What CEOs Can Learn From NFL Game Plans to Build Resilient Organizations
In professional sports, as in business, there really is no “offseason.” The best teams, athletes, owners, executives, and coaches are always preparing for the next challenge, whether that means staying in shape, fine-tuning skills, identifying top talent in the draft, watching game film, designing new plays, or getting ready for the BIGGEST game of the year.
Since 2022, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles have been the two winningest franchises in the NFL. Sunday, they’ll face off in the Super Bowl for the second time during that span. The sustained success of both teams in such an extremely competitive league demonstrates how strategic leadership and preparation can build a championship culture that’s both resilient and adaptable. CEOs should strive to do the same as they’re drawing up their game plans to Make BIG Happen this year.
The Kansas City Chiefs: Adapting Through Preparation
In Super Bowl LIV, the Kansas City Chiefs surprised the San Francisco 49ers with an unorthodox run play inside the red zone. Why weren’t the 49ers ready?
Perhaps because Chiefs’ coach Andy Reid called a play he saw watching film of the 1948 Rose Bowl.
That play wasn’t on the top page of the Chiefs’ regular playbook. But they practiced it all season. And they had also spent weeks studying the 49ers’ strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies. Their preparation was so complete, at every level of the team, that when Coach Reid identified the right moment for that one play, the result was a touchdown.
CEOs who fill out their own “playbooks” will always have Plans B, C, and D ready when a similar opportunity presents itself. But sometimes those backup plans get a BIG promotion on game day because Plan A just isn’t an option.
That’s what happened in the 2023 AFC Championship, when the Chiefs’ star quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, was nursing a high ankle sprain. Knowing that they couldn’t rely on Mahomes’ athleticism alone to spark BIG plays, the Chiefs shifted to shorter, quicker passes, making it easier for the offensive line to protect their QB and putting the onus on their backs and receivers to rack up yards after the catch. K.C.’s defense also came up BIG against the Cincinnati Bengals’ own star QB, Joe Burrow, sacking him five times and picking him off twice. This formula probably wouldn’t have been Plan A if Mahomes were healthy, but it led to a win, a trip to the Super Bowl, and championship.
It’s clear that the depth of corporate playbooks and the adaptability of game plans is going to be a major business story this year. Practically no one thought a company without Silicon Valley’s resources could disrupt the AI arms race. But the team behind DeepSeek was able to maximize its resources and ingenuity to achieve outsized results. We’ll see what Nvidia, OpenAI, and Google have at the back of their playbooks in the months ahead.
The Philadelphia Eagles: Mastering Situational Awareness
The Philadelphia Eagles are also built around a stellar QB, Jalen Hurts. In their 2022-23 run to the Super Bowl, the Eagles and coach Nick Sirianni tailored their offense around Hurts’ strength and mobility, utilizing a mix of run-pass option plays and designed QB runs to keep defenses guessing on every possession.
Siriani also saw in former powerlifter Hurts the ideal instrument for a play he’d tried as offensive coordinator of the Indianapolis Colts: “The Tush Push.” Using teammates to shove Hurts forward has made the Eagles nearly unstoppable in short-yardage situations — a BIG competitive advantage in a league where scoring TDs consistently in the red zone and converting on fourth down have become more and more important.
Designing a team that maximizes the strengths of its best players and capitalizes on analytical trends is a winning formula for resilient businesses as well. But AI-enhanced data collection and analysis should also help CEOs identify inefficiencies and opportunities that competitors may be overlooking. In the past 20 years, as rule changes and analytics have evolved the NFL into a pass-first league, some teams started to view running backs as interchangeable. But the two most impactful free agent signings of 2024 were made by teams that identified the value of superstar running backs: Derrick Henry joined the Baltimore Ravens, and league rushing leader Saquon Barkley went to … the Philadelphia Eagles.
5 Keys to a Winning CEO Playbook
Preparation does more than just broaden your range of tactical options — it creates comprehensive systems that build the confidence and trust resilient teams need to perform under pressure. In this high-performance business environment, executives and team leaders know what the BIG goals are and what steps are necessary to hit them. And employees feel supported by systems that promote empowerment and reward hard work and ingenuity.
The best way for CEOs to “quarterback” a resilient team is to work with their CEO coach and develop their 2025 playbook around these five principles:
- Strategic Depth: Use a sensitivity analysis to outline strategies that account for various scenarios, including market downturns, operational disruptions, and potential competitive threats (think DeepSeek or tariffs).
- Situational Awareness: Regularly analyze external and internal data to anticipate changes and adjust proactively.
- Scenario Planning: Use regular employee training sessions to simulate potential challenges and rehearse responses, similar to how NFL teams practice for different game situations.
- Team Empowerment: Give employees opportunities for additional training, education, mentorship, and collaboration to ensure the organization can adapt to change seamlessly. Celebrate wins and publicly acknowledge top performance.
- Post-Mortem Reviews: Analyze successes and failures to refine preparation for next quarter.
Every NFL season ends at the Super Bowl. As a CEO, even your BIGGEST wins should never be ends. Each victory should create a new floor, a new position of strength from which you can set an even higher target. And as those goals level up, your playbook and your leadership need to improve as well. Keep growing, keep adapting, and keep winning, and you can build your company into the only thing BIGGER than a champion: a resilient dynasty that keeps Making BIG Happen.
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