Accepting Blame
“Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan.”
- John F. Kennedy
One of the biggest faults most of us have is that we lack the ability to take the blame when things go wrong. We can turn on the TV any time of day and watch one political party blame the issues on the other party and yet, in the same breath, take credit for all of the good. Not only in politics but we see this on talk shows, courtroom shows, soap operas, movies, commercials, sitcoms … everywhere!! We go to work and we watch the drama in real life. Even at home we see family bickering with one side saying it was the other side’s fault.
We are inundated with the “blame game”.
From the first time we start interacting with others we see how people quickly distance themselves from things that don’t go well. But when things go right, there isn’t enough room on the stage.
How do we change this trend? It is simple to say, yet hard to do.
START WITH YOU
In 2015 the Seattle Seahawks were playing the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. Time was running out and Seattle was on the doorstep to score a go-ahead touchdown. Instead of running the ball with their all world running back, Marshawn Lynch, the Seahawks opted to pass the ball, a rub route to the right side. Malcolm Butler, a defensive back for the Patriots, read the play and broke in front of the receiver and intercepted the pass, ending the Seahawks’ scoring threat.
The media had their knives and forks out. They were going to go after the head coach, the offensive coordinator, the quarterback, the defense for allowing the Patriots to score two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, anyone that could be blamed for making that play the pivotal play of the game.
The head coach, Pete Carroll, was the first on the “buffet”. He started his post-game press conference by saying that he was the one who called the play. It was his call, not the offensive coordinator or the quarterback, he took all the blame.
Did he make the call? Maybe, maybe not. But one thing that didn’t happen was no one else stepped up and took responsibility for it. The offensive coordinator didn’t say it was his call, even though he had called the rest of the game and had direct communication with the quarterback. The quarterback didn’t say he screwed up the timing or didn’t throw a great ball. The wide receiver who was running the rub screen block on the defensive back didn’t step up and say he didn’t do a very good job. The receiver who was supposed to catch the ball didn’t say that he should have extended his arms which could have resulted in an incomplete pass. The defense didn’t take the blame for the loss, even though their play had precipitated that this was the play of the game.
Everyone stepped away from the play … the “orphan” … and the head coach took all the responsibility for calling the play. He swallowed all the blame to protect those around him. He took all of the bullets from the fans and the media.
