How to Master the Super Bowl with Humility

Deflategate.

Marshawn Lynch fines.

Ray Rice domestic abuse.

Adrian Peterson child abuse.

Roger Stokoe Goodell, Commissioner of the National Football League had quite a year. At his recent State of the NFL press conference he was asked the following question:

Speaking of jobs, it’s been a tough year for you in your job this year. Many people in America, if they went through the year that you’ve had, probably would have resigned or been fired. Can you envision any set of circumstances that would lead you to resigning or being fired from your job as commissioner?

This question is quite interesting from a management, public relations and leadership perspective. Perhaps more interesting was his response:

We’ve all done a lot of soul searching, starting with yours truly... Listen, it has been a tough year. It’s been a tough year on me personally. It’s been a year of what I would say is humility and learning.

Humility and learning. It’s rare to hear such acknowledgement, much less from a leader of a highly visible organization making a reported $44 million annually.

Why Humility?

Humility comes from the Latin word humilis, which literally means low. Humility is the quality or condition of being humble.

Feeling or admitting humility in front of many is an admission of feeling small, insignificant or ineffectual. Given the Goodell's visibility, he’s likely someone you’ve seen depicted-- drawn and quartered in comical fashion at some point recently.

Goodell went on:

A lot of the concerns that we had back in August where we didn’t have a policy that addressed a very complex issue, we didn’t have answers ... We didn’t fully understand those issues. Now we have experts in the field…. Well over 150 experts, whether they are former players, college and university presidents, law enforcement officials.

However badly many feel Goodell handled the initial response to the Ray Rice, Ray McDonald, or Adrian Peterson cases, it’s clear he’s moved the organization forward (regardless of the starting point).

This is an interesting Case Study, as it’s so very public. The ability to armchair quarterback the machinations of League policies is every fan’s right...Every decision scrutinized, as if we have facts with which to make the same decisions. Add to that the schadenfreude of watching a public figurehead seemingly get his.

Ask yourself, if faced with the same heat, how you may have handled the firestorm? Knowing full well that you work for 32 Millionaire and Billionaire owners?

Implications for Managers

Humility is an apt response -- to even begin to start to build competency in a league clearly under-prepared to deal with the variety of personal behavior vagaries on the table.

According to Academy of Management Journal, humble leaders are more effective and better liked within their organizations. Goodell’s display of humility appears the path towards effectively navigating the NFL through troubled waters.

Interestingly, the NFL owners unanimously approved a new personal conduct policy in December put forward by Goodell.

The Academy of Management Journal also finds humility in leaders to be a powerful predictors of their own as well as the organization's growth.

By most other public counts-- specifically revenue and profit-- Goodell seems to be executing well. This week it was reported that NBC (the network carrying the Super Bowl broadcast in America) had sold all of the available ad inventory for Sunday's game for a record average cost of $4.5 million per 30-second ad… Or $9 million per minute-- up $1 million from last year.

Which, of course, has a trickle down effect to how much the NFL sells rights to future Super Bowl broadcasts.

Gaining, By Deprecation

It also seems as though humility is enjoying a renaissance, as you can see the public mentions of the term literally growing (more than tripling) over the past decade:

It doesn’t seem likely Goodell will be fired or resign. And the guess here is that his board of directors (owners) is likely to keep this highly paid individual in place for the foreseeable future.

Leaders of all stripes would be wise to learn from the crisis response and approach Goodell brings to the table.

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ABOUT ERIC

Eric is ever-curious and considers marketing & sales noble professions. He has led Marketing + Sales Teams of various sizes at numerous successful startups; currently CMO at KiteDesk

Follow Eric on LinkedIn and @equanstrom