The NFL draft occurred last week, and one story captured much attention.
Shedeur Sanders, son of NFL legend Deion Sanders, went undrafted in the first four rounds after many analysts predicted he would be picked early in the first round. He was finally selected in the fifth round as the 144th pick of the draft.
Most commentators were beside themselves. They couldn’t understand why he fell so far in the draft, but others claimed he wasn’t as good as he was hyped up to be. They also talked about the baggage he would bring to an organization, and that NFL executives weren’t interested in dealing with that.
Some commentators thought the NFL was conspiring against this young man, while others spoke out and said the league was making an example out of him, and other college athletes who are acting with an entitlement mindset.
Regardless of why he fell so far in the draft, I think there’s a good lesson for leaders in all of this.
Beware of hyping yourself or your organization up so much that it turns people off.
Whether Shedeur is ready to play at the NFL level or not, his self-promotion and the hype surrounding him didn’t help him achieve his dream of being selected early in this year’s draft.
When you create hype, you attract haters.
When you create hype, you make yourself a target.
It’s better to quietly do your business and let your results do the talking for you.
Don’t talk about what you’re going to do or how great you are. Instead, let your results speak for you.
Maybe Sanders will turn out to be a great player. Maybe not. Only time will tell.
However, let’s allow this situation to remind us to lead with humility and work with excellence so our results do the talking for us.
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