Cowboys fire head coach...

Yeah I know it is old news but I just can't get over the look on Wade Phillips face as the Packers just beat the tar out of his team on Monday night football. He looked lost, he looked disappointed, he looked like his world had just turned upside down and he was the only one that was still with his feet on the ground.
Now I am not going to get into should he or shouldn't he have been fired. I probably would have fired him a few weeks ago before the season totally got out of hand. But what I want to discuss is what happened?
The Cowboys have all the talent in the world. Now don't get on the our star QB got hurt and that is why they are so bad train. He got hurt two games ago, and they only had ONE win then. They have arguably the most talented offense in the leauge. Their defense is not that much different than the one that ranked in the top ten last year. So what happened?
I think it is something that happens to many "teams", they get to believing in their own success and forget how hard it was to get successful. Stay with me a moment. To be successful in anything it takes a lot of effort. Nothing can replace hard work, nothing. But many times we become victims of our own success and we begin to feel entitled and that we have arrived. It is at that point that you have to check the ego at the door and put on the hard hat and go to work. When I looked at the Cowboys in the preseason they made all sorts of mistakes, missed assignments and yet all everyone talked about was that they were going to be the first team to host a Super Bowl. This was all before the season started. Some of the NFL commentators said there were big problems in Big D but most of the talking heads just brushed it off and said once the season started they would be fine. Well they are not fine today and because of it Wade Phillips is on enemployment.
So what can we do as leaders and coaches to avoid the pitfalls that snared the Boys this year.
1) Don't buy into the lie that you are all that and more.
Many times we get enamored with our success that we forget we are all still human and do not have GOD powers to simply speak something into existance. We still have to do the little things right, still have to lay the foundations and work hard.
2) Don't get complacent.
Abraham Lincoln said "the enemy of great is not bad, but good". I try to live that because there are a lot of people who could be great but settle for good. And the problem with that is the same problem the Boys are having today, they were pegged for greatness, just being good is not good enough.
3) Do the little things right.
GOD promises in his word that if we are faithful in the little things he will give us the larger things in life. It works like that in all aspects of life, start small and slowly as you gain experience you get bigger things to work with. But if you never do the little things right, you will keep repeating that job until you do.
4) Do your job with all your heart
I have watched some of the Cowboys play their tails off, and still I have seen others, well not look like they had their heart into it. I would be the last one to ever question an athletes heart, but I know that during my athletic carreer there were times when I just gave up when there was still time on the clock. Working in a losing effort is not fun, it is work. But that work will pay off later in life, trust me.
5) And finally, Sometimes change is needed.
Do I think that the new coach will do any better? Probably not. But I will say this, I guarantee you that this week in practice and in the locker room things are different. It may not be large change, it may be something as insignificant as a change of pace of schedule but many times change is needed to jump start our lives. As humans we love to be comfortable, but only in our uncomfortable state do we truely start to look for opportunities, for options to make life better. The world is changing around us and we need to be ready to change with it or we might find ourself on the end of a loosing record and a boss looking to fire somebody, think about it.