What CEOs can learn from football

The business world could learn a lot from the NFL.

No, I’m not advocating for open-field tackling in the hallway, but there is something smart about the way football coaches are promoted and demoted.

Let me start with a classic example.

General Electric was long thought of as the role model for succession planning.

Years before Jack Welch retired, the company had three successors lined up: Jeffrey Immelt, James McNerney and Robert Nardelli.

Of course, Immelt became the CEO and had 16 often tumultuous years at the helm, during which the company’s market cap plummeted from $410 billion to $200 billion.

After not being chosen, McNerney and Nardelli left GE and became CEOs elsewhere - 3M and Boeing for McNerney and Home Depot for Nardelli.

Now let’s look at Todd Bowles.

Bowles moved up the coaching ranks, first in college and then in pro football, becoming a renowned defensive coordinator.

Eventually he landed his first top job, becoming head coach of my beloved New York Jets.

Things started off well, with a 10-win season, but it soon went downhill and Bowles was fired after three disastrous years in a row.

Did he go out and immediately try to become a head coach again? Nope.

He went back to what got him to the top and became the defensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, working for and learning from the great Bruce Arians.

When Arians decided to retire three years later, Bowles was given the head coach position and led the Bucs to the playoffs in his first year.

Why can’t we do this in business?

If someone goes from being a great CFO to becoming CEO - and it doesn’t work out - that person should go back to the CFO role at the same company and perhaps retake the helm a few years later.

To go back to the GE example, what if McNerney and Nardelli stayed at GE and one of them took over for Immelt when he faltered? It would have been a much smoother succession and Immelt could have continued contributing to the company in a different role.

Sadly, I think egos get in the way too much to allow this to happen, but hopefully we’ll get there.