Sports Industry Info Blog

More Isn't Always Better. Sometimes It's Just More.

2010-02-28T03:30:00.000-05:00

I'm trying to incorporate a lot of technology, mainly social media pieces, into my Sports Marketing class this semester. I know that it is something that students need to know, and more importantly, how it can be used in sports to attract fans and/or make money (hopefully the first leads to the second). One of the technologies we discuss frequently is Twitter. I follow Tom Peters on Twitter. A couple of weeks ago he posted that he would like to see a writing class developed around Twitter where the students weren't allowed to use contractions, abbreviations, or symbols, just provide clear and concise sentences. I was about to create an exam for my Sports Marketing class and decided that I would borrow this idea. I allowed my students to use contractions, but no abbreviations or symbols. I provided "Sports marketing is" and then they had 140 characters to provide the rest. The best answer was "the activities designed to satisfy needs and wants of consumers of sports and products through sports." Pretty much dead on and she only needed 106 characters. Overall, most of the students did really well. I was very pleased.

Cut the Cord

2010-02-15T02:14:00.000-05:00

One of the most surprising things I've found as I've transitioned to teaching is how "involved" many parents still are with their 20, 21, or 22 year-old children. I put involved in quotes because these parents aren't involved enough to make sure students get out of bed and come to class or are prepared when they do come to class, but if there is some perceived slight against their child, they automatically call the professor or the administration (and often love to threaten to bring lawyers into the conversation). I bring this issue up because I'm really concerned with how these students are going to function when (if?) they get jobs in the sports industry. If they can't work out minor situations in college on their own, how are they going to deal at work? If a peer or boss overlooks their contribution or yells at them or tells them they need to improve their work or tells them to go help park cars for an event, will they call mommy and daddy? Are they even going to be able to live on their own and be independent? At a university, I have to take these calls (assuming all FERPA requirements are met). It's still an educational environment and my hope is to try to work with that student to learn to assert some independence (and with his parents to allow him to do so). In the workplace, though, I would NEVER talk to an employee's parents (or an intern's) about that employee's performance. All I can say is be very careful where you ask your parents to become involved. Try to work out your situation on your own, one-on-one, in an adult manner before you even think of bringing in the parents. To sum it up, cut the cord before you get a job.

Book Has Been Published

2009-12-14T23:32:00.004-05:00

The book is finally ready for purchase. You can visit the website, A Career In Sports, for the link or link directly to the purchase site here. The book is titled A Career In Sports: Advice from Sports Business Leaders. It contains interviews with 31 sports executives. We asked them all the same questions and they have provided some fabulous advice for people either wanting to work in sports or just starting their career in sports.

Accreditation

2009-11-06T00:03:00.004-05:00

I write this post as someone who worked in the sports industry and previously hired staff and as someone who is now in academics. I can say this with 100% certainty--Neither I nor any of the colleagues I know has ever hired or not hired a person because the candidate's sports administration program was or wasn't accredited. Almost all of the peers I have who work in sports don't even know that organizations exist for accreditation of sports administration programs. Trust me, I've asked them. What they care about--and what I cared about--when hiring someone is:

1) What kind of experience do they have? Even if we're talking about entry level position or internship, the person should at least have some type of practicum experience of working in their college athletic department or with a local sports entity in their college town.

2) How enthusiastic are they about doing the job? Are they going to take initiative to learn all that they can, to be a sponge? This is sometimes harder to determine, but a good indication is how much they have gone out on their own to try to gain experience.

3) Are they strong in fundamental communications skills? Can they speak intelligently and not use the word "like" in every sentence? Can they write so that they can communicate in written form, whether via email, taking meeting notes, etc.? Can they do all of this in the basic computer software, such as Microsoft Office Suite.

Trust me, no hiring manager cares whether you took Sports and Society or Event Management because an accreditation agency said you should. I never even cared what specific classes a person took unless they could explain to me how their taking that class was going to help my business.

I am a HUGE fan of education simply for education's sake, so I'm not saying don't take a diverse group of classes. I liked hiring well-rounded people who could talk about a multitude of things and draw from many sources to problem solve, but I never cared whether they graduated from a sports administration program that some academicians (who have probably never worked in sports) declared was "worthy" because it met their selection of classes they felt students should take.

follow-up to How Badly Do You Want to Work in Sports, part 3

2009-08-22T16:09:00.006-04:00

I was speaking with an Ohio University professor yesterday about this topic and how students often waste the precious time they have to speak with a sports industry professional by asking them questions to which they could find the answers on the Internet. He summed it up quite well. He noted that students do this because it is easy, particularly Ohio University students because our network is so willing to speak to students. He said, "That alum (executive) will talk to the student and congenially and happily answer his questions, but the executive won't ever remember the student as he might if the student asks thoughtful and insightful questions."

How Badly Do You Want to Work in Sports, part 3

2009-08-19T22:07:00.008-04:00

This post is going to address two topics: primarily research and a little bit of networking, the second of which I know I have written about multiple times. In this post I'm going to address how they are sometimes tied together, whether people realize it or not.

