On February 6, 2011, the Green Bay Packers defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-
25 in a thrilling Super Bowl XLV victory. The triumph capped an unlikely run in
which the Packers overcame the loss of 16 players to injured reserve during the
season and rose from the lowest seed in the NFC playoffs to emerge as world
champions. Just as unlikely and compelling has been the career trajectory of
Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy. A graduate of Colgate University,
Murphy achieved a rare feat by entering the NFL as an undrafted free agent
safety and enjoying an eight-year playing career. He was a co-captain of the
Washington Redskins from 1980-84; a Super Bowl champion in 1982; an All-Pro
and Pro Bowler in 1983; and the vice president of the NFL Players Association
(NFLPA) in 1983 and 1984.
After his playing career concluded, Murphy earned a law degree and returned to
the NFL as assistant executive director of the NFLPA. Following a stint as a trial
attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, he made a name for himself as a
successful athletic director at his alma mater Colgate, and then at Northwestern
University, before becoming president and CEO of the Green Bay Packers in
2008. With the Packers’ recent Super Bowl victory, Murphy made history as the
first person to win Super Bowls both as a player and as the head of an NFL
franchise. Spencer Stuart recently spoke with him about the leadership lessons
he has learned throughout his unique career.
The Green Bay Packers at a Glance
- Based in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and founded in 1919 by Earl “Curly” Lambeau and
George Whitney Calhoun, the Packers are the second-oldest franchise in the NFL.
- The team has won 13 league championships, more than any other team in the NFL,
including nine NFL championships before the Super Bowl era and victories in
Super Bowls I (1967), II (1968), XXXI (1997) and XLV (2011).
- The Green Bay Packers are the only nonprofit, community-owned major league
professional sports team in the U.S. As of 2005, more than 112,000 people could
lay claim to a franchise ownership interest. The Packers are also the only major league
sports franchise to release its balance sheet every year.
You went from being a collegiate athletic
director to become the president and CEO of
an NFL franchise. That doesn’t happen often.
What was it like making the shift?
Mark Murphy: The experiences I had as an
athletic director were actually very helpful in my
new role in terms of working with both coaches
and athletes. The league dynamic is a bit
different, but it resembles some of the issues I
dealt with as an athletic director at the
conference level, particularly in the Big Ten, in
terms of working with the athletic directors and
presidents of other schools.
You joined the Packers, a legendary
organization with a highly respected general
manager (Ted Thompson) and head coach
(Mike McCarthy). What were the keys to
succeeding as a new CEO with such a
strongly established team already in place?
Mark Murphy: First, you don’t try to micromanage.
I have never done that at any role I’ve
had. I believe in hiring good people or keeping
good people in place and letting them do their
jobs. One of the best things that happened early
in my tenure with the Packers was the situation
we had with Brett Favre where he retired and then
changed his mind. It forced me, Ted and Mike to
really come together on a major issue and I think
it has paid dividends for us since then.
We all felt that Aaron Rodgers was going to be
able to step in and play well for us. We’d made a
commitment to him, and we weren’t going to
change. We really started to feel pressure publicly.
But when you make a decision, I think it’s
important that everybody is on the same page
and you stick to it. When you start having people
splinter off or there’s some doubt about whether
you’re actually going to stick to the position,
then you’ve undermined everything. I can’t speak
for Mike and Ted, but they didn’t know me, and I
think the fact that I stuck by them and that we
worked well together gave them confidence.
The decision really split our fans, because some
of them are loyal Packers fans who are going to
support the Packers no matter what. But because
Brett had such great success and was such a
unique player, there were also people who
became Packers fans because of him. Fortunately,
Aaron Rodgers has played at such a high level
over the last three years that it’s really brought
the fan base together, and I think that people
understand why we went with him.
One of the things really that’s unique about
your job is the level of community
involvement. You’ve experienced that in your
other roles, but how do you see it being
different in this role with the Packers
compared to other NFL cities?
Mark Murphy: Well, it’s very different from any
other NFL team. Our ownership structure is
unique and we’re much more public; even our
financial records are public. As an NFL team in a
very small town, we get a lot more scrutiny than
most teams, but our fans are also extremely
loyal. They have a much stronger tie to the team
than other fans across the league because they
literally have an ownership interest in us.
After we won the Super Bowl, the support from
our fans was just unbelievable. We had 35,000
fans on the parade route coming home from the
airport. The Tuesday after the Super Bowl,
56,000 people came out to the stadium in five degree
weather.
The other aspect of it that’s different is that
we’ve got a 45-member board that is actively
involved in the management of the organization.
In some ways it reminds me of a board of
trustees at a university. When you’ve got 45
people on a board, as opposed to a corporate
board of eight or ten, it’s a large number to deal
with and keep informed. A big part of my job is
making sure that they understand why we’re
making the decisions that we are.
