Hot Dog Leaders Get Their Teams Killed....

It'll never make it to ESPN Sports Center, but it was a brutal competition in the hallways of Camden Station Elementary School among the 5th Grade Class for and 'end of the school year' field day (forced indoors by lightning lurking above).

I watched a powerful leadership lesson emerge among the ranks of Moll's Maniacs as one of the self-proclaimed 'leaders' nearly cost her team the 'over-under relay' championship. She was obviously gifted, obviously a leader, very cutesy, cheer-leadery, freckle-faced cool kid. Her athletic ability eclipsed most of the other Maniac's & yet she almost cost her team the race.

How could it be that the most skilled athlete on the team could cost her team? She refused to play team ball. She failed to make a clean hand-off nearly ever single time and so the less skilled player behind her was sent scampering for the blue kickball more than once. It was just that Ms. Hotdog was too good to play a simple game and made it more difficult for her team to succeed. It was weird to watch her hurt her team -- frustrating.

She was so busy being cutesy and cool that she couldn't do the mundane work of passing the ball along. She was the consummate 'hot-dog'.

Many of the brightest, most talented wanna-be leaders I know are hot-dogs. They simply must be noticed and they must do something, even destructive things, to get personal press. Not sure what drives the Hot-Dog Leader but it's usually not team success. As a matter of fact, they generally don't give a flying flip about whether the team wins or looses. In the end these hot-dogs must be grilled and tossed to the canines hounding the grill. Or, they must learn to turn down the little voices in their head that cause them to perform in manners that are attention seeking rather than team enhancing.

Leadership is a team-sport and hot-dogs simply can't lead winning teams. So, Hot-Dog shape up or get your hind-end roasted and tossed to the dogs....

Just a simple lesson from my 5th Graders last few days of Elementary School.

Lead Strong or Go Home,
Jeff Fuson