I frequently get emails asking for advice about where to look for a job or help getting a contact into somewhere I've worked. Often when people contact me, I'm their first stop on the research path. This is incredibly annoying! Often, I will talk with people who tell me they want to work at New York Road Runners, for example, yet when I talk to them, they haven't even looked at the NYRR website. I don't mind giving them information on things that are really only available from talking to someone who has worked (or is working) in an organization, such as what the culture might be like or what the leadership style of a department VP might be. What irks me is when people don't even take the time to figure out on their own who the organizational leaders are or ask me questions such as whether I know if NYRR has any open jobs. Check the damn website! If there isn't a staff directory, which there isn't on the NYRR site, there are press releases and photos and videos and Flickr links and Facebook links, and on and on. You can find out a lot of information there. I even had one student (not one of mine) ask me if I could recommend where in New York City he should apply for sports jobs, not even a specific area of sports, which still would have made it a bad question, but narrowed down a bit. I, and others in his network, are not the "job bank of New York City" to start naming off organizations. This was someone I had talked to once and now he was asking me to be his personal scout. Not gonna happen! Now, if he had said something like, "I'm looking at NYRR, Korff Enterprises, the US Open, Madison Square Garden, and Eventage and have read up on each of them. Do you happen to know anything about those organizations?" That's a different question. It shows me someone who is trying to help himself and find a job but needs a little help versus a person who wants someone else to find a job for him. It would also have been different if this were someone I had talked to more than once. That's just the cold hard truth.

It is the epitome of laziness to not research the basics of an organization. As an example, if a student told me that she wanted to work for Under Armour, and then I asked her what she would say to Kevin Plank if she ran into him in the lobby at a conference, I would often get blank stares and the question, "Who is Kevin Plank?" People in sports are willing to help you, but you have to be willing to help yourself and do a little bit of work before you talk to them. When she gets around to answering my original question--what would she ask Kevin Plan if she ran into him in the lobby at a conference--she would likely answer with something pedestrian, such as "I would ask him how he got the idea to start Under Armour." Read an article for that! It's pretty well documented why he started the company. It's even on the "About Under Armour" section of their website. This is a fictitious example, though admittedly not too fictitious.

Another area is when you are applying for jobs. If the position states that it reports to the general counsel of a football team, for example, guess what, most pro teams have a staff directory listed on their websites. Here is an example for the Kansas City Chiefs. Mouse over "The Team" and the drop down has a link called "Coaches, Staff, and Execs." I wonder, though, how many people would address their cover letter and resume generically to the HR manager or generically to "Attn: General Counsel," assuming they send their resume directly to the Chiefs in addition to applying online (discussed in previous blog posts).

The synopsis is: Don't waste peoples' time, and just as importantly, don't waste the opportunity you have to speak to them with questions you can find answers to on the Internet, in a book, or in a magazine. Leave them feeling like they just talked to a person who is a young sports business professional rather than an unpolished student.

How Badly Do You Want to Work in Sports, part 2

2009-08-09T19:20:00.009-04:00

The job market for sports has generally always been tough. Now, as with the general job market, it's so much worse. Honestly, how hard are you searching for your job or how hard are you willing to search? Are you graduating in May and planning on waiting to start until January (bad idea) to start your job search? If you don't find a job immediately, are you going to take something else outside of sports and continue looking? Or are you willing to take an internship? Or are you going to sue your school for not helping you find placement and sue because of the stress you've had to go through for a whopping three month job search (see article)?

Here's the reality. The sports job market, hell, even the market for sports internships, flat out sucks right now! I have a friend who is a facility manager in Colorado. He had an open coordinator position (entry level) last month. He was getting resumes for this job from people who had been managers and directors and lost their jobs. One of the interviewees for the my book (A Career in Sports: Advice from Sports Business Leaders) is now CEO of a major sports franchise. He talks about how he interned at Madison Square Garden after grad school and thought he was on this way, then couldn't find a job for eight months after that internship. He sent out over 400 resumes (pre-email) during that time. He took two jobs not in sports so he could pay his bills, but he never stopped looking for a job in sports. I don't think most people now would send out 400 resumes via email today, but that's the type of commitment that made him an NHL team president by the time he was 40 years old. A story I've told many times, and even written about here, my classmate, Kevin Abrams, is the assistant general manager for the New York Giants. After grad school, Kevin worked internships for two years with four different organizations at about $500/month before he was hired as a salary cap analyst by the Giants. Not many people have that kind of persistence.

There are opportunities for people who are persistent. In regards to the student suing her university, I think it's a cop out, personally. I don't care what a college tells anyone, it's not their responsibility to find graduates a job. Maybe a technical school, maybe, but not a college or university. A college education is similar to a hunting license. It provides you an opportunity to bag an alligator (for the Floridians) or a deer or whatever, but it doesn't guarantee you one. Education should be for the sake of knowledge. There are things you can learn to help you increase your likelihood of snagging that gator, but no one is going to find it for you, show you where it is, prepare the capture method, snag it for you, and let you walk away with the proverbial prize. They'll teach you how and give you the opportunity, but the rest is up to you. If you give up after the first or second or third or fourth (or more) attempt, you really didn't want it that badly anyway.

