Maybe the best lesson from this weekend's Super Bowl is what quiet coaching, not yelling, does for a team -- whether it is a newsroom, a business or a football team.
So much has been written about the Indianapolis Colts' Tony Dungy and the Chicago Bears' Lovie Smith being the first African-American coaches to lead teams to the big game. But I wonder if the larger news story that is worthy of your adaptation is that these two coaches are quiet storms, not screamers. Is there a story in Dungy's and Smith's success that points us to the demise of the screamer-tyrant boss? I can't think of a more universal story on which to hang Super Bowl coverage. People who don't know Dungy or Smith can relate to a conversation about a tyrannical boss that so many team coaches over time have epitomized. Will Dungy and Smith make being cool, cool?
Sports Illustrated ran a piece headlined "Quiet Is the New Loud," which includes this passage:
There are plenty of other strong silent types like Smith and Dungy taking their place in the upper echelon of the coaching ranks: Coach of the Year Sean Payton has that same kind of steady demeanor, and no one in the league is more soft-spoken than Eric Mangini, the wunderkid of the moment after transforming the Jets in his rookie season.
Loud, abusive bosses are a huge issue in the workplace and are rich territory for lawyers who file workplace lawsuits. A FoxNews.com column points out:
Prof. Harvey Hornstein, who served in the Department of Social and Organizational Psychology at Colombia University for over 30 years estimates that 90 percent of the workforce suffers abuse from their bosses at some point in their careers. Management researcher Chandra Louise says 80 percent of employees who quit their jobs do so because of problems with their bosses. And according to a recent Gallup poll, half the workforce would fire their boss if they could.
So can anything be done legally to combat a bully boss?
New York Law School Employment Law Professor Arthur Leonard says that if there is some kind of discriminatory aspect to the bullying, "then discrimination law may come into play." The Supreme Court has interpreted Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act as covering workplace harassment, if the victims are singled out because of characteristics covered by the statute, such as race, religion, national origin and sex.
But according to Drs. Gary and Ruth Namie, founders of the Workplace Bullying and Trauma Institute, just 25 percent of workplace bullying is aimed at members of a legally protected class. So what is the other 75 percent of harassed employees to do?
A number of states have introduced "healthy workplace" bills to combat office bullying, but so far, none have been passed into law. In terms of common law tort remedies, some employees have successfully brought claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress, but such cases are rare. Leonard says the problem is to prevail in such a claim and that "the conduct has to be totally outrageous. Some courts describe it as "beyond the bounds of civilized society.'" Moreover, Leonard says that in most jurisdictions, the distress has to manifest itself in physical symptoms of some sort. For example, employees have to establish that the abuse caused them to lose weight, break out in hives, or have trouble sleeping.
NBCSports.com adds:
Professional sports is an emotional world where projecting toughness sometimes seems more important than actually having it.
In the NFL, players are asked to sacrifice for the good of the team and accept staggering amounts of physical punishment. Head coaches projecting a no-BS, rip-your-heart-out persona are glorified. Bill Parcells. Bill Cowher. Bill Belichick. Mike Ditka. Jon Gruden. The list stretches back to Vince Lombardi and well beyond. The hard-ass who shows his warm side only briefly is the ideal.
Dungy has known that his calm demeanor was probably as much an impediment to his rise in coaching as his ethnicity.
"I probably didn't get a couple of jobs early in my career because people couldn't see my personality or the way I was going to do it," he explained. "One guy did ask me in an interview, 'If you get this job, is my team going to be the most important thing in your life?' I said no. It's not. I didn't think I was going to get that job and I didn't. I think for faith to be more important than your job, for your family to be more important than your job -- those are things we talk about and we know it's the way it should be but we're kind of afraid to say it. Lovie's not afraid to say it and I'm not afraid to say it. And hopefully people will see you can approach it that way and you can have success with it."
About Smith, The Courier News in Illinois reports:
[Bears] linebacker Brian Urlacher couldn't remember the last time his coach yelled.
"I don't think I've ever heard him yell on the field," Urlacher said. "I know he's never even said a cuss word. I don't know when the last time it was he yelled.
"He gets his point across to us pretty well. Same way with our assistant coaches. They're pretty good the same way. They get their point across without yelling. It's very instructional. You know what you're supposed to do. There's no doubt what your job is on a given play. That's the No. 1 thing that your effort has to be good on a given play and all game long. That's all he really cares about is stuff like that."
Smith acknowledged it's his philosophy not to behave like a drill sergeant.
"I don't think you have to downgrade guys and have to curse them out and things like that," he said. "I think what players want you to do is coach them. As much as anything they want you to teach them. We spend the majority of our time trying to do that.
Profit-Sharing With YouTube
YouTube is showing the media world how to adapt -- joining Revver, Metacafe and Break.com, and promising to share revenue with the people who generate enough content to attract advertising. YouTube said it would roll out the revenue-sharing model within a few months. It provides a new financial incentive for people to send in their videos.
On the same day that YouTube made its announcement, another video-sharing site, LiveDigital, said it would start profit-sharing, too.
It certainly is an interesting contrast with mainstream news sites that expect people to contribute content for free.
Red Herring has some details about the LiveDigital plans that will allow the content generator to choose the advertiser. If the video producer chooses well, he or she could make good money:
LiveDigital will begin sharing ad revenue by splitting a $25,000 payout among the top 25 videos appearing within one of 16 "channels" on the site.
