Rocky Richard Arnold
The head coach of the 49ers left the
organization on December 29, 2014 after a year of fractious rumors and innuendo
involving the team owner and president/CEO, Jed York; the GM, Trent Baalke; and
Head Coach Harbaugh that many think affected the performance of the on-field
players.
Coach Harbaugh came to the 49ers with a
strong background of leadership in both college as a head coach (University of
San Diego and Stanford University) and the NFL as a starting quarterback
(Chicago Bears, San Diego Chargers, and Indianapolis Colts). Many fans viewed him as being a coach that
had a style well-suited to the younger players found in college, and they
wondered if he would fit in the NFL where more mature players have to be led
and managed.
49ers Coach Harbaugh took a collection
of players and made them into a team that performed at a very high level. And he did that in the first year and the
following two years—three years of high achievement—followed by a sub-par
fourth-year 8-8 record in 2014. That the
players played for the coach and vice versa was well understood by the
fans—loyalty extended both directions.
Harbaugh was appreciated for his over-exuberant behavior and
energy-laden motivating tactics designed to elevate the adrenaline and
performance of the players.
NFL teams are just like any other business. They have head coaches that are hired by the
owner-investors. Both owners and
coaches are responsible for performance.
However, in the absence of success (i.e., winning the Super Bowl), owners
have the upper hand and the greater responsibility for achieving organizational
success. Shortcomings are almost always
totally ascribed to the head coach without considering the responsibility of
the team owner—fair or not, that is the way it is. Given the excellent competencies of
Coach Harbaugh, however, most fans will turn to Jed York and hold him
responsible for the performance of the team next year and afterward based
principally on his choice for the next head coach. And that is the way it should be. Owners are responsible for hiring the top
manager (head coach or CEO).
An NFL team owner (in this case, the York family) and investors are both
intensely focused on success. An NFL
team owner wants to win the Super Bowl and realize the emotional highs and
pride that comes from winning as well as increase the value of the
franchise. Investors in a company seek
to increase the value of the investee company and ultimately exit with the
highest ROI possible. Both NFL team
owners and investors in businesses are challenged with the need to secure a talented
leader (Head Coach in the case of an NFL team and CEO for business
organizations).
Startups are typically led by the original vision holder, inventor, or
founder whose skills in a leadership role are uncertain. In the world of startups, the replacement of
a startup founder/CEO is not unusual, especially when initial successes are
replaced with shortcomings in sales, revenue, and profitability. Investors assume that the shortcomings are
the result of CEO failures in leadership and/or mismanagement and
decision-making. Or in some cases,
investors assume that a less-experienced founder/CEO lacks the requisite
knowledge, skills, and experience to take the organization to a higher level of
performance. Investors, like NFL team
owners, are wise to carefully dissect the reasons for shortcomings. Investors quickly think that a new so-called
professional CEO is needed—a person who will come in and build on the initial
work of the startup CEO by installing and monitoring processes and setting the
strategies that will lead to success.
It
must be remembered that players may be strongly bonded to each other as a
result of the intense external pressure to win.
Removal of a well-liked founder/CEO or the head coach raises the risk
that the founding team or players are disaffected both by the action of removal
as well as the unsuitability of a newly-hired head coach or professional
CEO. This is the risk for the 49ers
owner, Jed York.
Here are some differences between a
startup CEO and a professional CEO that must be considered before replacing a
startup CEO (or a winning NFL head coach):
● A startup CEO is focused on winning key
initial sales and on revenue growth. A
professional CEO is focused on developing reliable processes for generating
revenue and profit.
● A startup CEO is heavily involved with the
selection of people. A professional CEO
is driven to develop policies and processes that guide the hiring process.
● A startup CEO interacts directly with
personnel. A professional CEO interacts
primarily with the next level of management.
● A startup CEO has a naturally high
affiliation with team members where loyalties are strong. A professional CEO has a high affiliation
with investors and senior managers and loyalties between employees and
management is lower by comparison.
In important ways, Coach Harbaugh was like a startup CEO. He moved the organization from mediocrity to
success in a single year based on his leadership style. His affiliation and loyalty was with the
players and not with ownership. He had a
strong focus on immediate success, which the 49ers needed.
Was
he the coach for the long term? Perhaps
not, according to the owner, but on the other hand, his style was perfect for an NFL whose players were young and in need of
coaches who understood the pressures of both maturing and performing at the
same time.
*****
Rocky Richard Arnold provides strategic corporate and capital acquisition advice to
early-stage companies founded by entrepreneurs wishing to successfully
commercialize high-value-creation opportunities, ideas, and/or
technologies. More information about
Rocky can be found at www.rockyrichardarnold.com. His book is available for purchase on Amazon at http://tinyurl.com/pv248qq.
Financial
software for use by startups can be purchased on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K2KPSI2. He posts articles about entrepreneurship on
his blog at http://thesmartentrepreneur.blogspot.com.
