The Tigers led or had a share of the American League Central for 149 days -- but slipped to second on the last day. They became the first team to blow a three-game lead with four left.
That’s a problem! Who’s to blame for the problem?
Tiger’s general manager and president Dave Dombrowski in a press conference, looked around, raised his hand and said “Blame me.” Mr. Dombrowski was laying blame on himself for the trades he made late in the season that didn’t work so well.
Here is the problem – When Mr. Dombrowski stood up and said “blame me,” without exploring the situation to determine what there was for him to learn and how he would clean it up, he went into a mental state of SHAME. Shame is when you lay blame on yourself and feel guilty about a situation. In your mind you begin to recognize that you had some role in creating this situation and you start feeling bad. You also hope that others will feel bad for you and forgive and forget. In a mental state of shame you don’t grow as a person or solve the problem because while you’re stuck feeling bad, you stop looking for what is there to learn so root of the problem can be resolved. As a result, there is no growth and the problem still exists. Its okay for Mr. Dombrowski to take the blame, in fact, he did make deals that flopped and possibly cost the Tigers the American League Central title, but he can’t stop at feeling bad and hoping the fans and the Tigers organization will forgive and forget, he has to take the next step in solving the problem by taking responsibility for his role, by telling us what he learned about the problem and what he’s going to do to clean it up.