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Sunday, March 30, 2008

iTunes U

I have found one of my new favorite things--iTunes U. In the past couple of days I have listened to guest presentations at Stanford by some of the icons of entrepreneurial businesses, lectures on Benjamin Franklin, Aaron Burr, The Mind of Einstein, lessons on how to play the drums (from Little Kids Rock), and a commencement address at Stanford by Steve Jobs from 2005. I have also downloaded, but still have to listen to, lectures on art history, the physics of baseball, modern art, presentations on The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman, and many, many other items.

I'm completely enthralled! I'm such an information junkie. I love learning new things just for the sake of knowing about them, and this is truly a found treasure for me. Everything I've downloaded has been free and there are a lot of different universities participating on a lot of different subjects. Check it out on iTunes. I'm sure you can find something that will appeal to you.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

10 Seems to Be the Magic Number

Where you are after ten years seems to be indicative of where you're headed. In the last two weeks, this idea has popped up in several conversations with various, and independent, people. The premise from each of them seems to be that the first ten years is about doing the work, paying your dues, taking on projects to get yourself noticed, learning new areas, and creating your network. After those first ten years is when you start to see the financial gains and the title changes that could eventually lead to a climb to the top of the mountain. The first ten years will establish your foundation and set the pace for where you go after that.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

That's the Way It's Always Been Done Around Here!

I HATE this phrase. When I worked at New York Road Runners, there was absolutely nothing that would send me through the roof faster than someone giving this as a reason for why we did something, because most of the time it wasn't followed up with a detailed explanation of how that policy came to be. It was just accepted and never questioned if it could be done better or differently. And then when it finally was questioned, there was push back to change a procedure that no one knew how or why got started in the first place.

Graduation is nearing and a lot of you may be starting new jobs in the coming months. In the spirit of that, here's a recommendation I received from someone that I'll pass along to you. Anytime you take a new job, you're going to come across policies and procedures that will cause you to ask "why do we do it that way?" For the first 90 days, note these, then find out why. There may be a good reason that the company does something a certain way, but then again, maybe the answer is "because that's the way it's always been done around here," which is a common, but dumb, answer. There's a popular story about monkeys that relates. I first read it in A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Daniel Pink and I've seen it on numerous websites since.


Start with a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the other monkeys with cold water. After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result - all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.

Now, put away the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted. Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm! Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked. Most of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.

After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana. Why not? Because as far as they know that’s the way it’s always been done around here.


The point is that for the first 90 days you are a fresh pair of eyes and a fresh brain looking at something that others have looked at for a long time. You'll never have the perspective of a "new" person again. Take advantage of it and use it to benefit you and your new company with each new role you take on. You may come up with a great idea for a new and more efficient way to do things that others just simply didn't see. If your company is smart, they'll value your feedback and at least consider your suggestions.

Monday, March 10, 2008

What Classes to Take

I talk with a lot of students, both undergrad and grad, about what classes they're taking or planning to take. These are some of my general recommendations.

1) Business - Take classes in business so that you develop a sound understanding of business principles. A lot of undergraduate programs are now recommending or even requiring a minor in business, and many of the graduate programs are a dual program of MBA and master's in sports. If your sports degree program doesn't require them, look into taking some business classes (finance, accounting, marketing, organizational behavior). These classes will never hurt you, even if you later choose not to work in sports.

2) Business Writing - Writing a research paper or a blog is very different than writing a memo or email for business. Business writing requires you to be succinct (usually 2-3 paragraphs) in explaining a problem, for example. It should offer possible solutions to the problem and your recommended solution. A lot of leaders just don't have the time to read all the details that you might want to include. They hired you to do a job and good leaders trust their direct reports to relay the pertinent information. We've all been in the class where a professor has told us that our paper has to be a minimum of ten pages, even if we think we can make our point in only five. In business, less is more when it comes to writing.

3) Public Speaking - The vast majority of people--me included--aren't incredibly comfortable speaking in front of a group. Take a speech class (or two) so that public speaking at least becomes bearable. These classes will hopefully help you learn what your personal "ticks" are--rocking back and forth; saying um, like, or you know; standing with legs crossed; trailing off at the end of your sentences (one of my worst habits), etc.

