Major League Baseball (MLB) announced that it has suspended New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez from playing baseball until the 2015 season for using “Performance Enhancing Drugs,” or PEDs, during his baseball career and for attempting to obstruct its investigation into PED use. 

Whether Rodriguez is guilty, or whether MLB was justified in handing down a much stricter suspension than it has for other players who were caught using PEDs, isn’t the point of this post as much as everyone’s reaction to this. It seems everyone just wants him to go away. Major League Baseball...the Yankees....the fans...

Just a few years ago the Yankees signed Alex Rodriguez to a $275 million (let that number sink in for a bit) ten-year contract. He was supposed to be one of the cornerstones of the franchise for years to come. Many thought he would even break the all-time home run record-he was just that good. 

Yes, people remarked that he seemed selfish, self-absorbed, and demanding. He was often compared unfavorably to fellow Yankee Derek Jeter, who it seems can do no wrong. Yet as long as Rodriguez performed, it didn’t really seem to matter if he really was a self-absorbed jerk. In other words, they may have hated the guy, but as long as he hit home runs when it mattered, it was all good. 

What Happens When You Hit a Slump?

But then, Rodriguez started to struggle. The big hits he was known for began to dwindle and he often came up small when it mattered, especially in light of his $275 million contract. While he could still be a productive player, he no longer seemed to be worth the monster contract. 

When this happened all of the stories, all of the animosity, all of the negativity people felt towards him came out in full force. According to sources, he was even referred to as “A-Fraud” by some of his own teammates. Now, in the midst of this PED scandal, his own team doesn’t seem to want him. He can’t produce anymore like he used to, so he’s no good to them (in their perspective) and they don’t want him. As I mentioned before, it doesn’t seem like a lot of people want him either. 

You may be a superstar now. You may be the sales king. You may have the highest numbers of anyone in the organization. You may be the cornerstone of your company’s success now-and if you are, congratulations! You’ve put in the time and you should enjoy the fruits of your labor. 

But are you doing it the right way? 

Are you building fans within your company that are cheering for you to win? Or are you building a legion of people who can’t wait to cheer when you fall? Twenty years from now, are there people who work for you right now who will say you were the example of what they aspired to be or will you be the person they wanted to avoid being like? Will they say about you, “S/he cared about us?” or will it be “S/he only cared about him/herself?” 

In other words, have you done the work to build a team of people who will cheer you on? Because one day you will have a slump. You will make a bad decision. You will cross a line. You will make a mistake. The storm will come!

When it happens, will the work you have done with your employer, your employees, your partners, vendors and co-workers, and customers enable you to weather the storms, or will those storms be the reason people use to (finally) push you out? 

The Question

I’ll ask the key question again....and be honest...

Are people cheering for you to succeed or are they cheering for you to fall?

Photo Credit: Keith Allison used under Creative Commons License