Kevin DeShazo

I’ve been digesting this for a few weeks now, since ESPN failed journalism on a historic level by airing “The Decision.”  As we know, The Decision has been made.  LeBron James left Cleveland to hang out with friends in Miami.  Dan Gilbert, the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers wasn’t thrilled.  He wrote a letter, featured in The Plain Dealer, Cleveland’s local newspaper, referring to LeBron as a “narcissist, coward, self-proclaimed ‘King’” and declared that Cleveland would win a championship before the “cursed” LeBron James would.  Strong words from an NBA owner.  Honestly, I am a fan of Gilbert’s letter.  People criticize him for it, but if Mark Cuban did it, people would be praising his passion in defending his team.  I want an owner that fights for my team.  That being said, Gilbert holds a significant share of the responsibility with the entire LeBron debacle.  He made a lot of mistakes along the way.  Mistakes that many organizations make as well.  Mistakes that we need to learn from.  Here are 4 lessons that organizations and leaders can learn from this mess:

1.  One man does not make a team (or company). Cleveland never won a championship in LeBron James’ seven years.  Only made it to the Finals once.  They had what was arguably the best player in the league (along with Kobe).  Zero championships.  For all the hoopla around how great LeBron is, he couldn’t make the team great.  Companies are the same way.  One stellar employee doesn’t make you a great company.  You cannot get from good to great without a team.  Grow your team, not just your star.

2.  Treat all employees the same. This may start some arguments.  Gilbert made a huge mistake when it came to LeBron.  He let LeBron pick his coach (Mike Brown), pick his teammates (Mo Williams, Shaq, etc), pick his itinerary.  He got his coach fired (Mike Brown).  LeBron’s friends got high-paying jobs in the organization (friends with no college degrees that had no business working for an NBA organization).  LeBron got anything and everything he wanted.  He was The King.  He was Cleveland’s own.  He was the best, so they gave him everything in order to satisfy him.  To keep him.   All for nothing.   All for a great player that delivered no rings.  And in pro sports, rings define success.  He got everything, the organization (and team) got nothing (exaggerating a bit here).  Treat your employees the same.  Superstar employees don’t deserve special treatment.  It breeds resentment, lack of trust, and ruins a team.  I’ve seen it happen.  Gilbert wouldn’t stand up to LeBron, and it cost him dearly.  Nobody is above the team.

3.  Have people that can tell you “no.” At some point, somebody had to tell Gilbert he was making a mistake in the way he dealt with LeBron.  It seems clear to me that the only person he would listen to was LeBron.  Anybody that wanted to stand up to LeBron, got fired (see: Mike Brown, Danny Ferry).  As a result, Gilbert not only lost his star player, but he lost a good coach and good GM.  Gilbert needed to have a “no-man.”  Every leader needs that person.  They might just be the most valuable person in an organization.

4.  Have a backup plan. LeBron left.  Cleveland is now left with a lineup that strikes fear into only a little league team.  LeBron hadn’t communicated with Gilbert or anybody in the Cleveland organization for several weeks.  They had to have known he was leaving.  Yet they had no backup plan.  They were one of the top teams in the league the past few years.  They now immediately go back to being a low-rung NBA team, regardless of how much passion Gilbert’s letter had.  Always have a plan in place.  Treat people as though they are irreplaceable, but have a plan to replace them, as harsh as that sounds (re-read number 1).

What would you add to this list?

It seems like every summer Megan and I start watching a new show.  Let’s face it, the summer tv selection is pretty dim.  Outside of So You Think You Can Dance and Wipeout, you’ve got nothing.  And we all know the new format of SYTYCD is pretty lame.  I mean, there’s no reason to have a top 10 rather than a top 20, just to bring back has-beens from years past.  Dominic was creepy during his original time on the show.  We don’t need more of that.  Less Dominic, that’s what we need.  Wait, guys don’t watch SYTYCD?  Me either.

Last summer, we started Heroes.  We got hooked, got caught up on past seasons, then they cancelled it.  Time, wasted.  This year our summer show is Friday Night Lights.  We watched one of the new episodes and decided, “Hey, this is pretty legit.  We need to get caught up on this.”  Three weeks later we are almost finished with Season 3 (thank you Netflix streaming on the Wii.).  One word: dominating.  This show might be my all-time favorite.  Better than Seinfeld.  Better than House.  Better than LOST.  Did I just say “better than LOST?”  Believe it kids. Look, I went to High School at one of the top football schools in the country.  We won the state championship every year from my 8th grade year until a year after I graduated (that would be 6 years in a row).  We have multiple players playing Division 1 football and in the NFL.  High School football was kind of a big deal for us.  And everybody hated us for it (which I am still, amazingly enough, reminded of to this day every time I say where I went to HS).  For the record, I weighed approximately 72lbs in high school, so no, I wasn’t collecting rings.  My high school memories are part of what draws me to Friday Night Lights.  Outside of that, the characters (and actors) are amazing.  Anybody would want their kid to play for coach Eric Taylor.  His motto is: Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose.  Freaking love that.  It also makes me rethink High School.  I look back on it and think about the people I judged without knowing their situation.  Who did I make fun of who was living at home, without any parents, having to care for their sick grandmother?  Who did I ignore that lived with an alcoholic waste of a mother?  We all knew these people.  We stayed away from them because they were “dirty” or “bad influences” or “not going anywhere with their life.”  Really, we just didn’t take the time to know their stories.  Hopefully I can convince my son to do it differently.