How Badly Do You Want to Work in Sports? part 1

2009-08-01T01:06:00.004-04:00

This is a question that every person considering a career in sports should ask herself: How badly do your really want it? Are you willing to be persistent in your contacts, to the point of being just shy of annoying?

I think I might institute a new personal policy. I might wait until the second or third time that someone contacts me for advice to get back to them, to see if they're persistent. I know, this flies in the face of what I've written before about the need to get back to folks within 24 hours, but I don't care. This is a separate issue for me.

Being persistent is one of the things that it is going to take to be successful in sports. If someone provides you a contact and you email or call them (and I've found with students it's either one or the other, because god forbid they do both) and that person doesn't get back to you after your first or even second contact, do you give up or do you push on? Do you leave a voice mail message saying, "I know you're incredibly busy, but my schedule is flexible. If it is easier for you to speak before or after traditional business hours, I'm available during those times, too." And then even suggest some days and times.

Last semester, I contacted a friend of mine who works at the USOC, someone at the director level no less, to see if he would mind speaking to a student who had applied for a summer internship at the USOC. The U-S-O-C! Pretty major sports organization. He said that he would. I provided her his contact information. When I asked her about it a couple of weeks later, she said she had left him a voice mail, but hadn't heard back from him. She said she was going to call him a second time. Whether she did or not, I don't know, but I do know that she didn't get the internship at the USOC. Could he have helped? Who knows? More importantly, who cares?! This is a new contact to add to her network that could become an acquaintance in the sports world. Like it or not, the sports world requires a network and it requires persistence. If you're not willing to be persistent, it may be a good idea to think twice about what you want to do.

Book Title (Finally) Determined

2009-07-16T10:23:00.002-04:00

We are working on editing the book of advice from sports industry professionals and hope to have it published next month (fingers crossed). The title will be:

A Career in Sports: Advice from Sports Business Leaders

Reading the complete book while editing, I'm excited about it. It has some really good advice from professionals in sports and the stories they tell are amazing!

Once this project is done, I will be back to posting regularly on the blog.

Editing and reading and reading and editing

2009-06-08T14:12:00.000-04:00

I'm in the middle of re-reading, editing, and in some areas, writing for both the textbook and book of advice from industry professionals that I am writing. Both of them will be out this fall. As soon as I can get my lips back above water I will begin posting blogs again.

Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200

2009-05-09T19:30:00.003-04:00

In event management, there are certain things that are non-negotiable. Two of those things, in my opinion and the opinion of many of my peers, are waivers and medical coverage. If an event manager doesn't get waivers signed or allows someone to participate without signing a waiver--do not pass go, do not collect $200, immediate termination. We live in a litigious society. Not mandating that participants sign waivers is probably one of the single stupidest things that an event manager could do. The other immediately terminable offense is not having any or not having enough medical coverage.

I was at an event a couple of weeks ago. It was run by sports administration students in conjunction with the athletic department. On that day, it was 90 degrees for the first time in nearly eight months. As part of their event they had a 5K run and a hot dog eating contest. There was zero medical coverage on site, just a police officer on a bicycle. When one of the students who had worked in event management brought up her concern that there was no medical coverage, all but two of her fellow students acted as if she was being overly cautious. When I asked one of the students about it, he told me that the athletic department had told them they didn't need medical coverage on site. The students decided that because some of the other students were CPR certified, that was enough. That opens up a whole other bag of issues of now putting those students in a position of being first responders, not to mention the fact that medical wasn't their primary responsibility that day. They could have been anywhere performing other duties.

That same weekend, the weather was similar in New York City. New York Road Runners always has medical coverage on site. Even with that, they opted to cancel the More Marathon and to turn the More Half Marathon into a fun run (un-timed, un-scored). Even with runners coming in from various cities across the country, they realized that for safety purposes, it was not a good idea to have the race in those conditions, regardless of the backlash. Safety came first.

In a situation like this, the students should have gone to their program coordinator to let him know. (First and foremost, though, they should have realized that this was an issue, which they didn't.) Their program's name was on this event and they were responsible to make sure it was managed appropriately. The most important thing in managing any event is to make sure that the participants and spectators are safe. Fortunately, nothing happened, but that's a hell of a risk to take when dealing with people's health and safety.

Survival of the First Year - Recap

2009-05-01T00:33:00.006-04:00

Well, I've survived my first year of teaching. I'm in tact, I didn't huff and puff and blow the buildings down, and the students don't seem to be irreparably damaged. (Except maybe for the one I made cry in my first month...but she was weak. ;) Plus, I don't think it counts if someone told me she cried and I didn't actually see it. Just kidding.) I think that most of the students are going to rise to the challenges put before them. I truly do enjoy teaching them. They have a lot of potential. Some of them just need a harder shove than the others to make sure they at least attempt to reach their potential.

One of my friends and colleagues--Dr. Heather Lawrence--and I just finished initial edits of our sports event management textbook that will be out this fall (August, I believe) from Kendall Hunt Publishing. It will also be for sale on Amazon.com (ISBN 978-0-7575-6461-1). The book is called Event Management Blueprint: Planning and Managing Successful Sports Events. We're both very excited about that. When Heather did the math, she calculated that the contributing editors have more than 300 years of experience working in the sports industry and over 60 years of experience teaching in it.

