“Football is a game of studs, and if you want to win you better have some” – Bear Bryant

So what do we know to this point?  There’s a whole generation of professional athlete sitting at the average age of players in the NFL whose entire fabric has been built around values of achieve now, pay me now, no time to wait.  This generation of player has taken over the League at a critical time period in team and player relations.  To ignore the ideas and viewpoints of this group would be ignorant of the very fact that they do indeed exist, as the private sector and military have been wrestling with the changes they have brought upon the workplace the past ten years.

Though highly talented and highly educated their overall interpretation and definition of work ethic is decidedly different from the preceding two generations of players.  They have high expectations of themselves and their employers, and want a great deal of rewards and recognition NOW.  “Waiting your turn” and “Paying your dues” doesn’t fly with this group.  Trying to force a “square peg (player) into a round hole (inflexible Club)” is not going to work either.

Guess what?  The player pool is shrinking.  National Football Scouting, Inc (one of the two major scouting services used in the NFL) reported 150 less players in the spring of 2009 for Clubs to focus on in preparation for the 2010 draft.  Draft boards continue to shrink as Clubs and administrators become more and more stringent upon “character” and other requirements necessary to make their rosters.

I’ve frequently heard over the past few years a number of GM’s and Personnel Exec’s lament over the lack of viable options to choose from (even in the first two rounds!).  With 32 teams in the League, talks of expansion from time to time and an expanded season on the horizon, the extreme need for talent might be at an all time high.  The influence of the values of the “Me’s” is not going to disappear and will only continue to grow within our game as this generation of player takes firm hold of the talent pool.

There are issues related to the “Millennial” generation that naturally flow to the career of an NFL player and must be addressed by a new type of leadership at the Club level.  An inability to do so will not without consequence affect the relationship between the Club and its players.  “What are those issues?” – Development, Feedback, Parental Influence, Compensation and Retention.

One and or all are interrelated to each other and the lack of a Club’s ability to communicate and deal with these “Me” issues will most assuredly have a profound effect on the player’s ultimate success or failure with the Club.  People are people and will react accordingly to their environment.  Club’s that realize their responsibility to enhance their assets (players from a limited talent pool) through advanced leadership perspectives and techniques will reach peak performance levels and reap the benefits of their efforts.

Who hasn’t had their own problems communicating with their GEN Y kids or employees?

“It is preposterous to suppose that the people of one generation can lay down the best and only rules…..for all who are to come after them…” – General Ulysses S. Grant

In the military, as in football, the effective use of chain-of-command is the traditional operating model.  Leaders give the orders and soldiers in the field execute them.  Over the past thirty to forty years a similar hierarchal approach to leadership has worked well and thrived in American football.  But even our own military has come to realize that they must change and think outside the time honored traditions of linear leadership in order to tap into the full potential of this new generation of soldier.

This is where NFL Owners can find interesting parallels.  The military has itself struggled with the affinity of the “Millennials” for the 24/7 interconnectedness of their world and the hip-hop culture of baggy pants, body piercing and tattoos.  Attrition is on the rise in some facets of the military as a result of the perceived lack of “promise keeping” by the Services.  NFL players refuse to “negotiate” an end to the owner’s lockout as a result of perceived reneging on promises made in the last CBA (’06).

Despite their “one size fits all” historical nature of doing things, the military has been forced to adjust.  Everything from basic training, to operational field manuals, to command-and-control on the battle field is being overhauled to take full advantage of the “Me’s”.  Much like football, soldiers are conscripted over a set time period, but then can choose to separate after their service commitment.  NFL Players are drafted and signed to a Club over a set contract and then allowed to pursue free agency.  The developmental and financial investments are enormous on both sides.

The command-and-control nature of the military is being attacked by an inherent openness of the “Me’s” and their casual attitude towards privacy and secrecy.   “Boomers” and “Xers” have learned to use technology to share information with their own “inner circle” while “Me’s” are more willing to include those outside of their known acquaintances.  Safeguarding the ever powerful aspect of “knowledge” has become difficult in both today’s military and professional sports.

Hard-liners within the NFL will say “There’s no way we’re going to change for the sake of the player”.  Understood, and ultimately each and every Club will have to make their own decisions regarding how to handle the new generation of professional athlete.

But what they can’t and won’t escape is the reality of their presence and the disappearance of a generation of players that were brought up under the “old ideas” of assembling a team.   Good bye Gen X, hello Gen Y!

I’m interested in hearing what former service members think?