What can business leaders learn from the firing of Iowa State OC Mark Mangino ?

   

What can business leaders learn from the Mark Mangino Firing?

 

What happened this week when Iowa State shed Offensive Coordinator Mark Mangino and went on to shutout Texas?

What can business leaders learn from this? It's what coaches refer to as addition by subtraction.  It is when the whole functions better than the sum of the parts after a negative weight has been lifted. 

 

I could spend a lot of time dissecting this hire and fire (and maybe I will in future posts) but the cliff's notes version is this was not a core values and cultural fit.  That's what this blog post is about.  Making sure you understand what makes your business unique and hiring and firing around your core values and culture.

 

It is easiest to see the impact of this in pro football where you can simply let a player go if they do not fit the culture. The entire building feels like a better place after you finally release a player you should have weeks ago.  In football, you may see the potential of the player and worry they leave you and go on to be a star with someone else... and it will come back to haunt you.  A pro coaches biggest fear is cutting a player that moves on to a division rival and has success.  There only feeling worse than listening to a guy run by your bench talking smack after he just scored on your defense is listening to the guy you cut do the same. In business, you may worry about what others in the industry will say.  What if they go on to have success with another organization and make your business look bad? You put off the inevitable because you fear conflict. You put off the inevitable over fear about what others may think or say.  Leadership is committing to do what you know is right for those who will be with your company long after you have had to make a change and let someone go. 

 

Making changes can be tough.  Previous success with another organization does not mean that person will simply plug-in to your business or your team and produce at the same rate.  In business  and in football people have to match your core values and they have to match your culture.  It is not as simple as just plugging a coordinator or a sales person.  Teams in sports and business are  about more than the resume.  Previous sales experience in the market place, experience recruiting a specific geographic area, product specific knowledge or experience working in a specific offensive system...these are reasons we use to justify hiring people.  But, the core values and culture have to be a fit.  Leadership is about recognizing your core values and culture and hiring, evaluating, promoting and firing around the core values and the culture.  In the short term change can be painful.  There are no guarantees that after you make the change you are going to have immediate success.  But, if you stay true to your unique core values and culture and truly understand what makes your organization tick...you will win more than you lose and have a leg up on your competition.