My second book will also be out this fall (also probably in August). Not title as of yet. We've conducted 31 of the 32 interviews. Now we start sorting and writing. I'll have more info on that in a couple of months.

I have a lot to write about for this blog and should have more time to do it during the summer. Stay tuned. I haven't disappeared.

Who to Follow-Up With

2009-03-07T18:13:00.003-05:00

I started to respond to a very good comment on the 2/21/09 posting about following-up after applying for a job, but my comment became so long that I've decided to post it separately. Part of the comment from RNelson noted that some job posting require that your resume be sent to HR or posted in the system and state "no calls."

Yes, many require posting through the organization's online system and some may state "no calls." I wouldn't call the HR department anyway, or at least not ONLY them. The HR manager isn't the person who will make the decision on who gets hired or not. As part of your research (which is actually my upcoming post) you should try to find out who the hiring manager is. You send your resume and cover letter directly to that person (in addition to whatever the posting requirements state). That's who you want to call. If that person blows you off, so be it, but you don't want the opposite. Here again is where your network comes into play. You need to use your network to find out who the hiring manager is or at lease someone in that company. If you can arrange time to talk to anyone in the company about the department or generally about the company, that's always beneficial. I personally don't care if the job is posted through a site like teamworkonline.com, I send my information directly to the organization and follow-up directly with the organization. Also, don't take it for granted that a third party job posting site has exclusive rights to post that job. Often, organizations will also list the job on their site. Sometimes it may point to the third party site, but not always. On the organization's site it may list a person's name or you can find the department manager's name on the About Us or Staff Directory page.

The HR manager isn't going to be the person who will decide who gets the job--it's the hiring manager. The HR manager may decide who gets contacted for interviews, but hopefully not. (I'm not a fan of HR at all when it comes to hiring. There's a great Fast Company cover story that I love from a few years ago called "Why We Hate HR.") Since I'm not a fan of most HR folks, I don't want them trying to select who I want to interview. I want them to post the job information online, collect the resumes for me to review (from the people who don't send theirs directly to me), and then contact the prospective candidates to schedule the interview times. No more than that. I had one HR manager who was screening candidates because of geography. A couple of candidates got through the gate keepers via phone and followed-up with me to ask if I'd received their information. I hadn't. When I asked the HR manager about these candidates, he informed me that he hadn't passed on their resumes because they weren't already living in the city where we were located. I had not put any geographic restrictions on my requirements. If someone is a good candidate and wants to move to take the job, why wouldn't I want them? The fact that this company didn't pay moving costs (the cheap-o's) would come up in the interview or could even be stated when scheduling the interview. The candidates could decide from there whether they wanted to move forward with the interview. The point of this long paragraph is to show that if you go only to HR and talk only with HR, you're more likely to get lost in the shuffle. This is a link to another Fast Company article from around 1997 that I still love. It's called "Interview with a Head Hunter" and I think it's actually been updated. It gives a lot of really good advice and a lot of the things I've been doing for the last twelve years came from this article.

Resume via FedEx

2009-02-22T09:04:00.003-05:00

I think it was back in about 2000 that I read an article in Inc. magazine about a company that sent out its sales information to potential clients via FedEx or Priority Mail. The owner asked the question, "Have you ever received a FedEx or Priority Mail envelope and not opened it?" I think the answer for most people is "No, I haven't," but I think most of us have received a normal envelope and tossed it aside for a few days.

After reading this article, I took this philosophy and transferred it to the way I send out my resume and cover letter. Depending on what the posting requirements are for the job I will still follow their directions and post on their website or send via email. But, I also always find out who the hiring manager is and/or head of the department and send my resume and cover letter to that person(s) via FedEx, specifically addressed to him/her. In my cover letter I note that I have also posted the resume on their website (or whatever their directions are) so they don't think I'm skirting the company's directions. When I've followed up the week after sending my information (see previous posting on follow-up), I've gotten responses from those follow-ups that let me know they saw my resume. Often they've been interviews. On a couple of occasions they weren't, but I got direct responses from the person to whom I sent my resume letting me know that he/she had reviewed my resume but that they were going to be interviewing other candidates.

I realize that this can get expensive, especially in this economy. There are a couple of things to note here: 1) This goes back to a statement in an early posting, one that some chicken-assed anonymous commenter didn't understand, and it is that I don't "carpet bomb" my resume to organizations. I specifically target jobs I want to pursue. The cost isn't enormous. 2) If you're just starting out, and because of this economy, I realize that entry level sports professionals may have to apply for quite a few jobs. This is an investment in your future. Are you willing to sacrifice a few beers or movies to try to land your dream job? The $20 spent on sending a FedEx can be steep. I'm not oblivious to that. There are a couple of other options to consider. FedEx offers two day delivery for a little less money that is still in the FedEx envelope. I'm not 100% sure about this, but US Postal Service Priority Mail may be cheaper. That's another option. (I'm not a fan of UPS at all after being screwed by them so many times on shipments. I have no idea what their rates are, but if you're comfortable using them, check out their rates.) More likely for young students, you can determine your budget for how many you can send and then send only your top choices your information via FedEx.

