Photo courtesy of The New York Times. Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Multiple news outlets, including the NY Times, published an announcement on July 7th, 2022 that the Las Vegas Raiders (sorry, I still think of them as the Oakland Raiders) hired Sandra Douglass Morgan as their President, the first African American woman to hold the role in N.F.L. history.
Why is this important for leadership?
The hiring of Ms. Morgan is important for three reasons:
First, in a male dominated sport, until recently it went against the established norms to hire a female senior executive. Three of my previous blogs talk to this point:
Second, Ms. Morgan is a person of color, and while the Rooney Rule (expanded this year to include women) doesn’t appear to be working in hiring head coaches of color, something does appear to be working in the front office with the hiring of a minority CEO.
Third, women handle problem-solving differently than men. Perhaps this will work well for both the Raiders and the National Football League.