Offering Advice Isn’t Always Seen as Helpful

Popology Lessons by Kris Fisher

My least favorite four words: Football season is over. No more Saturdays and Sundays yelling at a TV screen about how someone else should do their job.  

That’s what it boils down to, doesn’t it? I know I’m guilty of it. 

“The refs aren’t getting the calls right!”  

“Those receivers can’t catch the ball!”  

“The quarterback isn’t throwing to the right guy!”  

If the Atlanta Falcons would have only let me coach the team for one quarter on February 5, 2017, they would most definitely have one of those Tiffany & Co. Lombardi Trophies at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. 

My tip would have been to just run the ball. 

We are the best coaches, quarterbacks, and referees in the league, sitting on our couches. The truth is, we have no idea what is happening on that field and, given the chance to execute whatever play, plan, or call we feel is right in that moment, it would likely result in the most disastrous play of that game and perhaps the entire season.  

I don’t mean to spoil the fun. Imagining that we know what’s the best next move is half of what makes football great. Being a coach is one of the few jobs in the world where people can yell at you for not doing your job correctly while not having any idea of how to do it themselves.  

Imagine 70,000 people watching you do your job, the entire time screaming, judging, and trying to disrupt you. We all mess up at work, but we don’t have a stadium full of fans expressing their outrage when we accidentally reply all on an email that bad-mouths your boss.  

Working in radio, I do get it from time to time. I often hear “You play the same five songs over and over!” The fact is, we have well over 200 songs in our rotation and, while some songs do play more than others, there is a method to our madness. I do understand, however, that it’s hard to trust the process when you are listening to Taylor Swift – again. 

I get it working as a live event DJ as well. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been at a gig and had someone come up and complain about the music selection while the dance floor is packed, and everyone is clearly enjoying themselves. Often, someone will suggest a “banger that will pack the dance floor” only to have the dance floor clear out when the suggested “banger” is played. 

This is not to say I always get it right. Just like a football coach, sometimes I get it wrong. We’re all human. We err and we learn.  

That said, I’m not going to stop my football-judgy ways. 

I’m just suggesting that maybe we maintain some perspective. Think about those times your weld doesn’t hold, or you lose a sale because you mixed up a client’s name. Now have it happen at Workplace Arena, full of fans lingering on that mistake. Are they cheering or jeering? Are they, perhaps, drunkenly throwing debris into your workspace? 

The icing on the cake would be having to explain at a press conference at the end of each workday why you made the mistakes you made and how you’re going to fix them. 

“We gotta do better in all facets of the sale - pre-sale presentations, negotiations, contracts, billing - it falls on all of us.”  

Wait.  

Did I just accidentally figure out how we’re going to fill the time between football seasons?