But the new model isn't without its problems, such as identifying the original creator and tracking the use when redistributed. "The copyright issue will become a bigger issue because you need to track the original producer to pay them accordingly," said Michael Cai, director of broadband and gaming at research firm Parks Associates. "If the video gets redistributed 100 times you need a way to track it and share that part of the revenue."
At LiveDigital, content creators whose videos manage to rise into the top 25 will share a percentage of revenue based on traffic and ad impressions. "It's similar to television ratings," said Mr. [LiveDigital Director of Technology Rob] Johnson. "So, if you come up with an addictive channel and garnish 50 percent of the viewing audience, you'll get about $10,000."
Short-term, video creators who post to LiveDigital, which serves up a fraction of videos on YouTube, will offer an option to choose from more than 100 display and banner ads to post near their videos. The ad options will range from more than 26 topics, such as Cars & Trucks, Computer Software, Dating and Games.
There were two other YouTube tidbits Monday. One survey now says YouTube has emerged as the world's third most "influential brand." (Google and Apple were the top two most important brands.)
Harris Interactive said Monday that the most frequent YouTube users are watching less TV, spending less time on e-mail and sacrificing video-game time to watch YouTube instead.
In Memory of Barbaro
Barbaro is not the only thoroughbred to be euthanized because of racetrack injuries. He is just the most visible one. The San Diego Union-Tribune found that just last year on just one track (Del Mar), 10 horses died from racing.
At the 2006 Breeder's Cup, the Super Bowl of horseracing, a favorite broke down. At Arlington Park near Chicago, 14 horses were euthanized in two months last year.
What kills racehorses? Sometimes it is heart trouble and other times, researchers say they just don't know the answer.
Barbaro's legacy may be that his injury put the spotlight on injury rates at racetracks and has sparked new interest in safer tracks. Synthetic racing surfaces have shown some promise of cushioning the pounding that fragile 3-year-old horse legs feel while racing.
The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal posted a list of the most notable racehorse deaths over history.
After Barbaro's injury, Al's Morning Meeting pulled together some resources to help you report on the mortality rates at horse tracks. That article passed along this:
How many racehorses die or are injured each year in races? State racing commissions may track this information. This is the Washington State Racing Commission's [PDF] report on fatal racehorse injuries, just as an example.
In California alone, another study says [downloadable document] "Musculoskeletal injuries were responsible for 77 percent of 946 deaths in California racehorses from 1997-1999."
If that is right, then there were, on average, more than 300 deaths per year in California during that period of time.
An Australian advocacy group, Animal Liberation Inc., notes two U.S. reports that state that there are generally between 1.4 and 1.7 fatal injuries per 1,000 race entrants.
In 1997, a paper [PDF] issued by the American Association of Equine Practitioners reported study results from several states and countries, all showing essentially the same one-in-1,000 death rate -- give or take a tenth of a percent. The exception was Japan, where the rate turned out to be about 3 in every 1,000. The higher rate, though might have something to do with Japan's injury-reporting system being more thorough than its U.S. counterpart.
Another AAEP study [PDF] from 1997 noted that the trainers who had the most wins on the track also had the lowest rate of injured horses.
Time asks if eight months of pain, surgery and attempted recovery was "worth it."
Why couldn't they save him?
The Washington Post includes a piece that explains:
A horse's hoof is wondrous structure -- the outside horn is lined with delicate membranes and blood vessels that feed and support the bones of the foot. The bones of the foot are analogous to a person's fingertips, since a horse's knee is analogous to a person's wrist. The racehorse carries a thousand pounds at 35 to 40 miles per hour using a few slender bones supported by an apparatus of ligaments and tendons that have no analogues in human anatomy. Every part of the system depends on every other part. What happened to Barbaro was that the engineering couldn't take it. When it was right, as in the Kentucky Derby, it was perfectly right, and when it became wrong, it became irredeemably wrong.
Bloodhorse.com has a lot to say about the death of Barbaro.
Here is the inside story of how Barbaro was cared for at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, where a fund was set up in Barbaro's name for people to give money that will support the care of other animals (not Barbaro's bills). Among the thousands of gifts sent to Barbaro by his fans was $500 from the Notre Dame swim team for the upkeep of Barbaro's recovery pool.
In October last year, more than 35 horse experts including top veterinarians gathered at what was billed as the Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit "to develop an action plan to improve the well-being and safety of racehorses." The group noted that horses seem to be less durable today than 50 years ago. Horses are able to run fewer races in their careers now, the panel noted.
Among the recommendations the panel made:
Restrict some kinds of horseshoes with "toe grabs," which some believe increase traction on track surfaces but also increase leg injuries three times as much for fatal musculoskeletal injuries and 16 times as much for suspensory apparatus failure than horses without those shoes.
Al's Morning Multimedia
The Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader has a big collection of miultimedia in honor of Barbaro, including an audio and photo slideshow from his Kentucky Derby win.
There was a link to Legacy.com, usually reserved for memories posted about humans. When I looked at the page early this morning (Tuesday), fans had already filled 31 pages of condolences and memories for the horse.
The (Baltimore) Sun also includes photo galleries and interactive boards.
The official Web site of the Kentucky Derby is also one of the very best multimedia sites that I know. The biggest problem I have is that every time I go there, I end up spending a lot more time than I had originally intended to!
We are always looking for your great ideas. Send Al a few sentences and hot links.
Editor's Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends upon the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. Errors and inaccuracies found will be corrected.
Re: < > Ah yes, "euphemized." A delicate way to...
