L.A. Rams COO Says Lost Confidence Signals a Leadership Change

Insights from the latest guest on my Office Hours podcast:

Kevin Demoff, Chief Operating Officer (COO), L.A. Rams

• Lifelong L.A. Rams fan
• Part of the L.A. Rams organization since 2009
• Included among Sports Business Journal’s “Forty under 40” in 2016
• His father, Marvin Demoff, is a sports agent who represented John Elway
• Worked for me as a sports reporter at our high school newspaper when I was editor-in-chief

Topics covered:

• Head coach leadership change, from Jeff Fisher to Sean McVay
• KPIs for an NFL team (it’s not just the Super Bowl)
• Returning to an old fan base and establishing a new one among millennials
• Constructing Hollywood Park, the biggest stadium in the NFL

Between managing a relocation, a mammoth real estate development and significant leadership changes on the coaching staff, L.A. Rams COO Kevin Demoff has a had a wild couple of years. I know a bit about the Rams, having grown up in L.A. while they were still our local team the first time around, but my knowledge ended at the sidelines until I sat down with Kevin, who obliged my leadership obsession with an inside perspective on running an NFL team.

In the podcast, Kevin and I engage in a very frank discussion about his decision to fire Jeff Fisher, the Rams’ longtime head coach, and replace him with Sean McVay, the youngest head coach in NFL history at 30 years old. “In the end,” Kevin said to me, “the question we asked is if we went into another offseason with the same leadership, would we have confidence that we could contend for a Super Bowl? Once the answer was ‘No,’ we had to make a change.”

In pressing reset, what did they look for? Kevin explains that as someone rises from a position coach (e.g., Linebacker Coach) to becoming a Head Coach, the skill set for success changes. It’s no longer just about subject matter expertise, it’s about overall leadership. “Getting the most out of your players isn’t just calling the best plays on Sunday. It’s making sure they're prepared; it’s making sure that they communicate well,” says Kevin. This is strikingly similar to the corporate world. The higher up you go on the corporate ladder, the more your position becomes about communication. That’s why I frequently refer to the CEO position as basically the head of HR.

Kevin explains: “When you get into any position of leadership, being able to have a vision — and being able to communicate it and connect with your employees and those you’re working with — is the most important element of leadership.” But, as he pointed out in the Rams’ assessment heading into a new season, it’s also about whether the organization has confidence in your ability to execute on your vision.

Lost confidence is leadership’s kiss of death. Regardless of the leader’s education, experience, track record or grand plans, when people stop believing that he or she can effect positive change and move the team or business in the right direction, it’s time to find a new leader. That’s a tough decision for a lot of companies – and it gets progressively harder the more senior a role becomes – but it’s an important change to make. Across sports teams and Silicon Valley, we’ve seen what happens when a leader without the organization’s confidence remains at the helm. On the flip side, we’ve seen what happens when organizations believe in their leadership. The influence of confidence is as powerful as it is damaging. 

In the NFL, team performance is a public, closely tracked and hotly debated topic. It’s relatively easy to determine when fans have lost faith. But for the rest of us in companies whose inner workings are less on display, we need to establish our own systems of gauging confidence. For instance, I use skip-level reviews at Zillow Group to assess the performance of my direct reports, meaning I talk to the teams they manage to get their feedback. Whatever method you use, the goal is to understand the perception of your leadership at different levels within the organization because, as Kevin says, “if your own organization doesn't believe, then I don't know how you'll get the fans to believe.”

Whether you’re a leadership junkie, a Rams fan or just curious about what it’s like to run an NFL team, make sure to check out our full conversation by pressing play below.

You can read a transcript of the full interview with Kevin, as well as others in the Office Hours series, here. If you like what we’re doing, please write a review on iTunes.