dispatches from the new world of work

NHL=No Hockey League

Sad news from the wide world of sports—the hockey season is officially over. Sadder yet, it never started. While many fans had already given up visions of Stanley Cup competition, this hockey addict is disappointed and discouraged. It isn't just about a season without hockey.

The wide world of professional sports has become infected by many of the worst business practices. Greed, escalating salaries, negotiations in which both sides refuse to consider the perspective of the other, profits distributed to support a select few—these are just a few of the factors that diminish the spirit of athletes who were attracted to sports for the love of the game. The same factors throw a curve ball into competitive business where purpose and passion are often abandoned for profit and power. Stellar athletes and workers, including those in high profile professional roles, know that passion and purpose generate peak performance and desirable results, including profits, raving fans, and goals.

Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr, Mark Messier, Jack Welch, Dee Hock, Frances Hesselbein, Joan Baez, and Ray Charles are players, leaders, and performers who produced winning scores on their fields. They played and worked with heart. In doing so, they created devoted team members and lifelong customers and fans.
Hope springs eternal for some of us. I am going to visualize cheering next year as the Bruins hold up the cherished Stanley Cup. I am also going to picture business leaders recapturing the passion and values that are critical to engaging the hearts, minds, and energy of employees and customers. For now, it will be late night reruns of stellar hockey games from days when athletes like Orr, Gretzky, and Messier played with their hearts and minds to score goals and to thrill diehard fans.

Pam Brill posted this on 02/16/05.

Comments

Excellent post. I'm no hockey fan, but was still saddened by the news for the reasons you listed. I used to be a baseball fan years ago, but after another strike that knocked my team out of the play-offs - I was done. Finito. End of story. I'm tired of sports being used as a vehicle for overbloated egos and entitlement attitudes. I feel sorry for the young boy and girl who just wants to enjoy an outing with their parent. But who can afford some of those ticket prices?

No wonder masses of kids and their parents play Nintendo. Less money and you don't have to pay $15 for a hot dog and a soda.

Posted by M. R. Maguire at February 16, 2005 11:50 PM

The NHL is such a class act too, MR and Pam - hope springs eternal.

Now if the NBA went away for a year - there would be massive celebration in the streets!

Posted by John at February 17, 2005 7:47 AM

Oh Pam .. read this Dear John response !!

http://www.tsn.ca/columnists/james_duthie.asp

We canuaks are going to be hurtig big time ..my local barman is crying already !!

Posted by /pd at February 17, 2005 10:17 AM

I teach Strategy at the local U (in Canada). A few years ago, we had a former airline exec present to about 150 undergrads on the industry. Part of the presentation was a diagnosis of the strategy of a startup airline that clearly didn't have a chance of survival (to those of us that "know").

The best moment of my teaching career happened when a girl stood up and said... "I... I... I don't get it... I'm a 20 year old undergrad business student... This business has no chance of success... Even I can see that. What the heck are these people doing???!!!??" The profs looked at each other, smiled, looked at her, shrugged. The airline folded 6 weeks later.

I feel the same way about the NHL right now... what the heck are these people doing??

Posted by Terry Rock at February 17, 2005 1:03 PM

Good question, Terry. What the heck are they thinking?

A salary cap has worked very well for the NBA and NFL. Why did the NHL players wait until it was too late to agree to a cap?
This is a textbook example of a flawed and failed negotiation strategy.

Perhaps fans will turn to the college game. Pure ice hockey, no fighting, and, yes, believe it or not, after the Red Sox and Patriots, another Boston team is #1--Boston College! Go Eagles!

BTW, John, I shudder to think what would happen in the streets if the NBA went away for a year.

Posted by CP at February 17, 2005 2:29 PM

CP:

I think you intended to refer to the Boston UNIVERSITY Terriers...

Posted by Lee H. Igel at February 17, 2005 3:45 PM

Gotta love it. Hockey fans posting, and there is a hockey fight already. :) By a person who didn't like fights. :) Yes, I am just kidding.

I am a huge hockey fan, and I guess that's what gets me through the night. I'm a hockey fan, not an NHL fan. Big difference.

What always gets lost in the middle of the talks about greedy players is that many of them are just kids who want nothing more than to play a game they love and are great at. I am a hockey reporter and I have yet to see a player who plays just for the money. However, I know an editor or two who come to work just for the money.

Posted by Risto at February 17, 2005 4:28 PM

Another canuck to weigh in on this .... hockey is so identified with our culture but as Risto commented too, it is found in every small ( & large) community not just at NHL crazy land. This is a very sad time for this part of the sport but as I see it, a HUGE opportunity for many folks to make an insanely wonderful contribution to their own communities. Take those big entertainment $ and spend it / donate it to a local minor hockey team, adult rec team, or someone who is playing, coaching, officiating, organizing this great game for the love of it and their community. As a player and coach, I make sure my little company donates /sponsors /something to local teams / tournaments as much as we can !

Posted by helen at February 17, 2005 8:56 PM

The posts have elicted one loud response in my head: Ken Dryden. For understanding hockey as a culture in Canade, it doesn't get much better than his book: Home Game: Hockey and Life in Canada.

Posted by Pam Brill at February 18, 2005 2:26 AM