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Originally Posted by Colts And Orioles
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A different take on the matter ......
Carlie Irsay-Gordon Takes Notes on the sideline ...... It Raises a Larger Leadership Question
(By Rustin Dodd)
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/767...ne-leadership/
While most NFL owners spend games following along from an executive suite, Carlie Irsay-Gordon watches from the sideline near the Indianapolis Colts’ bench, headset on and notebook in hand.
The routine began years ago, when her father, Jim Irsay, owned the team. But when Irsay-Gordon, 45, became a principal owner and CEO of the Colts last year, she said that she still possessed an elementary understanding of football and the action on the field. To be a better leader, she wanted to know the nuances of the game.
For one season, the novelty of an owner on the sideline was mostly viewed as fodder for broadcasts, a window into a new boss. But when Irsay-Gordon returned to the bench this year, including during a nationally televised game from London this past Sunday, the images intensified debates about the proper behavior of owners.
On one hand, an inexperienced owner was trying to learn and understand how her subordinates make decisions. On the other hand, it’s a highly unusual approach from a principal owner ...... even among involved owners such as the Dallas Cowboys’ Jerry Jones, who regularly weighs in publicly on his team’s performance.
Beyond the dynamics of one NFL team ...... and one owner ...... is a broader leadership question that stretches to every industry and organization ...... the thin line between support and interference.
How does a leader know when they’re overstepping ???
For Tanya Menon, a professor of management at Ohio State University, the Irsay-Gordon situation illustrates a classic example of what psychologists call “evaluation apprehension,” the idea that people generally perform worse on tests or assignments when they feel that they are being watched or observed.
It doesn’t even matter whether people are literally being evaluated ..... research shows that even the perception can undermine performance.
“The owner or the boss or the professor can say, ‘I’m just here to learn. I’m here to understand,’” Menon said. “And that’s not what the other person is actually experiencing.”
Of course, observation is not harmful in every context. In the 1960s, social psychologist Robert Zajonc developed a theory of social facilitation, in which the mere presence of others could improve the performance of physical tasks ...... such as running on a treadmill or lifting weights ...... but hinder performance in complex subjects such as math.
The issue, Menon said, became visible in the corporate world when some CEOs decided to ditch their corner suites in favor of a simple cubicle in the middle of the office. In an effort to signal solidarity or gain better access to the flow of information, the executives often undermined their own workers.
“It’s a lot more egalitarian,” Menon said. “I’m sitting in the middle. I’m sitting with my people. I don’t have a fancy office. But it can have real effects on people. They’re performing for you. They’re politicking in front of you. And that affects their work.”
Others, however, have a different perspective. Amy Edmondson, a professor of leadership and management at Harvard Business School, said that she observed a subtle power in the act of Irsay-Gordon taking notes on the sideline.
“It signals respect,” Edmondson said. “If someone is taking notes, it’s a simple way of saying what is happening right now is important enough for me to capture it. It also sends us a message that this is what we do ...... we pay attention and we try to get smarter and more thoughtful.”
On Monday, when Irsay-Gordon appeared at a Women in Football event in London, she reiterated that her approach was rooted in learning, telling reporter Bridget Condon of
Front Office Sports Tonight that she wanted to ask better questions.
“It just helps to understand and to ask questions,” she said. “Because I think that one of the things, in my opinion ...... being a good leader is about listening.”
Irsay-Gordon took control of the Colts in 2025 ...... along with her 2 sisters ...... when Jim Irsay died at the age of 65. She is one of just 5 women who act as principal owners in the NFL.
Irsay-Gordon is present at almost every practice and walk-through. She has traveled on the road with scouts. She keeps hours that resemble a member of the coaching staff.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever been around a more process-driven person than her,” Chris Ballard, the Colts’ general manager, told
The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue last year for a profile on Irsay-Gordon.
During game days, Irsay-Gordon told Rodrigue that she either only wears an earpiece or does not speak into the microphone on her headset ...... but her actions as a leader stand out as unorthodox among owners.
Edmondson, the Harvard professor, wondered whether the reaction to her presence on the sideline echoed similar challenges facing women in leadership roles in other industries.
“The most talked about and robust is the competence-likability trade-off,” Edmondson said. “When men are competent, they’re likable. When women show signs of competence, it diminishes their likability.
“It is manageable, but it has to be managed. You sort of have to go out of your way to demonstrate warmth.”
Steven D. Cohen, a professor of practice at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, said that there were also ways to manage the tension between being present and curious while not interfering.
“What I often tell leaders is to frame it in this way,” Cohen said. “Am I getting involved because this person needs my help, or because I need to feel in control ???”
The most effective leaders, Cohen said, often follow the framework of “autonomy-supportive leadership,” which features “high clarity, high availability, but low unnecessary control.”
Put another way ...... one of the simplest ways for a leader to resolve the attention and empower others, said Amy Young, a professor of business communications at the University of Michigan, is to be transparent about their presence and explain the purpose.
If they don’t, the people working for them will create their own version of why.
“Everything a leader does ...... especially a CEO ...... carries a lot of weight,” Young said. “So her being there is not going to go unnoticed, and it will have an impact.”
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