Brett Favre, One More Time
I’ve tried to draw some employment lessons this year from the goings on surrounding the fabled and large-headed NFL quarterback, Brett Favre. (Click here and here.) In summary, Favre taught bad lessons to employees, and the Green Packers taught good lessons to employers.
I thought about gloating when Chad Pennington (the New York Jets quarterback bumped by Favre who joined the Jets after stiffing the Packers) led the Miami Dolphins to a win over the Jets in the last game of the season. This result made the NFL playoffs unreachable for the Jets, confident from the beginning that they would reach the playoffs with Favre, if not win the Super Bowl. But gloating seems so juvenile.
So, I decided to try, one more time, to draw employment lessons from the continuing Favre-related soap opera. I guess one lesson is that when expectations aren’t met, someone has to pay. In this case, the Jets fired their coach. No word yet on the future of Favre, who thinks he may have hurt his shoulder. He didn’t say anything about his big head.
Leave a Reply
About Chris Parker
Chris Parker's practice focuses on the representation and counseling of companies in matters pertaining to the workplace and the protection of their intellectual property and trade secrets. In addition to serving as an advocate for clients, Mr. Parker is also trained as a mediator and frequently serves as a third-party neutral.
Read more about Chris Parker
About Jimmy Daniel
Jimmy Daniel provides counseling to businesses of all sizes related to the employment relationship. He assists in the drafting of employment agreements, policies, and handbooks, as well as provides guidance related to compliance with federal, state, and local legislation such as the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act.
Read more about Jimmy Daniel
About Larry Bridgesmith
While serving in an Of Counsel relationship with the firm, Mr. Bridgesmith also serves as the Executive Director at the Institute for Conflict Resolution at Lipscomb University and as an officer and principal in Strategic Resolutions Group, LLC. In these roles, Mr. Bridgesmith brings over 30 years of legal experience in dispute resolution and innovative workplace strategies to clients, students and business entities alike.
Read more about Larry Bridgesmith
I found it interesting that the Jets management rationalized Favre’s poor play by pointing out that it’s difficult to learn the offense in just one season, that several members of his supporting cast were injured, and that his shoulder held him back.
Apparently, they didn’t feel any of those things affected Coach Mangini at all. It’s the inverse of the banking industry, where CEOs are given huge bonuses for losing “only” a few billion dollars, because, you know, the economy is bad.
Frank,
Thanks for this insightful comment. And thanks for all the comments you’ve posted throughout the year. I hope you’ll keep it up in 2009.
Happy New Year!
John
And a Happy New Year to you as well! May it be filled with just as many crazy court cases, boneheaded managerial decisions, and manipulative employees as the last!
(Just talking job security here…)