In November of the 2022-23 football season, Denver Broncos defensive tackle Mike Purcell had an extremely public argument with quarterback Russell Wilson. Purcell was visibly upset about how the quarterback was playing. The heated exchange immediately went viral. Check it out.
Over the next several days, sports channels had a field day replaying the altercation. Was it wrong for a lineman to criticize his quarterback? Yes and no. Sure, Purcell can criticize his teammate. They are both adults, on the same team with the same goals. So, yes, Purcell can point out things that are perhaps not going well for the team. But no, Purcell should not have done this in public. How and when he did it made it inappropriate. That conversation should’ve happened in the locker room, or, better yet, in the team’s office.
The same is true in business situations. And it happens all the time. Think of Elon Musk and his Twitter woes.
I was working with an executive who was just below C-suite level. He had lots of responsibilities and authority over multiple managers. During our conversations, he referred to top management as “they.” He kept criticizing what “they” were doing. He didn’t like the way “they” were handling this situation and that situation.
At some point, I interrupted him and said, “You know that ‘they’ includes you.” I reminded him that he was in a leadership role, too. He was part of the leadership team making the very decisions he was criticizing.
So, I encouraged him to bring his concerns to the higher-ups on this team. And I encouraged him to do so in private.
There’s a business axiom that says, “Praise in public, criticize in private.” You can never go wrong with that philosophy. The exception might be when criticizing yourself. Being vulnerable and publicly criticizing a bad decision you made almost always wins respect from employees. The only other reason for what we used to call a “public appraisal” might be to call out extremely inappropriate or dangerous behavior or attitudes. But if something is that bad, other action probably needs to have been taken already.
I believe that leaders should feel free to argue their positions. It’s totally appropriate to challenge each other’s decisions and beliefs, but it should be done in private. And at the conclusion of that discussion, there is one voice from leadership. I believe referring to leadership as “they” is a form of insubordination. It certainly, at a minimum, shows a lack of commitment and loyalty to the leadership team.
Bottom line: Whether it’s in professional football or any other professional form of business, there’s a time and place for open and authentic disagreement/conversation. This should not be played out in public. Nothing good comes from airing dirty laundry. Your competition would love seeing your leadership discord played out in public.
You have to win; tie; and, yes, even lose as a united team. Do that, and you’ll do what you do better.