The NFL is such a great place to find teaching moments. The 2020 NFL Draft is underway. This is when teams have extremely limited resources (number of picks, salary caps) and conflicting needs (long term versus short term). Should they spend their time on short term goals to win next year, or should they instead focus on the future?
Too many teams focus purely on the short term. They are always one great player away. The Green Bay Packers took a different approach. They chose a QB that could potentially be a successor to Aaron Rodgers, one of the great QBs of the game. They did this after going 13-3 last year and only losing in the NFC Championship Game.
They spent their most limited resource, their #1 pick, on someone that most likely won’t contribute for years.
To take that kind of view is impressive. They spent their most limited resource, their #1 pick, on someone that most likely won’t contribute for years. But in doing so, they set up a QB of the future that will have time to learn under one of the game’s greats, just as Rodgers was able to do under Farve. The thought is that they will now spend the rest of their picks on immediate needs to better them for next year.
Organizations in the world of COVID-19 are up against unbelievable conflict. They have extremely limited resources and are focused on the short term as a matter of survival. But even at this most terrible time, we should keep an eye on the long term as well as short term survival.
As with football, no team is every truly one player away from greatness; there is no singular fix that will move us from good to great.
As with football, no team is every truly one player away from greatness; there is no singular fix that will move us from good to great. Instead, it is a relentless ability to focus on the near term, while keeping an eye on the future. This ability during these harshest of times will propel organizations forward. It is what we must all strive to do. It is the path to championships.
