The Doctor is IN

Two assistant coaches huddle in an office cubicle. Their quite conversation halted by the booming voice from behind a conference room door.  - The doctor must be in, declares one coach. -  Then his tight lips stretch across his teeth in what approximates a smile and with steely, unblinking eyes, he sighs.

You and I wait for the page to turn in the next chapter of our beloved pastime. These guys wait to find out if they need to light up the fax, phone and email with their resumes. Families up rooted, moving vans, chest-seizing uncertainty consumes their interrupted careers.

And what does York do? Yell. Sources tell us that Dr. York likes to yell at people.

I've worked for a number of talented executives and CEO ís here in Silicon Valley; yellers and non-yellers. My take on the yellers is that they have a co-dependent relationship with their rage. They think they're yelling to get something done, but they're really shouting because it makes them feel better. A hack-psychologist like myself might propose that they yell to cover up their fear.

Two things that are always true of the CEO-Yellers are that they lose respect, and they foster poor communications. Respectful communication is a foundation of any winning team.

We forgive children for shouting at adults, after all they are still learning how to manage their emotions. But for the rest of us, yelling at others comes with consequences. No body is going to fire York, except himself, for acting like a child;  but there are still consequences.

The CEO-Yellers of Silicon Valley come in a wide variety of flavors, but they cope with unreal pressure; global competitors, Wall Street, VCís, institutional investors, all with a phalanx of lawyers ready to blow holes in their companies at the hint of a misstep.

A little Googling tells us that Yorkís great business success was starting DeYor Laboratories. They have three labs--worldwide. Not to take too much away from him, but from a business perspective, that is pretty modest success on the local level. In fact, in Silicon Valley that isnít diddley-squat.

So it makes sense that heir doctor is hiding his fear with his volume. In his belly, he knows he is out of his league; NFL, Silicon Valley, or otherwise.

Talk back to