This year’s Super Bowl was a record-breaker. It was a game of huge hits, last-minute, game-winning touchdowns and fumbles on the 10-yard line, as the Kansas City Chiefs defended their title against the San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas.

The Chiefs came from behind to beat the 49ers 25-22, a final touchdown in overtime serving to clinch a narrow victory, thanks to the arm of superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes. The win secured the Chief’s third Super Bowl in five years.

Record-breaking viewing figures

The game attracted record-high ratings. An audience of more than 123.4 million tuned in, the most that have ever watched a football game. In terms of viewing figures, the broadcast is only topped by the Moon landing of 1969.

Another record was set with the longest field goal in Super Bowl history, of 55 yards. It’s a smaller record, but a record, nonetheless.

The typically star-studded event was gifted an additional glamour by the attendance of global megastar Taylor Swift, who, fresh from winning two Grammys and performing in Tokyo, was in the stands of the stadium in Las Vegas to cheer on her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, who plays for the Chiefs as a star tight end. Their super-famous version of a classic high school romance is credited with the boost in viewership by analysts.

Mid-match tensions

Kelce handled several key plays in the fourth quarter and overtime, and looked to be pleased with his performance, pictured celebrating his third Super Bowl win with his famous girlfriend after the game. During play, though, Kelce wasn’t quite so jubilant. With the eyes of the world watching, Kelce lost his cool, and was seen howling at his veteran coach, Andy “Big Red” Reid.

After a fumble by teammate Isiah Pacheco inside the red zone, with the Chiefs behind and Kelce off the field, Kelce began to yell at his boss. The images are indelible: Kelce bumps into the older man, his 6’5 body connecting with the smaller, 65-year-old coach, who stumbles a few steps back as the padded-up Kelce connects, mouth open, screaming.

After the game, with a Super Bowl victory secured and history made, it was all reconciliation and friendliness between player and coach.

“You guys saw that?” Kelce joked. “I was just telling him how much I loved him.”

Reid also downplayed the situation, commenting that Kelce just wanted to be on the field. “There’s nobody I get better than I get him,” Reid said. “He’s a competitive kid. He loves to play. He makes me feel young. But my balance is terrible.”

Despite the immediate smoothing over of the events by player and coach, the world’s media have been quick to call out Kelce’s hot-headedness and cast judgement on his character – both on and off the pitch. Despite being a star player, it seems Kelce isn’t above reproach.

And Kelce seems open to being set straight. Referring to the temper issues, Kelce commented that Reid had, “Helped me a lot with that, with channelling that emotion, with channelling that passion.” He added that Reid was, “One of the best leaders of men that I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“And I owe my entire career to that guy and being able to control how emotional I get, and I just love him, man.”

Good leadership when emotions are high

Legendary quarterback turned football commentator Tom Brady commended the way Kelce and Reid handled the aftermath of their side line fracas. The seven-time Super Bowl winner said on his podcast, “Emotions are so high. You are definitely not centred and balanced… Coach Reid handled it just awesome, like he always does.”

Brady continued, “It speaks to the self-confidence that coach Reid has in himself too. He doesn’t take that personally at all. He doesn’t look at that and feel like someone offended him, he takes it for what it is, and doesn’t make it more than it is.”

But despite cool heads eventually prevailing, have any lessons been learned? This was, after all, the second side-line incident involving Kelce and Reid this season. During a loss against the Las Vegas Raiders on Christmas Day, Kelce lobbed his helmet against the ground and barged Reid. Reid grabbed the helmet and refused to give it back when it was being returned to Kelce.

Handling high-pressure situations – from football to the boardroom

In high-pressure work scenarios, when stakes are high and deadlines are looming, it can be hard to always maintain a level head. But when does an impassioned attitude at work or a temper flare cross the line into misconduct? How can such incidents be avoided? And, when they do happen, how can they be resolved? How should a manager deal with hot tempers in the workplace?

Anger at work, be it explosive or simmering, can prevent communication and feedback, as it can cause people to walk on eggshells. It can also affect perception, and with making well-informed decisions, and can interfere with the “ability to think carefully and deliberately,” says Jeremy Yip, Assistant Professor of Management at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.

Shedding anger and regaining perspective is “always an effortful and challenging process,” adds Maurice Schweitzer, Professor of Operations, Information and Decisions at the Wharton School. “It’s not something we do well naturally”. He offers some advice on how to self-regulate when feeling the heat, whether on the touchline or in the office. “When we feel anger,” he says, “we should recognise that our ability to think about other people’s perspectives is diminished. We’re more likely to think egocentrically.” And so, rather than firing back he suggests that, like Reid,  we “check our emotions, be mindful of that, and recognise that we’re going to be more likely to adopt an egocentric perspective.”

How do deal with the emotional consequences of anger

Expressing anger can be a tool for attaining prestige or status, in some circles, as people can associate anger with dominance, competence, and smarts. But research from Chicago Booth has shown that, “too much anger, particularly in relation to the offense committed, can backfire, especially on people climbing corporate or social ladders.” The study, conducted by Celia Gaertig and Emma Levine, alongside New York University’s Alixandra Barasch, argues that “exhibiting too much anger can harm the perceptions of competence and warmth, traits that tend to drive hiring and leadership decisions.”

An employee, for example, might feel like their boss is leading them into a bad spot – something Kelce certainly seemed believe. To avoid anger in such situations, Graham Ward, Professor of Organisational Behaviour at INSEAD advises that when dealing with a dominant leader who might be leading a company to doom, an employee should learn to “speak with assertiveness and valour”.

