Let Eli be Eli

For this week’s post I had a whole bunch of subjects in mind. Then the NY Giants went and won the Super Bowl. So I changed my mind on what I wanted to write about.
I read a great book about team building. It’s called The Five Dysfunctions of a Teamand it was written by Patrick Lencioni. While watching the Giants through the playoffs and the Super Bowl, I was not thinking about this book. I was doing a lot of jumping and fist pumping in the living room. And I enjoyed every second of this run to the championship. In the last three days, with all the hindsight being done on this football season, I noticed that these Giants came together in the manner described in the book.
Back around last Thanksgiving I was talking to a fellow Giants fan. The conversation went something like this:
Me: I think the Giants need to consider moving on from EliMy friend: Let Eli be Eli.
The key for me was when I watched the Giants beat the Dallas Cowboys. Eli Manning led a scoring drive at the end of the first half. At that moment it came to me: Eli needs to be Phil Simms (comparatively speaking). The Giants will always be a ball control and defense oriented team. They need a quarterback who can control the offense, make the right decisions, get first downs, find the open man, and don’t turn the ball over. That’s the system and he fits it. Suddenly I realized this team will be successful.
I’m sure you are wondering how I related this to a book about team building. Every successful sports franchise is successful at team building. For me I could not miss the parallels to the Five Dysfunctions book. I do not want to tell you (and probably can’t for legal reasons) everything in the book. It’s a book that really needs to be read to appreciate. I will pass along this. What I saw in this Giants team was true commitment to the plan. They believed in their coaches, their players, their skills. The fans doubted at times, that’s what fans do. The media doubted at times, they get paid to do that. This organization made a decision and stayed with it. As a fan, I showed my appreciation by buying my commemorative shirt on Tuesday.
Check out the book for great ideas on Team Building.
Feel free to post any team building book recommendations of you own.