As you would guess from the title of the blog, we talk a lot about talent around here. Want to know how to identify, attract, interview, select, hire and develop talent? Yep, that we got. I do not, however, recall anyone around the FOT clubhouse writing about a company protecting a talented individual from himself or herself.
Well, here you go—Enter the Dallas Cowboys football team. Dez Bryant is a star receiver for the Cowboys, and he has more football talent in his little finger than most people do in their whole body. The Cowboys spent a boatload of money to get Bryant, and they want to protect their investment. From himself, apparently.
On the field (at “work”), Bryant is a top performer. Unfortunately, off the field, he’s a circus. In the last two years, Bryant was cited for an altercation with a mall cop who asked him to pull up his pants, got in a fight with Lil Wayne and most recently was arrested after allegedly assaulting his mother. He’s a distraction, an embarrassment and might soon let his off field issues interfere with his on-field performance.
The Cowboys don’t want that to happen. Check the story from espn.com.
Bryant, one of the stars of training camp, has agreed to a rigorous set of rules designed and implemented by owner Jerry Jones and the Cowboys to prevent any off-the-field issues from affecting his ability to maximize his immense potential…some of the rules Bryant must abide are as follows:
- A midnight curfew. If he’s going to miss curfew, team officials must know in advance.
- No drinking alcohol.
- He can’t attend any strip clubs and can only attend nightclubs if they are approved by the Cowboys and he has a security team with him.
- He must attend counseling sessions twice a week.
- A rotating three-man security team will leave one man with Bryant at all times.
- Members of the security team will drive Bryant to practices, games and team functions.
The sources have also indicated additional rules are in place that will govern virtually every aspect of Bryant’s life.
Here’s my question for the fantastically smart FOT readers: Can they get an employee to change his behavior by managing him this way? The article said that rules will govern every aspect of Bryant’s life. Is that really what they should do, or should they let him be and deal out consequences when he screws up?
I think my partner Paul Hebert will tell you that an incentive program, if designed correctly, can change behaviors in the short term. Does a three-man security detail and a no-strip-clubs-rule count as an incentive? Not so much… All stick, no carrot.
Can the Cowboys get him to change? I say no. He won’t change until he wants to, and the measures the Cowboys have in place are there to just keep him from screwing up, not to make him better overall. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones tried this before with troubled player Adam “PacMan” Jones—he limited access to any of his friends, gave him a bodyguard and told him no strip clubs. PacMan just got bored and picked a fight with the bodyguard.
Let me know if you think the organization should play the role of protective parent, or if they should expect a 23 year old man to handle his business. Opening Day is one week from today.
R.J. –Creative article. I’m with you. He will not change. Let me break it down OD style w/ Beckhard’s change equation. Remember or know that one? Let me give a refresh…
D x V x F>R
D = Dissatisfaction w/ the present—>I imagine Jerry Jones told him why his behavior is unacceptable, But I doubt Dez understands Why.
V = Vision of future–> I am sure that Jerry has told him the Vision is to win lots of super bowls to pay for that expensive stadium. I hope Dez is bought into this.
F = First, practical first steps Dez needs to take towards the vision.—>THIS IS WHERE THE BREAKDOWN IS… DEZ DOES NOT WANT TO TAKE ANY FIRST STEPS. THAT’S WHY THEY HAVE TO HIRE BODY GUARDS AND MAKE UP RULES
R = If any of ABOVE factors are missing or weak, then you’re going to get resistance. End result, Dez does not change.
There you go. I just showed you a fancy OD process to get to the same answer. I should go work for a consulting company and charge you lots of money to come up with the same conclusion. J/k.
Keep the good stuff coming R.J.!
Nice perspective on an interesting topic. I cannot break it down technically like Mr. Martinez, but I will say that before I got into HR, I worked in a different industry dealing with people like Dez Bryant and Pac-Man Jones…
Here’s the skinny: They cannot and will not change. They have wayyyy too many people in their ear feeding into their narcissism. Think about it, the very fact that Jerry Jones (or any owner/CEO/organization/etc) would go to these great lengths just “protect their investment” reinforces behaviors which they’re trying to admonish. Dez does what he wants to do because there is no fear of consequences. He knows that he could get cut by Dallas and tomorrow be on another team making boatloads of money. (See Owens, Terrell). Eventually talent just won’t be enough, and he’ll be out of a job — permanently (See Jones, Adam “Pac-Man”).
To make the correlation to our industry, I’d say that owners/CEO’s shouldn’t have to play the role of parent. However, if they find themselves in the awkward position, it’s time to cut bait and eat your sunk costs. Again, eventually talent just won’t be enough.
Jason and Ben–Great commentary. Thanks for stopping by and reading. You both make great points about Bryant lacking the desire to take a first step and that likely being due to the parade of enablers around him.
@Jason I’d really liked to believe that but somehow Charlie Sheen keeps getting work. When will his personal trainwreck behavior overshadow his talent?
@Rachel, sorry it’s taken so long to respond. I wish we got iPhone notifications when someone responds to your comment…
Our society thrives on train wreck behavior; it’s drama and drama sells (See “Snooki”). Charlie Sheen is a walking time bomb (and for the most part, incredibly funny), but it’s that very behavior that KEEPS him employed. For another example, see Dennis Rodman (NBA player). Look at his stats…he was an unbelievable rebounder and defender way before he started dying his hair and wearing wedding dresses. But he realized that in a league with superstars like Jordan & Kobe, he had to “create” his own marketability in order to reap the monetary benefits. It was only after he began making headlines for his off-the-court antics that his superb basketball talent was noticed by the mainstream.
For the record, I hope Charlie Sheen keeps it up because I think his train wreck behavior is incredibly entertaining!