How do you do that? How often do you meet
with the whole group?
Mark Murphy: We meet with our entire board
four times a year; three during the season and
one in the off-season and there is also some
additional communication with them. We also
have a series of different committees. Every
member of the board is on a committee, and we
also have an executive committee of seven
people, including myself, where the business and
the strategic planning of the organization takes
place beyond my senior management team. The
executive committee meets once a month, and
more often as needed, so they’re actively
involved in the management of the organization.
Beyond the board, we have a larger body: our
112,000 shareholders. Once a year we have the
annual shareholders’ meeting, and about 15,000
people normally come to it. There’s no other
corporate board meeting or corporate meeting
quite like it — we have it right in Lambeau Field.
In terms of launching the strategy when you
first came aboard, how did you strategically
go about mapping out the short- and longterm
objectives for the Packers?
Mark Murphy: I was careful not to try to be a
change agent right away. I wanted to make sure I
really understood the Packers organization,
which is very unique. I knew it was, having been
around the league for a number of years, but
until you’re working here, you can’t have a real
appreciation for it. And though I played in the
league and worked for the players association,
I’d been away from the league for awhile, so I
also wanted to make sure I really understood the
business side of the NFL before making any
changes.
Early in my tenure, I really focused on strategic
planning. The Packers had done quite a bit of it
already, but being new gave me an opportunity
to look at things freshly, and I think that was
crucial and has been extremely helpful to us in
terms of some of the initiatives that we’ve gone
forward with. In terms of strategic planning, to
me the most important thing is making sure that
your employees buy into it and see the value and
importance of it. My experience both as an
athletic director and now with the Packers is that
some of the best initiatives and ideas come from
throughout the organization.
One thing that’s distinct about the Packers
is its great sense of tradition. How do you
keep that type of tradition going and build
upon it?
Mark Murphy: First, you’ve got to keep the
history and tradition front and center. For us, a
big part of Lambeau Field is our Hall of Fame
that recognizes the great history and tradition of
the Packers. The stadium itself is historic — it’s
the oldest in the NFL. People want to come and
see it.
The second thing we do is try to give our fans a
number of different ways to connect with the
players. For instance, a couple of years ago, we
built a brand new training camp practice field
with bleachers that seat about 3,000 where the
fans can feel like they’re close to the players.
The third thing that helps, honestly, is winning.
We’ve got four Super Bowl Championships and
13 world championships, more than any other
team in the league. You have to be careful — you
don’t want to come across as bragging about it.
But it’s important to make sure that people
understand the tremendo us history and tradition
that we have.
How do you keep your people motivated to
come up with new ideas and new ways to
stay on top as a smaller-market team that
needs to generate revenue and come up with
creative ways to monetize itself?
Mark Murphy: First, you have to talk about the
professional development and leadership development of your employees. It is helpful
when you can promote people from within. But
the other thing that really helps is getting people
actively involved at the league level on different
league committees. It’s also important to have
them interact with their counterparts at other
teams in the league, whether it’s the marketing
department or the finance department.
That’s one of the good things about the league.
We compete with every other team on the field,
but off the field, we’re not competing for the
same sponsors. Learning what other teams are
doing in terms of marketing and sponsorships
and revenue generation can be helpful to us, and
they’re happy to share because it’s not going to
hurt them in any way.
When you came into the league, NFL
Commissioner Roger Goodell put you on the
NFL’s key Management Counsel Executive
Committee pretty quickly. What was that like,
coming in as CEO, not as an owner, being
part of negotiations after having been there
on the players’ side 20 years ago?
Mark Murphy: I was very honored that Roger put
me on the committee. I think he felt that my
experience and background as a player, player
rep and former NFLPA vice president could be
assets with the bargaining coming up. It took
some time for the owners who sit on the
committee to understand that I brought a
different perspective that could be helpful as we
moved forward on the labor front.
At the end of the day, I think both the players and
owners want an agreement that works for
everybody and I think that where I can be helpful
is maybe being able to find a middle ground that
will work for the owners as well as the players.
When you think about the different
challenges you have faced in your career, is
there one accomplishment that you’re most
proud of?
Mark Murphy: As a player in the NFL, I took great
pride in making an NFL team and then in being
on a Super Bowl championship team. The
accomplish ments that are the most memorable
are those that were a true team effort. Like at
Colgate, where we were able to get the team back
to the Division I-AA tournament and win a Patriot
League Championship.
Throughout my career, I’ve tried to find positions
where I can make a difference in the organization,
and where my background, skills and
experience can be helpful in the role. For
example, my experiences as a player, a player rep,
a former NFLPA vice president, a lawyer and an
athletic director have all helped me in this current
position. I think that having a variety of different
experiences that you can draw from is invaluable.
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