Good leaders are invaluable to an organization. Bad leaders are poisonous. That’s obvious, isn’t it?
According to a Forbes article, “The result of bad leadership is low morale, high turnover and a decreased ability to have any sustainable success.”
I see bad leadership all the time in all industries, including sports. Last month, with the University of Wisconsin football team leading 52-0 and playing its third-stringers, Maryland acted as bad sports by keeping its starters in and scoring with less than a minute remaining instead of also resting its starters.
A week later, Maryland’s team captains didn’t shake hands with Penn State’s captains, a major sign of disrespect. That’s in addition to the confrontation Maryland’s players initiated with Penn State players prior to the game.
Maryland Head Coach Randy Edsall is at the center of all of this. His players’ actions are a direct reflection of the kind of poor leader he is. The Big Ten Conference publicly reprimanded him last week and fined the university $10,000.
Even if the Terrapins won the national championship, I would still be hard-pressed to feel any respect toward the program. But with a bad leader like Edsall at the helm, I highly doubt they would ever come close.