Let me just say up front that I haven’t watched NBA basketball since Michael Jordan retired, and I haven’t followed the LeBron James drama at all. But I read the letter Cleveland Cavaliers Owner, Dan Gilbert, wrote in response to James’ decision to go to the Miami Heat, and… wow! Can you say…
Worst.
Letter.
Ever.
Read it for yourself. There are at least 7 leadership lessons we can learn from this.
1) Don’t resort to name-calling. It makes you look like a 5th grader. In the letter, Gilbert calls James a deserter, narcissistic, self-promotional, betrayer, cowardly, shameful, selfish, disloyal, heartless, and callous. Ouch! Is he going for the nickname “insult thesaurus?”
2) Don’t blog/email/tweet when you’re angry. You will regret it later.
3) If you’re a public figure, hire a gate-keeper/media manager who you run your public communication through before it becomes public.
4) Always take the high road. I don’t know LeBron James’ character or what happened behind the scenes. But even if he is everything Gilbert called him and more, it’s just classless to insult a person publicly.
5) Don’t promise things you can’t possibly deliver. It just makes you look like you’ve lost all grip of reality. Gilbert wrote, “”I PERSONALLY GUARANTEE THAT THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS WILL WIN AN NBA CHAMPIONSHIP BEFORE THE SELF-TITLED FORMER ‘KING’ WINS ONE.” Please. All this says is you want to show LeBron up.
6) When you sound like you’re out-of-control, manipulative, and classless, you lose all public sympathy, and you give everyone you’re criticizing justification for getting as far away from you as possible.
7) As a leader, when you look like an idiot, you embarrass everyone around you. I feel bad for the rest of the Cavs organization and Cavs fans.
And one bonus lesson…
Don’t rant in comic sans font. It will only make you look more ridiculous.
This letter is embarrassing not only for Dan Gilbert but also for the entire the entire Cleveland Cavaliers organization and the entire city of Cleveland. There will be damage control. He will probably issue a carefully crafted mea culpa apologizing, citing passion for the Cavs, emotions getting the best of him, etc. But Gilbert will never be able to live this down.
Your thoughts on the now infamous letter? Other lessons learned from it?
Wow that’s amazing. Either way, LeBron might now get a contract and will be wearing new Jordans next year.
When I read that letter, I could not believe that he was promising a championship! When talking with friends, I said something like “hey, it would be funny if the Cavs win a championship next year.” Which, is true, it would be funny. But to promise a win before LeBron? A little ridiculous.
Excellent point about writing something when you are angry. I have lots of letters written when I was angry, but I am proud to say that the vast majority of them have never been seen by anyone except myself. It is one thing to be angry and let off some steam, but to make it public is definitely a bad idea.
Great post… thanks for the insight!
“don’t rant in comic sans font”
This article was worth it for that one line!
Awesome points Paul, thanks for sharing.
I think you miss the main point. Dan Gilbert HAD to do this for the fans. Everyone in Cleveland is patting him on the back for this open letter. He lost his meal ticket in Lebron and had to do something to give hope to the fans of Cleveland. I don’t always agree that taking the “high road” is the proper course of action. I’d rather my owner show his feelings, show that he has heart and that is what Dan Gilbert did in this letter.
Yeah, but if the point is for people not to miss the main point, be professional about it. Like Paul says: don’t rant and for God’s sake, why Comic Sans? That alone makes him look like an idiot. Plus the guarantee of a championship without bothering to build a team around LeBron for seven years, but *now* it’s gonna happen? Yes, main point missed, and it’s Dan Gilbert who missed it.
Exactly! By “taking the high road” I wasn’t suggesting Dan Gilbert should have remained silent. As majority owner, he should have said something, but this rant was completely classless and only legitimized LeBron’s departure.
The high road would have been to express his disappointment without insulting LeBron, and then move on to talking about how he would do everything possible to bring a championship to the city of Cleveland.
I agree. This letter was distasteful. I would think a man that reached his height of success would be a logical thinker versus a “hot head.” I’m sure he had to know Miami was a better choice to get a ring than Cleveland. One would think he would’ve already had a letter drafted up in better taste just in case this happen- and it did. Kudos to LeBron for doing what’s best for him and even the sport altogether. Just because you’re born in Ohio is there some unwritten law saying he has to stay there for the rest of his life? Basketball players have a short career versus us common folks. He wants a ring while he’s still young and healthy-who can’t respect that? Come on people let’s not disconnect from reality..
Sad, just sad. Juvenile insults aside, why are you all the sudden absolutely focused on a championship. What? You were just hoping to win a championship before, but now that James left, you’re really going to start trying? If you are now all the sudden able to win a championship, my response would be “What have you been doing for past 7 years?” It sounds more like you just lost your best hope for a championship and now you’re mad and whining about it.
Excellent post, I totally feel the same way. Always best to hit “save as draft” on that angry email vs “Send” and sleep on it. 9 times out of 10 you wake up and at least edit your thoughts a bit about going public.
And yes, I saw a post that simply said “that is the angriest thing I’ve ever seen written in Comic Sans.”
Your readers might want to check out the angle I took a few days earlier, which was:
What we can learn from LeBron James’ first day on Twitter. http://ow.ly/2b8v9
Jim
Jim, thanks for your comment. I like the way you drew lessons from LeBron’s first day on Twitter. Good post.