As anybody with a vague interest in football would know, Manchester City won the English Premier League in the most dramatic of styles – with 2 goals in ‘extra time’ to seal the title. Manchester City has always been in shadow of the ‘other’ club in Manchester called Manchester United before oil rich Abu Dhabi decided to invest in the club and they were understandably delirious.
However, one of their players – an ex Manchester United star by name Carlos Tevez was pictures with a banner that said ‘R.I.P Fergie’ – Fergie standing for Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United’s legendary manager and his ex boss.
Now, Carlos Tevez is no stranger to controversy being prone to emotional outbursts. Thanks to an outburst against his current manager earlier this year, he was punished by being forced to sit out of the team for 6 months and was unable to move to a different club as no club wanted to take the risk. He was lucky to be called back in the last 10 games of the season.
Carlos Tevez had two wildly successful years at Manchester United winning the coveted the European cup as well as consecutive Premier League titles. He would have gone down as a legend of the club had it not been for acts like this. And yet, his legacy is now tarnished and all his bridges are burnt. You might argue that it doesn’t matter as he’s found success in a new place. My belief is that it in the long run, it will come back to bite you.
A hundred years ago, if you screwed up really bad in the city/town that you lived in, you could literally sail off in a boat to a far off land and begin a new life. No questions asked. Now, wherever you go, your facebook, twitter and LinkedIn profiles are likely to follow you. And unfortunately, reputations are not shock resistant.
When I thought of this post yesterday, I initially thought I’d title it ‘Never burn your bridges’. I changed my mind. That’s because there are times when it is actually worth burning your bridges. Maybe you were in a job where the people involved were out to get you thanks to misaligned values/character and as a result, bad intentions. Burning your bridges was probably a good move then.
And, if you did burn your bridges when the people on the other side were of good character and had good intentions which were lost in circumstances, it’s never too late to make up. If they were good folks, they will forgive you. Maybe not forget, but atleast forgive.
This is not so much ‘hack’, neither is it a principle that only applies to your relationships at work unless of course you are sure you will never run in to your personal network in a professional setting. In today’s shrinking world, I’d imagine there would be very few willing to take that bet.
And, finally, while it’s easy to call out a negative example alone, I’d like to also point out that there is a positive example as well. Cristiano Ronaldo left Manchester United the same year Carlos Tevez did. He left with dignity and always had good things to say about his time at Manchester United.
And songs about Ronaldo are still sung at Old Trafford. Reputation leads to legacy. And legacy matters.
A Learning a Day 