Not too many people are neutral on the topic of Johnny Manziel, the outstanding quarterback for Texas A & M University, and winner of last year’s Heisman Trophy.
This young man has been blessed with tremendous skills and talents. Whether he will make it in the NFL is not my assessment to make; whether he will make it in life is a completely different matter.
Johnny Manziel, in addition to winning college football’s most prestigious award, has also been arrested for brawling, fined for NCAA rules violations in signing autographs and most recently, was pulled from a football game for taunting. It was the same football game where he had been forced to sit out the first half for rules violations. He had learned little, but what should be expected?
Johnny Manziel is 20 years of age. The consequences for his misconduct have been virtually non-existent.
Not Exactly Alone
Let us take this discussion away from the realm of sports completely for just a minute. Let us pretend that we are Executive Vice President’s of a major biotechnology company. We have recently announced the approval of a new drug; a breakthrough drug that can potentially cure a terrible disease. In trials, its performance has been nothing short of miraculous.
Almost as amazing as the new drug, is the lead researcher; she is a 27 year old genius. In fact, she earned her Ph.D. at 17, and she is pursuing her M.D. just to “keep her mind busy.” Her picture appears in every popular magazine, newspaper, and, of course, is widely disseminated across all internet platforms. She has become so popular, the company has been using her in its recruitment, sales and marketing efforts. Her salary has climbed to several hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, plus stock options.
However, within her department there are problems. While it did not cripple the release of the new drug, it appears as though there were irregularities with her data. She laughed it off, saying that her co-workers were “blundering idiots.”
Outside of company policy, she used her status to make a few public speaking appearances for money. After being admonished by her supervisors for her bending the rules, she gave an interview to a popular celebrity magazine where she chided her industry to be antiquated and frankly, irresponsible and “motivated by greed.”
There are those in the company who urge you to ignore her behavior; that she is just a free-spirit who will eventually calm down; besides which, they urge, we are using her to promote our company. How would it look to punish her?
As the Executive Vice President, what would you do?
Who is the mentor?
When Johnny Manziel signed autographs for money, the “major penalty” was to sit him for just one-half of a football game against a “non-opponent.” In the second half, Manziel threw three touchdowns against a non-existent defense. It was a joke. What message does it give to a 20 year old? Indeed, what message does it give him when the university itself has benefited from his popularity?
If the researcher we mentioned above were real, at what point would you tell her that her behavior has been inappropriate and that her comments were damaging the company?
At what point would you realize that her behavior may have been caused by the company’s inability to provide a mentor?
When might you realize that the failure to properly guide and teach someone with major talents hurts not only the organization, but the employee or player? Doesn’t the obligation go both ways?
A player who flaunts the rules and then taunts, will one day, some day, reap the consequences. To his credit, Manziel’s coach, has been trying to control Manziel’s behavior, but is that enough? If I am one of the co-worker’s who was called a “blundering idiot,” would I not carry a grudge?
There is an ethical side to mentorship whether in football or in life. Football ends; hopefully, life continues for a lot longer. Where will Johnny Manziel be at age 40? Will the same individuals profiting from him now, remember him in the future?
We assume his success will continue, but football is an elusive target. He would not be the first Heisman winner to fall into mediocrity – or worse. The genius scientist, will be eclipsed by her discoveries, or even discredited. There will always be a new shining star.
What remains is who we are ethically. If no one teaches us that fact, all the trophies in the world will not matter.