Will this always work? I can't guarantee anything, but I believe it's more likely that the person you want to see your resume will see it. That combined with your follow-up phone call may just get you an interview, which is all you want from sending in your resume. They're not going to look at your resume and immediately say "Let's hire this person without an interview." All you're looking for from this is the opportunity to get on the phone or in front of that person for an interview. Once that happens then you get the opportunity to sell yourself, which is a whole other process.

Follow-up on Internships and Jobs after You Apply

2009-02-21T13:47:00.005-05:00

When you start sending out your resume and references to apply for internships or jobs, follow-up on the information you send. One of the things that people too often put in their cover letter is a statement such as "I look forward to hearing from you" or "I hope to hear from you soon." Hope is an important thing to have, but not when you're looking for a job, especially in this economic market. You need to be proactive and take control of your job search. Instead of one of those statements, write something more along the lines of "I will call you to follow-up next week." After you do that, though, you have to actually follow-up. Don't be shy about putting this statement. It's awkward at first when you start making those follow-up phone calls. It can seem like you're bugging someone, but the hiring manager is looking for good people who are proactive. When you call, you can simply state that you're calling to make sure they got your resume, let them know that you're very interested in the position, and ask if they've set dates for their interview schedule. It's important to become comfortable with this and do it. Here's a true story of an example of why it's important.

I was meeting with one of the managers at a local minor league baseball team this week and we were talking about his subject. He had an interesting story to relate. He was coaching basketball at a mid-major university a couple of years ago and one of the assistant coaches left. They received 65 resume packets from coaches wanting to fill the empty position. Some of them, he said, were really intricately created packets with video, details of their accomplishments, etc. Of those 65, only 3 of them followed-up with the head coach after they sent their resume. The only people the coach interviewed were the three who followed-up with him because they expressed a true interest and desire in the job.

Not So Obvious Opportunities

2009-02-20T19:20:00.005-05:00

As students, there are a lot of opportunities to get experience and increase your network that might not be so obvious. I am a big proponent of working events that aren't full blown, several month long internships. You can gain a lot of experience from events that may only be a week or even a few days. Students should do some research and see what events are happening in the area where they live or where they may have family that they can stay with during spring break or winter break. It's generally pretty easy to volunteer for these events. Students can sign up as a general volunteer or even take the next step up. In that next step, students contact the organization, let them know that they will be in the area, send in their resume, and ask if they can volunteer to work the event for one of their areas.

For example, if a student lives in Atlanta, he could volunteer to work the ACC Basketball Tournament. Check the ACC website to find the name(s) of the person in charge of the tournament. Send that person a well-written cover letter and resume well in advance of the tournament. Let him/her know you're going to be in the area and that you're available to volunteer. If you can't volunteer through the ACC, check with the Atlanta Sports Council to see if they need volunteers, whether serving as a greeter at a host hotel or working transportation or some other area.

These types of events give you great insight into how different events and their specific pieces work. It also introduces you to new people from whom you can learn a lot just by being around them and having conversations with them. Give it a try. This is how I started my relationship with the ING New York City Marathon. Eight years later I'm still working with them.

Passion (again)

2009-02-18T01:30:00.002-05:00

I've written about this before, but wanted to hit on it again. I've had a couple of students (not many) stop by my office lately to ask about future careers and the first or second question that has popped out of their mouths was about salaries in sports. I'm honest with them and tell them that it won't come in the early years, but it could come around year ten or so if they work hard. What I also tell them, though, is that they will love what they do.

I come from a very blue collar family. My parents went to work at jobs they didn't enjoy because that's what they needed to do to support the family. They didn't pursue their dreams. My aunts and uncles were the same way. Because of this, I knew very early on that I had to love whatever I did for a living. (Again, that's why I jump around so much. When I stop enjoying it or stop being challenged by it, I won't do it and be miserable.) I saw my parents pretty much hate their jobs and I vowed I would never do that. They went everyday and often worked overtime, but they didn't enjoy it.

The thing that I want to address is the idea that you need to do something you love, something for which you have passion. Money be damned. (See older blog on the difference between drive and passion.) Yes, we all need money to live and we all want to make a lot of money and be comfortable, but it's also important to love what you do. If you have a passion for sports and the sports business you're going to enjoy going to work, even if you have to make some sacrifices in the early years.

My friend Nick came and spoke in one of my classes recently. He hit on a very true point (and a funny one when he delivered it). The vast majority of people don't grow up rooting for companies. They don't come to school and say, "Wow! Did you see the decision that Staples made last week? How cool was that? What do you think that's going to mean long term for the company?" His point was that people don't grow up saying things like that about businesses. They grow up talking about sports and decisions that sports teams make. If you work in the sports industry you get to be a part of that. It's different even from being a fan. You're a part of the business, and that's even more fun than being a fan. You get to be a contributor. Consider that when you start to think about your future career.

