Impressive leadership by Nagy in team meeting yesterday.
Jun 4, 2020 7:45:16 GMT -6
butkus3595 and GrizzlyBear like this
Post by JABF on Jun 4, 2020 7:45:16 GMT -6
My opinion of Nagy is that he is a really good leader. He sure showed that this past week in general, and yesterday in particular. Yesterday he led a meeting of 139 Chicago Bears franchise members - it included staff from across the nation.
There are some exceptionally good people in this Bears organization. Proud of them. Proud of being a fan after reading this. I do believe that something "good" can sometimes come out of a bad situation.
The Chicago Tribune article (below) is one of the best articles that I have read in many many years. That is just a very brief snippet of an OUTSTANDING article about the Bears organization and what went down yesterday in that Zoom meeting with all 139 people who met. The discussion and that article are a "must read" for sure.
NOTE: We are trying to not get into a political set of arguments on the messageboard here. It's really not what we are about here. So let's be good about not letting this thread degenerate into a political discussion. Not here. I posted this because it focuses on the Chicago Bears organization and how they are working together in a "right way" to process all of this that we too are struggling with.
LINK
How the Chicago Bears used an emotional team meeting to start a discussion — and hopefully, real change: ‘We can’t keep ignoring stuff and pushing it under the table’
Trevathan has found himself in deep reflection, trying to process what is unfolding and how the nation’s division is being illuminated.
“Wrong is wrong and right is right,” he said. “It costs nothing to love one another. It costs nothing to care about one another. We can’t keep ignoring stuff and pushing it under the table.”
He has also found himself thinking about his daughters.
“I don’t want to give them a broken world that’s confused and full of hatred,” he said.
Trevathan was one of the first players Bears coach Matt Nagy called over the weekend. Nagy, too, was having difficulty wrapping his mind around all that was happening.
He was upset by the way Floyd died and was trying to process the widespread unrest that had flared up, including a volatile night in downtown Chicago on Saturday. Police cars were set on fire. Storefront windows on the Magnificent Mile were smashed. Looters ransacked businesses. Officers and civilians clashed.
Nagy reached out to several team leaders. Just to talk. To tell them he was there for them. To say, “I love you.”
“I just wanted to get a pulse for where everybody was,” he said.
Trevathan appreciated the outreach.
“There’s no ignoring what’s going on,” he told his coach.
Those weekend calls persuaded Nagy to hold a full team meeting over Zoom on Monday, an open-forum, anything-goes dialogue between players and coaches.
At first, the premise was a hard sell for some. Defensive lineman Akiem Hicks was resistant, ready to roll his eyes at whatever cliched, come-together-as-one treatment the team was prescribing.
“I wasn’t excited to get on that call,” Hicks said. “I didn’t think anything positive was going to come from it. I didn’t know why we were having this moment where we were singing ’Kumbaya’ and trying to get over what’s really happening in the world.
“I felt like it might be a control situation where they wanted to control the narrative and point us in a direction so when we talk to (the media), there’s only going to be a certain message you hear.”
Yet by the time Hicks closed his Zoom window after a call comprising 139 people in which more than 40 spoke their minds, “it was the complete opposite,” he said. “It was totally different. Young black men. Young white men. Older coaches from all across the United States. Just watching everybody reveal themselves in a way that isn’t common in sport or with masculinity in general.”
The conversation, players and coaches said, felt raw.
Nagy listened to his players’ voices and heard fear, disgust, anger, surprise, sadness and compassion. There were disagreements. There were tears.
Most importantly, the conversation felt honest and representative of all that is happening in the outside world.
“It was probably the most powerful meeting I’ve ever been in and will ever be in,” Nagy said. “There was a protectiveness to the meeting. There was a vulnerability to people’s stories.”
How the Chicago Bears used an emotional team meeting to start a discussion — and hopefully, real change: ‘We can’t keep ignoring stuff and pushing it under the table’
Trevathan has found himself in deep reflection, trying to process what is unfolding and how the nation’s division is being illuminated.
“Wrong is wrong and right is right,” he said. “It costs nothing to love one another. It costs nothing to care about one another. We can’t keep ignoring stuff and pushing it under the table.”
He has also found himself thinking about his daughters.
“I don’t want to give them a broken world that’s confused and full of hatred,” he said.
Trevathan was one of the first players Bears coach Matt Nagy called over the weekend. Nagy, too, was having difficulty wrapping his mind around all that was happening.
He was upset by the way Floyd died and was trying to process the widespread unrest that had flared up, including a volatile night in downtown Chicago on Saturday. Police cars were set on fire. Storefront windows on the Magnificent Mile were smashed. Looters ransacked businesses. Officers and civilians clashed.
Nagy reached out to several team leaders. Just to talk. To tell them he was there for them. To say, “I love you.”
“I just wanted to get a pulse for where everybody was,” he said.
Trevathan appreciated the outreach.
“There’s no ignoring what’s going on,” he told his coach.
Those weekend calls persuaded Nagy to hold a full team meeting over Zoom on Monday, an open-forum, anything-goes dialogue between players and coaches.
At first, the premise was a hard sell for some. Defensive lineman Akiem Hicks was resistant, ready to roll his eyes at whatever cliched, come-together-as-one treatment the team was prescribing.
“I wasn’t excited to get on that call,” Hicks said. “I didn’t think anything positive was going to come from it. I didn’t know why we were having this moment where we were singing ’Kumbaya’ and trying to get over what’s really happening in the world.
“I felt like it might be a control situation where they wanted to control the narrative and point us in a direction so when we talk to (the media), there’s only going to be a certain message you hear.”
Yet by the time Hicks closed his Zoom window after a call comprising 139 people in which more than 40 spoke their minds, “it was the complete opposite,” he said. “It was totally different. Young black men. Young white men. Older coaches from all across the United States. Just watching everybody reveal themselves in a way that isn’t common in sport or with masculinity in general.”
The conversation, players and coaches said, felt raw.
Nagy listened to his players’ voices and heard fear, disgust, anger, surprise, sadness and compassion. There were disagreements. There were tears.
Most importantly, the conversation felt honest and representative of all that is happening in the outside world.
“It was probably the most powerful meeting I’ve ever been in and will ever be in,” Nagy said. “There was a protectiveness to the meeting. There was a vulnerability to people’s stories.”
