The most famous shootout in American history happened on this week in 1881. Despite lasting a mere thirty seconds, the gunfight at the O.K. Corral turned Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday into household names.
On a cold fall afternoon in the boomtown of Tombstone, Arizona, lawmen Wyatt, Virgil, and Morgan Earp along with close friend Holliday attempted to enforce an ordinance that prohibited the carrying of weapons within the city limits.
The alleged violators were outlaws from the notorious Clanton-McLaury gang, collectively known as the “Cowboys.”
Numerous movies have immortalized the famous shootout, including Frontier Marshal (1939), Shootout at the O.K. Corral (1946), Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957), Tombstone (1993) and Wyatt Earp (1994).
The new Netflix docudrama, Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War, does an excellent job of explaining why the gunfight at the O.K. Corral became so popular. In short, it had to do with America’s need to repay the debts the country incurred to Europe during the Civil War.
A prosperous silver mine was discovered near Tombstone. The Cowboys were robbing the Wells Fargo stagecoaches that transported the silver back to New York. Financial power brokers like J.P. Morgan had a vested interest in bringing those robberies to an end.
One of my all-time favorite movie scenes is from the Kurt Russell movie Tombstone where the four lawmen, garbed in black, courageously walk down a dusty Freemont Street toward the O.K. Corral to confront the Cowboys.
The Cowboys were doing something wrong. It was not “OK” for them to break the law. It was not “OK” for them to think they were above the law.
The lawmen had a responsibility to confront the Cowboys’ waywardness. It was not “OK” for them to “look the other way.” It was not “OK” for them to allow the rule breaking to continue. Nor was it “OK” for them to allow themselves to be intimidated through fear.
Having the courage to confront wayward behaviors is a crucial element to being a good teammate. When someone on the team is engaging in behaviors that are detrimental to the team’s culture, good teammates speak up.
They confront the offenders assertively, tactfully, and strategically because they realize that their silence equates to approval. Good teammates know that unconfronted toxic behaviors destroy teams from the inside out.
The key to conjuring the courage to confront isn’t viewing the confrontation as something you could do or should do, but rather as something you have a responsibility to do.
Whether you confront the offender directly or take the problem to someone who has the authority to do so, it’s your responsibility to act.
If you can conjure the courage to confront wayward behaviors on your team, you’re an asset to your team. Or as Val Kilmer’s Doc Holliday eloquently says in Tombstone: “You’re a daisy if you do.”
As always…Good teammates care. Good teammates share. Good teammates listen. Go be a good teammate.