Learn to Think for Yourself

2009-02-17T21:35:00.001-05:00

If there is one thing that has bothered me more than any other in my first semester of teaching it is the fact that too many of my students don't want to think for themselves. They want me (and others) to tell them what to do and what to think. I've had students who I advise come into my office to schedule classes and not know what classes they need to graduate. OK, maybe no one has shown them how to tell. I accepted that for this semester and then spent the time to walk them through the graduation audit report so that they know. After that, though, came things I didn't understand. I have upper level students tell me that they've never had to think about what they want to take because their adviser would pick out their classes for them. (A few students also told one of the other professors about me that "She makes us pick out our own classes!" Go figure.) I've tried to explain that although that would be much easier for me because I could quickly run through and do that for each person without them even having to be in my office, it isn't what's best for them. Also, if I picked out their classes, I'd have them in requirement classes I like, things like Russian Lit and Middle Eastern History. I gave them a hall pass for this semester, but told them I expect them to come in next time with at least an idea of what they need/want to take.

My favorite story came from a fellow professor who had a student come in and ask for a catalog. A fellow student (maybe her boyfriend) had to come up with the classes he thought he wanted to take before meeting with his adviser (me). His girlfriend told the professor that I had made the statement that I wasn't their mom. I would help them and direct them and guide them, but not do for them, which I did say to students. The funny part to me, though, is that I was trying to get students to think for themselves and he turned to his girlfriend to do it for him, still not thinking for himself!

I often get asked, too, if I will find internships for them. The answer I give them is that I will help them find an internship. I will go to the ends of the earth to help them find an internship that fits their interests and needs, help them prepare their resume and cover letter, do mock interviews, you name it, but I will not hand hold or babysit. At some point they have to be able to do for themselves.

I've had this posting drafted for over a month. I'm prompted to post it after a conversation with a professor in my division who has been teaching for nearly 30 years noted the same thing today about his students. One of the most important things you can take away from your education is the ability to think for yourself. Your professors aren't here to do everything for you. They're here to help you learn to think for yourself so that you can go out and achieve your dreams.

Recommendation Letters

2009-01-28T00:11:00.006-05:00

Several weeks ago, a student I've taught in one class came in and asked if I'd write him a recommendation letter for grad school if one of his others from his summer internship manager didn't come through. I said I would. Well, late last week (the 22nd, I think), he came back and asked if I'd write the letter, and then proceeded to tell me that the deadline for submission of his materials was February 1st. It's a trite phrase, but lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on someone else's part.

If you're going to have someone write you a recommendation letter for graduate school, here are some things that I would consider basic etiquette for you to do. Even if they know you pretty well, these are some basic courtesies that will probably make them think that much more highly of your level of professionalism.

1) Don't wait until the last minute. Give them plenty of time.

2) Provide them with a copy of your resume so they can see what you've done. They may not know everything you've done. With my student, I know he did one internship last summer, but other than that, I've no idea. I'm not even sure if he is a double major or works a job in addition to going to school and being an athlete or what exactly his career goals are...no clue.

3) I almost always give the student a copy of the letter, but if there is a form from the university that asks if the student can see it, I appreciate the fact when a student checks "no" ahead of time. This student filled out the form in front of me, checked "yes" and said, "I'm sure I'll see it anyway." I hadn't told him I'd give him a copy. When I write letters I put them in an envelope and sign the flap so that the school knows the student didn't forge or alter the letter. It's pretty common practice. This schools instructions even stated to do that. He for sure wasn't going to see that copy. It was pretty ballsy, I thought, to assume that he would get a copy. He didn't ask for one. If you don't specifically ask for one, don't automatically expect to get one.

4) I would have appreciated if he had taken even 5 minutes to talk to me a little bit. I would have been interested to hear (and would have asked) why he wanted to get into that program, what he thinks he might want to do in the future, what other experience he had is sports, etc. He just rushed in, asked if I'd write the letter, and then dashed out. He returned the next day to give me the form that went with the letter.

I was able to write a positive letter, but it wasn't nearly as detailed and specific as it could have been.

I'd be interested to know what else other people may ask/expect/require from students who ask for recommendation letters. I know some people make the student write the first draft and then edit from there. That's always a possibility, too.

Continuous Learning

2009-01-18T23:12:00.006-05:00

"In times of drastic change, it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists." --Eric Hoffer

I'm routinely amazed when I see speakers at seminars or guest speakers in classes and look around to see that most of the audience (particularly students), aren't taking notes. I realize that not everyone is interested in every speaker, but I've been in rooms with incredibly successful people in the sports industry and seen no one taking notes on what they said. I guess my view is that there's got to be something I can learn from this person, even if it's something very basic. If they've gotten to a relatively high level in a sports organization they know something worth passing on, and maybe it's something that will help me in my career. I certainly don't know it all and know that I have tons to learn. Maybe my philosophy goes along with my being an information junkie--wanting to know things just for the sake of knowing them. I don't know if people are bored of if they think they have nothing else to learn. Continuous learning is not only an advantage, I believe it's a necessity with the speed that things change today.

