and influence theory (Northouse, 2022, p.228-229; PSU WC, 2023, p.6-7). Applied to LMX theory, a high quality stage 3/phase III relationship could likely not be reached without this quality, and it is hard to imagine this willingness to take responsibility not being a component of supportive leadership used with followers with strong needs for affiliation under path-goal theory (Northouse, 2022). Similarly, this could be represented by social judgment/social skills and responsibility, integrity, or conscientiousness if applying skills or traits theories, respectively (Northouse, 2022).
Your astute observation of this quality brings to the discussion that the role of admitting mistakes deserves greater attention in the responsibility of leadership.
References
Pennsylvania State University World Campus. (2023). PSYCH 485:
Lesson 7: Power and Influence. Retrieved from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/canvas/sp23/22311–16647/content /08_lesson/printlesson.html
Zenger, J. (2022, October 12). Taking responsibility is the highest mark of great leaders. Forbes. Retrieved March 15, 2023, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackzenger/2015/07/16/taking-responsibility-is-the-highest-mark-of-great-leaders/?sh=7b0e330748f2
Hi Richard,
I like the approach you took in formulating this blog post as a narrative, and in drawing elements of power and influence within the story. Although I would imagine this story is fictitious, there are so many components of this story which remain to be true in sports and in certain team structures. In football, the quarterback is the face of the team. They get signed to the biggest contracts, they are always in the MVP conversation, and they are always involved in every offensive play. But what people see every Sunday on the field and on every QB sponsored commercial is often vastly different to what goes on in the locker room.
Quarterbacks are in a difficult leadership situation, as the nature of their position in relation to the sport gives them legitimate power. However, “holding a position and being a leader are not synonymous” (PSU WC, 2016, L.7, p.3). Individuals need more than legitimate power to be successful leaders and your narrative explains that. In light of the difficulties that come with being a quarterback and leading a team, I’m interested in exploring how a quarterback can develop a mindset that enables them to effectively utilize their inherent abilities. I found the section of your post that highlighted the quarterback’s struggle to influence and motivate his team particularly insightful, as it underscores the fact that the quarterback is not always the team’s backbone or driving force. Given this reality, it’s important to consider how a quarterback should approach their role. As supported from the trait approach, everyone is born with innate characteristics that predispose us to act in certain ways (Northouse, 2021). To navigate the challenges of leadership as a quarterback, it’s crucial to conduct a self-assessment of strengths and weaknesses. Based on this evaluation, the quarterback can make informed decisions about how to best utilize their skills and position themselves within the team. It’s possible that the quarterback may recognize that their innate abilities do not necessarily make them the natural team leader, and that’s okay. Rather than forcing a leadership role, the quarterback could instead leverage their legitimate power as the team’s quarterback to influence and motivate their teammates, thus contributing to the team’s success in a different but equally important way. One example of this contribution could be through inspirational appeals, in which the quarterback could incite enthusiasm and motivation through pep talks and uplifting language (PSU WC, 2016, L.7, p. 4). Another example could include using coalition tactics, in seeking the aid of fellow teammates to support others and achieve collective team bonding (L.7, p. 4). In this manner the quarterback’s legitimate power gives him alternative means of supporting his team, even if it doesn’t result in taking on the commanding leadership role. Seemingly simplistic from a theoretical sense, I think that this is a hard technique for professional NFL quarterbacks to take advantage of, as the societal pressure and expectation for them to be the innate team leaders is constantly present. However, there is so much that occurs in the locker room that isn’t seen on the grand stage, and teams do have their own way of not letting external factors disrupt their team dynamic and structure.
References
Northouse, P. G. (2022). Leadership: Theory and practice (9th ed.). SAGE.
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2016). PSYCH 281 Lesson 2: Introduction and History of I/O Psychology. Retrieved from https: / / courses.worldcampus. psu.edu/psych281sp1oxo3/ content/lessono2/printlesson.