How to get fired as a manager
Dallas 
Mavericks coach Avery Johnson was fired as coach of the Mavericks after winning 118 games in 3 years as head coach, the second highest for any coach in NBA history in a 3 year span. He took his team to the NBA Finals. He was named coach of the year. One of his players was even named MVP of the league. By most counts, Avery was a rousing success, yet…he was still fired.
Has that ever happened to you or anyone you worked with? Great outcomes, team loved him, and yet still relieved of her/his duties and responsibilities. A harsh reality for some managers, and a wake-up calls for others.
So what did Avery Johnson do?
Instead of trashing the team and going down swinging like a lot of NBA coaches do, blaming it on a lack of players, a lack of vision, a lack of clean white tube socks, doing everything but taking responsibility for the situation, just like a lot of MANAGERS do…Avery had this to say:
“This is something that needed to happen,” Johnson said. “There’s no animosity or bitterness. We all still really care about each other, but it was time to go in a different direction. … We didn’t win the championship, but if you look at the whole body of work that we put together over the last three-and-a-half years … we’ll put it up against anybody.”
“We still really care about each other.” When is the last time you left a job on those terms? When is the last time you heard of ANYONE leaving a job on those terms.
What can we learn from Avery Johnson?
PLENTY!
Getting Fired…NBA Style
- Don’t take it personally - if you were a good manager with a fair amount of success and you still got fired, don’t take it personally. Maybe it’s just time for a change.
- Recognize your past successes - No sense burning any bridges. You’re already fired, so why not think fondly of the way things were while you were there.
- Give credit to your team and wish them the best - Saying things like “we all still really care about each other” and “we’ll put it up against anybody” make me realize Avery wants his team to succeed even though it’s no longer his team to coach.
As a manager, what else can YOU learn from Avery Johnson’s firing?
Image: Newscom
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POSTED IN: management
2 opinions for How to get fired as a manager
Greg Bassett
May 2, 2008 at 11:12 am
It also helps that Avery is a total class-act. 100% down to earth nice guy. I met him several times when I lived in San Antonio and he was a player on the Spurs roster (we worked out in the same gym). Even during those awful losing seasons of the mid 1990’s, he was upbeat and positive and always looking to the future. It also helps that he learned a lot about coaching from some of the very best (Larry Brown, Greg Popovich).
Douglas Karr
May 2, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Getting fired rarely has to do with productivity. The last job I was fired (er… resigned) from was one that I had grown revenue over $2 million from $250k while maintaining a flat budget. I was let go because my manager couldn’t understand my job. I knew it was coming and was trying to (run) get out first - but I didn’t. I think if I was making as much as Johnson and had the parachute he likely had, it would have been a pleasant experience. But it wasn’t. :)
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