I'm teaching a very informal class that helps students find out what they want to do, helps them develop interview skills, create a resume and cover letter, learn about networking, etc. There are no tests. I don't "make" them take notes. I have a guest speaker coming in tomorrow who has worked for NFL Films, the New York Giants, and the NFL Management Council. He's not much older than the students. He's going to present six things that he wishes he would have known/done as an undergrad just a few years ago that would have been beneficial to his career. It will be interesting to see how many students view this as a learning opportunity rather than just an opportunity to not have a regular class session.

Technology

2009-01-05T21:33:00.010-05:00

If you're looking for an area of sports where it will be relatively easy to find an internship or job, compared to traditional areas of sports, I have one word for you: technology. Especially as it relates to marketing, if you know how to take technology and use it in the capacity of marketing, you've got what Willy Wonka would call the Golden Ticket. Look at all the positions that are listed for database marketing/database administration and CRM (Customer Relationship Management). When you start thinking about content management, SEO (search engine optimization), SEM (search engine marketing), the use of YouTube, Twitter, text messaging/SMS, the third screen (phones/PDAs are the third screen--TV is the first screen, computers are the second), Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, PageFlakes, Flickr, etc., and countless other technologies--existing and not yet developed--there are some great opportunities out there. There are opportunities in the phigital realm (phigital = the combination of the physical and digital world).

Think about the Obama campaign and their use of technology. YouTube and viral video. A custom created iPhone app. Text messaging to announce Joe Biden as the VP candidate. YouTube weekly address to the nation. All of these, and more, are great uses of technology that can carry over to business. I remember reading several of the articles during the campaign and thinking that companies who haven't, yet, are now going to jump all over the use of this type of technology to promote their companies. The Obama campaign proved many things, and one of them was that technology can be used very effectively to communicate a message. If I were a sports organization, I'd be looking heavily for someone who could bring new marketing outlets like these to my company and effectively use them.

If you're currently a student, your classes may not even cover a lot of this. Some of these things may be ones with which you're somewhat familiar just because they're a common part of your generation. Regardless though, you will probably need to learn some in depth aspects about the technologies. You may need to read books and pursue online training. For any applicable parts, I highly recommend Lynda.com for online training. I've been using that site for a couple of years and am a huge fan of it. Books, blogs, and online articles are abundant on these topics. Seek them out. Like many of these technologies, the cost of learning about them is free because you can easily go to the Internet to learn about them. Take advantage of the information out there and make technology one of your areas of expertise. I'd be willing to bet that it will pay off.

Layoffs in the Sports Industry

2008-12-10T02:40:00.009-05:00

The NFL announced today that it will be laying off about 150 employees. The same has happened with other major sports leagues and various other sports companies. Having been through a job layoff in the last seven months myself, that's not a pleasant experience, even if, as in my case, you're expecting it to happen. That being said, let's look at this from the side of those of you who are still students. There is the potential that this could be something of a good thing for a lot of you pursuing internships. How? Why? I can tell you from experience that when a sports organization is short on staff, they utilize interns even more! I've previously written about the experience I was able to get at Disney Sports because we were so short-staffed when we opened in comparison to the number of people they have now.

These layoffs don't mean that leagues/companies will necessarily be taking more interns. (Although they might. The $500-$1,500/month is definitely cheaper than the cost of an employee and her benefits.) What it does mean is that they are going to have a lot of overworked staff who may gladly allow interns to now work on loftier projects so that they can get some of the additional work off their desk and get that work completed. The keys to interns being successful in gaining this additional experience will be if the interns are capable, hard working, and take the initiative to ask, "Is there anything I can help with or take off your plate?"

If you're fortunate enough to get an internship this year, take advantage of all the work that may be available. Be a sponge. Come in early, stay late, work weekends, help staff in departments where you don't technically even work. The experience you will gain will be invaluable even though, with this economy, the internship won't likely turn into a full-time job with that organization. Happy internship hunting!

Follow-up and Initiative

2008-12-06T20:42:00.009-05:00

Within the last couple of weeks, I've had what seem to me to be a few odd experiences with students and follow-up, or lack thereof. I've had students ask for my assistance in reviewing resumes, helping them find a job, wanting to talk to me about going to grad school at Ohio University, and "interviewing" me as part of a portfolio to turn in for an assignment. After initial contact, none of them have followed-up. I have absolutely no problem helping students with all of those things. As a matter of fact, it's what I enjoy and one of the biggest reasons I got into teaching. Most people I know in sports are the same. They have absolutely no problem talking with students and helping them. One of the main things, though, that we won't do is babysit or handhold. There has to be some desire for the students to help themselves, so to speak. Some semblance of initiative needs to be taken.

In my situation, one student made an initial appointment, we reviewed her resume, and I directed her to some websites to look at job descriptions/postings based on what she said she wanted to do. We agreed that she would make some edits to her resume and then come back to see me the following week. Nothing. One made an appointment to see me and discuss the OU Sports Ad program because she "wants to go to OU for grad school more than anything!" She made an appointment, but never showed up and hasn't sent any type of communication to explain why she didn't keep the appointment, not even communication to reschedule. Another wanted to talk to me about going to OU for grad school. I told him that the director of the program was coming to speak in my sponsorship class. The student asked if he could sit in on the class. I told him that he absolutely could and that, in fact, I encouraged it. Nothing. He didn't come to the class and I haven't heard from him since. The student requesting an interview told me she would be back later during my office hours that same day. Didn't show and hasn't followed-up with me, yet.