Assertiveness can hold some benefits. Research by Frank E. Buck, Professor of Human Resources Management and Organizational Behaviour at Stanford GSB, shows that showing a bit of aggression at the right time can help: “In the business world, women who are aggressive, assertive, and confident but who can turn these traits on and off, depending on the social circumstances, get more promotions than either men or other women.”

But when those wins don’t materialise, is where aggression can become problematic. Robert E. Siegel, Lecturer in Management at Stanford GSB, suggests that loss is felt differently, more acutely, by those who are unfamiliar with it. For those who are smart, driven, ambitious, and successful, losing is not a normal state of affairs. So emotionally processing that is not a trivial issue. Siegel likens it to a grieving process, and says a strong leader needs to be able to navigate both the analytical and the emotional sides of such situations: “It’s about clear communication and treating people with respect,” Siegel says.

Reid showed a great dose of empathy when dealing with Kelce, something which research out of INSEAD shows is a great attribute in a leader. Letting an angry, stressed employee vent a certain amount and actively listening can help diffuse workplace anger. Reid understood Kelce’s frustration and did not judge him harshly for his actions.

We must not be too quick to judgement when someone acts out or with anger, explains Mary Rowe, Adjunct Professor of Negotiation and Conflict Management at MIT Sloan. We should attempt as much as we can, and as much as is reasonable in the conditions, to understand that a person who is under a short-term extreme stress may not be, overall, a “difficult person,” and may be just someone who is overstressed. Sometimes though, very difficult and therefore toxic employees can be bad for workplace culture and business, and “can affect turnover, productivity, and morale. And they can be harder to deal with than you may think.”

The power of feedback

A manager has to deal with toxic employees “in a way that demonstrates to the rest of the workforce that you really heard what was going on and the biggest problems are being dealt with,” according to Thomas Kochan, Professor of Management at MIT Sloan. A direct method of solving a persistently angry and toxic employee, would be firing them, but as works by Deborah Ancona, Distinguished Professor of Management at MIT Sloan suggests, even that must be handled delicately: “It might be more part of a conversation that says, ‘Is this the right job for you?’” Ancona suggests, rather than directly dismissing someone.

Such frank conversations are of vital importance. In an article for Medium, Nelson Phillips, former Professor of Innovation and Strategy at Imperial College Business School in London, shares some tips on avoiding anger and making sure the feedback is less of a bodycheck and more of a constructive experience.

Nelson says that “I think giving feedback is one of the basic building blocks of leadership. Positive feedback helps people to know when they have done well and motivates them to do more of whatever they did while negative feedback helps them to understand when they have gone wrong. Both are important and, unfortunately, different leaders often find one or both difficult.” Giving no feedback, he warns, is dispiriting and undermines potentially great employees. It might also cause frustrations to boil over.

Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy, co-authors of ‘No Hard Feelings: The Secret Power of Embracing Emotion at Work’ offer a few tips writing in the Harvard Business Review on how to manage anger at work and avoid blowouts with your boss (or coach). Work is full of small anger-making issues, difficulties, and human relations, and although anger isn’t inherently bad, it must be channelled productively. “Say you feel you deserve a promotion but have been scared to ask. Think to yourself: What would I do if I were the type of person who got angry about this? Or what would I suggest a friend do in this situation if I were angry on their behalf?” they suggest.

Anger is natural and can also be a prelude to change, writes Elizabeth Cotton, Senior Lecturer at Middlesex University Business School, for LSE, “anger is necessary to the process of change. The energy and focus that you have when you are angry is an important motivator in challenging things that we think are wrong.” Just make sure that you are channelling it correctly.

The pros of de-escalation

It’s also important to understand the root cause. Ron Duerksen, Global Executive Director of the legendary International Masters Programme for Managers (IMPM), writes that, “We must recognise that anger and aggression are often a symptom of fear. Fear of not doing a good job, fear of change, fear of reprimand, or even fear of losing your job. When the stakes are high and emotions are running high, it is important to address the symptoms in the short term, but also to address the medium-term and the root causes of anger or frustration.”

The key to overcoming anger, he suggests, is to maintain respect for the other and try to empathise. “Having managed teams since I was in my teens, my approach has been to try and not react, but just listen. Allow the other person to express themselves fully, without interruption, comment or judgement. Then take a break. Step back and reflect on both sides what is behind this aggression. Then propose a meeting to discuss again exactly what is going on. If you are the manager, always err on the side of listening, rather than reacting. Most people just want to be heard. And by heard, I mean really listened to. Listening without interruption or judgement is a sign of respect, which is the most important component to conflict resolution.”

Duerksen concludes that “Diffusing conflict between a manager and an employee in a high-energy, high-stakes situation, especially where real anger is present, requires careful, deliberate action aimed at de-escalating emotions and facilitating productive dialogue”.

Good management = flourishing

Empathy, communication, and understanding come up again and again in studies on how to deal with anger in the workplace. Trying to understand where others are coming from helps deescalate and create happy, healthy workplaces. Respect and understanding helped diffuse any leftover, post-game tensions between Reid and Kelce, and good communication to the outside world cemented that view. Thanks to understanding and communication, Reid doesn’t have to lose a star player, and Kelce gets to keep his job, and maybe win another Super Bowl with Taylor Swift cheering from the stands.

America’s great modern love story gets to continue uninterrupted, thanks to strong management.

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