Shake It Up—but Only If You’re All In: Lessons from the NFL
Imagine you and your competitors all enter a pact: share your biggest revenue streams, pool your marketing, and match payrolls dollar for dollar. Everyone sells the exact same product. You'd think your companies would perform similarly, right?
This is what the NFL tries to achieve—an even playing field, where teams share profits, keep payrolls capped, and have a level shot at success. Yet, what has actually happened? Some teams rise year after year, while others (like my beloved Cleveland Browns) consistently struggle. Why?
Is it just luck? Or are there deeper lessons here—lessons for any business trying to understand the true costs of change?
Short-Term Fixes, Long-Term Costs
The NFL's parity plan set the stage for equal opportunity, but the outcomes have shown that some teams build for the future while others chase a quick fix. Teams like the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers demonstrate what happens when an organization stays committed to its philosophy and coach. The Patriots’ long-term partnership with Bill Belichick led to two decades of success, while the Steelers have had just three head coaches since 1969—each of whom has had time to develop a winning culture.
Compare that to my Cleveland Browns. Under owner Jimmy Haslam, the Browns have cycled through multiple head coaches, general managers, and strategic pivots in just over a decade. The result? Constant instability, a revolving door of leadership, and little to no payoff on the field. The Browns aren’t lacking talent or ambition—they’re lacking stability. The changes are frequent, often driven by a desire for immediate results, but they rarely stick around long enough for the seeds to grow.
Change Carries Hidden Costs
Now, I’m not saying change is bad. In fact, staying stagnant is a recipe for failure. But poorly thought-out changes, especially those driven by short-term pressures, come with hidden costs.
Let’s break down the true price of constant upheaval:
1. Real Costs
Big initiatives—whether it’s a new strategic direction, a website overhaul, a new tech system—have obvious expenses. There’s the money spent on new tools, consultants, infrastructure. These costs are easy to see, so we factor them in. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
2. Opportunity Costs
What we often overlook is what we’re giving up to make these changes. Change requires time, energy, and focus. It diverts attention from existing efforts and may cause you to lose momentum where it matters most. Big transformations, like website redesigns or complete rebrands, can lead to short-term confusion for customers. They can spark the dreaded “Where’s my stuff?” syndrome, where customers get lost in your new setup, and you pay the price in lost sales or customer loyalty.
3. Talent Costs
Change impacts your people. Strategic shifts often create instability for employees, shaking their confidence or even prompting some to leave. And any “A” player can become a “C” player when put into the wrong environment. Employee turnover isn’t just about hiring costs—it’s about the time spent training new team members and the disruption to culture and workflow. Every shift has its price.
The Emotional Cost of Change
A very wise former teammate of mine, Amina Warner, once put it this way: "Change is the death of the old and the birth of the new." While some people thrive on the new—the challenge, the excitement—others feel a sense of loss that needs to be honored. Every change, no matter how positive, is an ending as much as it is a beginning. And for those who aren’t ready, or for those who experience constant changes, the grief can build up.
Too much change means too much grief, and that can erode the mental health of even the most resilient teams. It’s not just about managing logistics and budgets. It’s also about acknowledging the human element. A healthy culture understands that people need time to adapt, time to mourn what’s no longer there, and time to buy into the new vision.
The Case for Smart, Committed Change
I’m not anti-change. Far from it. But if we’re going to make changes, we have to be smart about them. There’s a big difference between chasing short-term wins and making a change that’s carefully planned, designed for the long haul, and executed with full commitment.
Sometimes, a big change is necessary. The key is to commit—really commit — and put the right effort into managing that change. That’s how you ensure that the disruptions of change are outweighed by long-term gains.
After all, defending the status quo is a fast track to irrelevance. But equally dangerous is making a change just to “shake things up.” If you’re going to shake it up, make sure it’s worth it, and then be all in.