Check out this clip from the end of Season 1.  The star QB, Jason Street (think Peyton Manning, JR), takes a nasty hit during a game that puts him in the hospital.  The team, and the town, is trying to figure out how to cope.

Are you a fan of Friday Night Lights?  What is your favorite show?

It is here. June 24, 2010. The day of the iPhone 4 release. It seems many of my friends are in line waiting for their local Apple stores to open. Lines of over 300 people. Waiting for a phone. Amazing. I have yet to order mine. It hurts just typing that sentence. Megan, on the other hand, did pre-order. This will be her first iPhone (nice way to break into the iPhone world). And it arrived. Yesterday. When I checked the status and it said “Delivered: On Porch” (really, that’s what it said) I freaked out. Then I got home and tested the little piece of glory out. Here’s my review:

Wow. That’s it. There’s nothing else I can say.  Just, wow.

Are you getting the new iPhone?

I’ll admit it.  I’m one of “those” Americans.  You know what I’m talking about.  Those who hate soccer for 3.9 out of 4 years then acts excited about it during the World Cup.  I have no problem admitting that.  I didn’t play soccer growing up, don’t really understand it, but I can get excited about the World Cup.  But it is new for me.  I didn’t love it until four years ago.  It was just after March Madness, and we had hired a guy from Portugal at our office.  He saw how we pretty much shut down the office for the basketball tournament, with brackets covering our walls.  He innocently asked, “So what do you guys do for the World Cup?”  Really?  My response was, “Uh, work.”  He was crushed.  The World Cup came around, I saw how passionate he was about it, and I started watching some games.  He shared stories about how, during Portugal games, the entire country shuts down.  People fill pubs, pour into the streets, sing, dance and cheer together for the entirety of the game.  So I found myself glued to the TV.  I loved seeing countries come together and screaming their brains out for 90 minutes, shaking stadiums with their unified chants.  I was blown away.  The US only gets that unified over the Twilight Saga and its hatred for Britney Spears.  I found myself staying up late to watch games.  Getting up early to watch games.  I was watching soccer.  The one sport I had always hated (besides hockey, which still sucks).

It ended, Italy won, and I didn’t care about soccer anymore.  Four years later, the World Cup is back.  And I’ve been pumped.  I’ve watched as many games as I can – mostly online, but still.  The US had a huge match against England that ended in a tie.  I know, I know, ties are ridiculous.  I agree, but still it was a riveting game and the US was lucky to come out with a tie (thanks to England’s weak goal keeper).  Then came Slovenia.  The US was down 2-0.  Not good.  The second half was amazing.  Landon Donovan, a guy I can’t stand, had a ridiculous goal.  2-1.  Then Bradley scored.  2-2.  Game on.  In the final 10 minutes, Edu scored.  Game, set, match, US.  Wait, it didn’t count?  There was a penalty?  Of what?  On who?  Questions we still don’t have answers to, but it was ridiculous.  Here’s a picture of the US getting bear hugged on the goal.  Not sure where the US penalty was:

The US tied.  Hearts broken.  Outrage.  Suddenly America is interested in soccer.  Amazingly, the team handled it well.  Then Algeria.  Win and you advance.  Lose and you go home.  Tie and you still need some help.  I was impressed, the US came out firing.  Barely missing on some shots, but playing well.  Then Dempsey scores!  Wait, what?!  Offsides?  Clearly FIFA hates the United States.  Their quality control is worse than BP’s.  Here’s the mysterious off-sides:

If I’m the US, I probably quit right there.  Either that or have Dempsey, a Texan, calf-rope the ref into submission.  Ridiculous.  The US had what seemed like 10 shots on goal that barely missed.  England had scored in their match against Slovenia, so the US had to score in order to not go home.  Honestly, the US deserved to beat Algeria.  They had played incredible.  But after 90 minutes, 0-0.  They were awarded 4 minutes of extra time (something I still don’t understand, but sure do love right now).  45 seconds into extra time, Landon Donovan scored.  The US would go on to not only win the game, but win their group and advance.  Redemption.  I could watch this all day.

Go Soccer.  Go America.

Though I have a definite affinity for U2, that love didn’t quite take hold until I saw them last fall in concert.  I talked a little bit about that here.  One of my favorite U2 songs – one I presume is one of everybody’s favorite U2 songs – is With or Without You.  Pretty powerful song, right?  Right.  There have been times that I’ve wondered if somebody would play that song on an acoustic guitar.  What if they didn’t sing, but played those parts too?   What if that somebody was a 15 yr old Asian kid sitting in a pasty yellow hallway?  If you are like me and you’ve asked yourself those questions, then this video is for you:

What is your favorite U2 song?

