From the War Room to the EOC

Strategic Decision-Making and Leadership Under Pressure in Emergency Management

By Todd T. DeVoe

As a lifelong football fan and a dedicated emergency manager, I often find surprising parallels between the two worlds. I was born in Buffalo, New York—home of the Bills—and the first disaster I can remember is the Blizzard of '77, a storm so powerful it etched itself into the identity of the city and sparked my earliest understanding of what it means to prepare for and endure a crisis. I proudly root for the Buffalo Bills, a team that reflects the city’s blue-collar ethos, deep community ties, and legacy of grit and resilience. These days, I work in a city that is home to not one but two playoff-caliber NFL teams, where the energy of the game seeps into the culture and rhythm of daily life.

Football is more than just a game—it’s a beautiful dance of brutal strategy and raw athleticism. At its core, it’s a high-stakes, high-pressure system governed by teamwork, preparation, adaptability, and decision-making. The very best players are not only physically gifted but intellectually sharp. They study film like scholars, execute complex systems under duress, and make critical decisions in milliseconds.

Watching the game through the lens of emergency management, I’m constantly reminded that our field isn’t all that different. Like football, emergency management requires a team built on trust and preparation, a playbook grounded in strategy, and the ability to improvise under pressure. And, like a great general manager or coach, we must lead with integrity, navigate uncertainty, and make decisions that shape the outcomes for entire communities.

With that perspective in mind, I offer the following reflection—using the film Draft Day as a lens—to explore the leadership, ethics, and systems thinking that connects football and emergency management.

In the 2014 film Draft Day, Kevin Costner portrays Sonny Weaver Jr., the fictional general manager of the Cleveland Browns, navigating the intense pressure of the National Football League’s draft process. While hidden as a sports drama, the film offers a compelling study of leadership, crisis decision-making, and systems thinking—all of which strongly parallel emergency management.

At times, emergency managers are like Sonny Weaver, operating in complex, high-stakes environments where decisions must be made rapidly, often with incomplete information and under considerable external pressure. Drawing from the themes of Draft Day, let’s explore how preparation, adaptability, relational capital, ethical leadership, and legacy-building principles intersect with emergency management professionals' operational and strategic responsibilities.