Perceptions of Leaders Following Public Failures: A Tale of Two Coaches

Perceptions of Leaders Following Public Failures: A Tale of Two Coaches
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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Issues...........................................................................................................................................................2
Possible Solutions........................................................................................................................................4
Recommendation........................................................................................................................................5
Risk..............................................................................................................................................................5

Introduction
Prior to the incident, I would assume the public perceived Coach Leach as “an adept
strategist with a sometimes-quirky personality (he apparently loved pirates and was known to
lecture his team on the history of Caribbean pirates in the past),”
Thus, the public perceived Coach Leach as a blessing. Furthermore, his background
secured his adept strategy as a success. After the incident with Adam James, I would say the
public’s perception of Coach Leach went downhill. With sworn affidavits from both Doctor Phy
and athletic trainer, Steve Pincock released, it is almost impossible to see how the public’s
perception could not have been shattered.
With that being said, I believe Coach Leach’s self-perception was completely
inconsistent with the general public. He did not see himself as such, and that can be seen in his
behavior in-group favoritism, or “preferential treatment to a member of his group (in this case
Adam James) that was unfair or harmful,” That certainly was unfair and quite harmful! It can
also be seen that he did not think his doings were wrong in his interview with ESPN analyst Rece
Davis.
Issues
I believe the inconsistency with these two perceptions arose because of the bias blind
spot, which is defined as, “the tendency for people to ignore their own bias while recognizing or
exaggerating bias in others,”. In my opinion, Coach Leach ignored his own bias regarding Adam
James (his sense of entitlement and his supposed “lazy” work ethic). Instead, he exaggerated the
biases of Adam James, stating;
“Adam James was a disgruntled student-athlete that like many were not happy
with their playing time.”-Coach Leach, 2008