I’m loving this song right now.  It’s called Skeleton Bones and it’s by John Mark McMillan.  He might be my new favorite artist.  Enjoy:

This is the same guy that wrote How He Loves (made famous by Crowder, but I think I like John Mark’s version more).  It’s a beautiful song with an even more beautiful story.  I saw one video of him explaining that his friend that died in the car crash had prayed that very morning, “God, if my death could cause a revolution in the youth, then I’ll die.  Take me.”  Less than 24hrs later, dead.  God accepted.  John Mark wrote this song the very next day.  Seven years later, I’d say this song is fulfilling the second part of the promise.  Causing a revolution in the youth.  Crazy powerful.  Check it out:

What are you listening to today?

A friend of mine sent me this video today.  Hanson, it seems, has grown up.  You remember Hanson, right?  MmmBop, dop dop doowop, badoody dop bop doowop….memory refreshed?  They are from my hometown of Tulsa and I thought most of what I heard of them after mmmBop was pretty solid.  They are crazy talented.  After the dust settled from their original madness, they started to do their own thing…and did it well.  Here’s a new video from them.  Other than Taylor (lead singer) acting a bit Stevie Wonder-ish, I love the song.  Also, check out the guy playing the tambourine.  Look familiar?

What do you think?

I am not certain about whether or not this is real.  If it is, amazing.  This has to be the best political ad ever.  I have to guess that this guy will be interviewed by FoxNews quite soon.  Then again, it may have already happened.  If you don’t have cable, you miss potentially amazing interviews.  I’m thinking about registering to vote in Alabama to make sure this guy gets elected.  (Government, if you read this, I’m kidding.  I already filled out the census stating I live in Oklahoma.  Leave me alone).

Would you vote for this guy?

In case you’ve been under a rock lately, there have been a couple of natural disasters strike the US over the past few weeks.  First, Nashville was hit with, what many are calling, a thousand year flood.  Millions (if not billions) of dollars of damage.  Cars, homes, neighborhoods, entire businesses were absolutely ruined.  Normally it seems as if natural disasters only strike poverty-stricken areas, which is true of the Nashville floods.  But it also hit prominent neighborhoods.  Floodwaters aren’t concerned with income.  Here’s a picture of the Grand Ole Opry.  As a person who just regained his country-music lovin roots, this breaks my heart.

Oklahoma City, my hometown, was also hit hard the past couple of weeks.  It started out last week with some serious tornadoes.  I heard there were over 30 tornadoes that touched down in Oklahoma on Monday the 10th.  Ironically, one of the farms from the movie Twister suffered serious damage.  Then yesterday the OKC Metro was, in the words of one overly dramatic meteorologist, attacked by hail.  Softball sized hail destroying cars, damaging homes, causing chaos.  It really was unlike anything I’ve ever seen.  Check out this video somebody took from their house (watch the entire thing, it will blow your mind):

Here’s the beautiful thing in all of this.  With Nashville, you didn’t hear story after story of downtrodden, disaster-stricken people.  The media, in all honesty, was more concerned about a bomb that didn’t go off and an oil spill that still hasn’t reached US land.  The stories you heard were of Nashville coming together.  Helping each other however they possibly could.  You see the “We Are Nashville” twibbons on Twitter avatars, expressing their unity.  I loved seeing how Cross Point (a church in Nashville), from day one, got after it.  They served their brains out.  Every day, hundreds of members showed up at the church ready to go into the community to do whatever needed to be done.  It was all organized through Twitter.  Seriously.  They, without hesitation, acted as the hands and feet of Jesus to the Nashville community, and organized it all through Twitter.

Oklahoma City did the same thing.  A donation tweet-up took place, organized on Twitter, where people came and donated anything they could to help victims of the tornadoes get back on their feet.  Clothes, kitchen sets, toys, tools, anything.  The beauty of this is that it was organized by a woman who, in 1995, lost everything in the most famous tornado to ever hit the OKC area.  She remembered her time of need, then got on Twitter and organized what is now several drop-off locations for people to donate items for tornado relief.  Amazing.

People keep talking about whether Twitter, Facebook and Social Media are fads or not.  Whether or not they serve a purpose.  Old people complain about all this crazy stuff in the internets that the “kids” are playing with.  The reality?  Social Media is here.  Communities rally with it.  Communities have been changed through it’s communication.  With the negative publicity that it tends to get, it’s always nice to see how people are using social media for good.

What are some other ways you have seen social media used for good?

Have you see this kid?  This video has gone viral and people are saying he’s the next Justin Bieber (I’m no fan of the Bieb, but not a horrible comparison at this point).  Pretty incredible.  He lives right here in Edmond, Oklahoma – no, I won’t be stalking him.  Apparently he is going to be on The Ellen Show tomorrow (that, I’m jealous of. Not kidding.)

Is he the next Justin Bieber?  What do you think?