On the TUNNEYSIDE of SPORTS June 1, 2015 #543 Coming next…Replacing Trust?
After further review…With the civil unrest breeding violence around the country, the idea that law enforcement officers should be equipped with body cameras so that potential encounters can be recorded is gaining lots of support. City government officials and state legislators are debating guidelines about the use of such equipment. Questions accompany this issue. Will cameras be a deterrent? Can they replace trust? Can we draw parallels with other uses of this technology? Stay tuned.
Video replay has found its way into all professional sports and, if mom and pop had the resources, it would be a feature in Little League games as well. Replay will proliferate in sporting events as time marches on. Is it a good thing or not? That’s a moot question, since it is common now and viewers are used to it. That’s all that counts.
The use of instant replay, as an aid to officiating, began in the National Football League in 1986 (yes, the use of video replay for correcting possible errors is now in its 30th year). There were many opposed to its introduction. Football purists saw it as an intrusion, saying the game is played by people and should be judged that way. Some on-field officials felt similarly. I thought a different approach was necessary, since it was soon apparent that replay was here to stay. The challenge was for game officials to step up their commitment and work ethic to insure that every call was made to perfect standards. By doing so we could possibly reduce the involvement of the replay. And though perfection would seem to be an impossible goal, as head coach emeritus Vince Lombardi of the Green Bay Packers used to tell his players “Gentlemen, we will relentlessly chase perfection, knowing all the while we can never attain it. But along the way we shall catch excellence.” And excellence is what everyone wants to see in a performer, or an official, or a public servant.
Speaking to corporate conventions as well as players, coaches and game officials, I stress that the number-one factor in leadership is trust! While we often trust the camera (“The camera doesn’t lie” is an often-quoted maxim), we must develop trust in human beings. In football, for example, quarterbacks must trust their blockers to do their job with excellence! This holds true throughout the sports world, and in life as well.
Will you trust others when they are doing their job to the best of their abilities?
To contact Jim go to www.jimtunney.com or email him jim@jimtunney.com.
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