4) Foreign Language - Even if you end up not putting it to use, knowing a second language will never, ever hurt you. In an industry where we're all trying to find something to set ourselves apart and get our resume from the large stack to the small stack, a second language can often be a differentiator. If you want to work in baseball, why not take Spanish or Japanese? If you want to work with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the IOC has two official languages--English and French. If you want to be an agent who represents distance runners, a lot of successful runners come from Kenya and Ethiopia. Learn Swahili or Amharic. I'm sure you can come up with a lot more examples. If you can become conversational or fluent, great; but even if you can't, at least understanding some of the phrases and being able to read a little will be helpful.

There are a lot of other classes that may seem obscure, but could help you. Look at job postings and see what some of the most common areas are where people are hiring. I often see entry level positions in sales and database marketing. Database marketing has become huge. Take an introductory class on databases so you can understand what people are talking about. Sales skills are always a plus. A lot of people cringe when they hear "sales," but it's not a dirty word. If your university offers those classes take them. If you can be a money-maker (sales) versus a money-spender (ops and event management, as I was), you can get a job almost anywhere. As my friend Lou Valentic at K&K Insurance says, "Nobody eats until somebody sells something."

It would be interesting to know how many people in sports are continually educating themselves on the new trends, whether it be technology or something else. Who knows, you may get into an organization and become the "expert" on a topic just because you know a little more about it than someone else. Just remember, education and learning shouldn't stop just because you leave college. Be sure to carve out time for your own personal development once you land your dream job in sports so you can continue to be the expert in whatever field you choose.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Keep Track of Events/Projects That You Work

I'm working on a personal project that has required me to create a list of all of the events I've worked. I'm doing this to the best of my memory, but it's becoming increasingly hard to recall events over the past eleven years, especially some of the smaller assignments. Just at New York Road Runners alone we held 55 road races each year, and each of the Events team worked ~40 of them per year. The same thing when I was at Disney Sports in its early existence and we didn't have the number of staff they do now to manage and work the 200+ events. A lot of us played different roles in a lot of different events other than the ones we managed.

Last year, I advised one of my staff who had been at NYRR for eleven months to list all of the races she'd worked and briefly describe what her responsibilities were for each race. (Turns out she'd worked 42 races in 49 weeks.) The reason for the exercise was for her to have them as she updated her resume. She could then easily choose which ones she wanted to highlight on her resume. I wish I had been smart enough to keep track of everything I had worked or for which I had volunteered. It would have been easy, just a simple Word or Excel document updated each week or month. It also would have made it easier updating my resume through the years and also to recall specific examples for interviews. Something to consider as you start.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

No Single Career Path

I'm working on a book for which I came up with the idea in 2004. (I finally convinced a former professor to join me in writing it.) As part of the research, I'm interviewing quite a few successful people in the sports industry. I recently interviewed a classmate and he brought up a very good point that I think is worth writing about here, especially considering the emails I get asking how to break into the sports industry.

If you want to be a doctor or an accountant or a teacher, it's pretty clear what steps you need to take to get there. Even when you're in junior high or high school, you have an idea of what you need to do. At that same age, you may know that you enjoy sports and want to work in the sports industry, but what's the career path? The answer is that there's not one clear career path. There may be similarities, but there aren't any hard core specific paths.

My classmate's advice, and I agree with him, is to start early in volunteering. He talked about how he didn't do this, but wished he would have, and wished that someone would have given him that advice. He noted that it might have cut down on the number of internships (four) that he had to take before getting a permanent job. I can say that I was the same way in not doing as much work in sports early on as I could/should have. It didn't occur to either one of us and neither of us is sure why.

There is ALWAYS a sports organization that needs volunteer help. It could be a youth team, a university athletic department, a national or regional governing body, the local sports commission, a sports event that is coming to town, or any number of things. Interestingly, he has not been the only one to give this advice. Another associate in a prominent sports position mentioned that she advises young people with whom she speaks to volunteer with an organization or team in an athletic department that has nearly zero funding. This is a way to get experience, make your mark, and/or gain some resume credibility.

Even if the area where you're volunteering isn't an area that you think is your ultimate career dream, you'll still learn something from the experience. Seek out those opportunities and gradually take on more responsibilities as you feel comfortable. It will give you experience and also build up your personal network.