There’s something about Tim Tebow that stirs my heart. I’m not sure New Yorkers are going to feel the same way, but Denver certainly did. I have to admit that even I found myself rooting for the guy who could inhale the testosterone, steroid-pumping world of football and exhale hope and humble words of wisdom.
Then there is the Tebowing. For the large majority of people who share some kind of faith, there is an understanding of dropping to one knee and asking for guidance from an omnipotent force who seems to appear when we needed most.
And then there was Tony, the possible ex-murderer . . .
It reminds me of a man in one of our churches who had been in prison for attempted murder. He was a large, loud man, which certainly didn’t help the concern of the congregants when he joined our church. We wanted to believe he was a new man, but if he wasn’t appropriately converted then he was a little too big for our comfort.
Once we set down our slingshots and decided that Tony wasn’t there to murder any of us, we began to see something different about him. He was grateful for every single day of freedom. He was extremely generous with what little he had, inviting homeless people to his house for dinner. But, most of all, he exuded a kind of joy that comes from being connected to a greater purpose.
He said that his purpose was to let people know that they are loved. His experience taught him that many prisoners committed crimes driven not by hatred, but by the fear that no one really cared about them. If the world didn’t care about them, then they didn’t care about the world.
I think Tony would have been big on Tebowing, and I think organizations should pay attention to it for the following reasons:
- The left-brain strives for survival and seeks out safe environments. If employees don’t feel safe their brain literally can’t focus on anything productive. The amygdala sends signals that survival is at stake, and every bit of employee energy goes into hallway conversations fueled by fear.
- Caring is contagious; so is not caring. If employees don’t feel that somebody cares about their well-being, they are going to go into fight/flight/freeze mode. They will also treat others the way that they are being treated. An abusive leader will set up an environment only bullies can love.
- All action is fueled by emotion, not information. I’m not saying you have to provide Oprah moments, but I am saying that a leader that gives directives without stories, holds meetings without recognition, and announces “wins” without giving credit to those who drove the win, will not drive change.
These are not just “feel-good” suggestions. I work with companies every day on driving performance through change, and what I’m sharing is how I’ve seen improvement in everything from sales results to colleague engagement.
Tebow has been a phenomenon for a reason – he’s filled a gap created by a conveyer-belt, factory world. He’s the color in an industrial, black and white film. He is the Scarecrow in living color, where corporate leaders are often farmhands in black and white.
What do you think? What lessons did the Tebow phenomenon teach you, if any?