On the opposite side of the fence, I've met with three phenomenal students. Two of them want to go to grad school and one is trying to find out more about different areas to help him figure out if we wants to work in sales/marketing or event management. They've each been in my office multiple times, with and without appointments. They ask questions, they want to know what websites, books, etc. they should read that might help them, etc.

Basically, the second group is taking initiative. They're asking for help, not asking for me or others to do the work for them. These are the types of behaviors that employers look for in employees. Sports is a competitive industry. If you can't take initiative about your own future and career, what kind of initiative will you have on the job? If you won't help yourself, why would anyone else want to go out of his/her way to help you? I will gladly still talk to the first group and help them out, but I now wonder how serious their pursuits are. Show some initiative and follow-up with people whose assistance you seek.

Revisionist History

2008-11-24T21:43:00.011-05:00

"Historical revisionism is the attempt to change commonly held ideas about the past. In its legitimate form it is the reexamination of historical facts, with an eye towards updating historical narratives with newly discovered, more accurate, or less biased information, acknowledging that history of an event, as it has been traditionally told, may not be entirely accurate.

"Historical revisionism" (also but less often in English "negationism"), describes the process that attempts to rewrite history by minimizing, denying or simply ignoring essential facts." (source: Wikipedia)

Since I started teaching undergrads three months ago, I've learned a few of things: 1) I love it! I enjoy being around the students I have. They respond well when I can relate topics to things they see everyday in sports. As I get more comfortable in the classroom, it's going to be even more fun. 2) Teaching and prepping for classes takes a lot more time than I imagined, at least for the first time. I have a feeling it will be easier next year after I've taught these classes once. 3) Undergraduate students are different from graduate students, and the grad students I worked with at Ohio University last year are some of the best. This last part is what I want to focus on for this post, along with the second part of the definition above.

The idea of writing this blog was not to say that I or my peers did all of the things I've written about and have advised you to do when we first started in sports. Some we did, but a lot of them we didn't. If you really pay attention, I often say I learned "x" from someone or a boss advised me to do "y." The point is that I didn't know a lot of this when I started working in sports. The idea of the blog was to pass this info along to current students so they learn it earlier than I did, and therefore, hopefully have an advantage moving forward.

I was talking with one of the grad students at OU when I was in Athens in October. He was telling me about an alumnus who sent a written tirade about everything that a couple of people did wrong during a presentation that he saw. While we were talking, two other students jumped in and were giving additional information. Feedback is always good, but this feedback wasn't necessarily given in the most positive way. It was mostly ripping these students apart from what I could gather. These students took it way better than I did, that's for sure. This feedback came from someone who graduated around the time that I did. (Although the name was not given to the students, they could figure out who it was by references he made to his career.)

I was really annoyed because since I was one of the few alumni in the Athens area last year, I had the opportunity to see these students present on multiple occasions and participate as a judge for those presentations. One of the things that I can definitively say is that they are way better with their presentation skills than we were when we were grad students. And I don't mean just a little. I'm talking off the charts better. Their information is well-researched, the presentations are interesting, their PowerPoint skills are phenomenal, and speaking ability is something that Jim Kahler has made sure they have when they leave Athens. This person who gave the "feedback" was comparing them to what his current ability is. Yes, we're better than we were as grad students (at least I hope we all are), but it's not fair to compare these students to us ten years removed, with ten years of experience and currently in middle and upper management jobs. Experience almost always trumps classroom education, and ten years of it definitely does.

There are a lot of things by which we judge students, but lets remember that they're still students. If we could find someone who didn't need any coaching and development, we wouldn't be paying them an entry level salary of <$30,000/year. We look for students who are very good and only need a little tweaking to become great. If they have the right attitude about learning and their career, chances are that a lot of the things they need to "fix" are ones they'll pick up quickly. The level that grad students at a program like OU have reached is one that is well above most students. Trust me, I work with undergrads everyday. Give these guys a break. Stop with the revisionist history and acting like the skills we have now are the ones we had when we were their age.

Sports Business Journal

2008-09-20T10:25:00.006-04:00

One of the tools that anyone wanting to work in the sports industry should utilize is the Sports Business Journal. I haven't posted about it before as a tool because I guess I was naive and thought that most people who wanted to work in sports knew about it. What I've discovered since I began teaching last month is that none of my students had ever heard of the SBJ, let alone read it. After talking to undergrad professors at other universities, I found out that my students aren't that unique. I actually just heard from a student at another university that one of her sports administration professors had never heard of it until he came to that university. That was truly shocking! I've already decided to use the SBJ instead of, or in addition to, a text book in my future classes to make sure that students utilize it.

For those not aware, SBJ is a weekly publication that covers the business aspect of sports. It contains vital information on so many different sports business topics. It is an important publication for any section of sports in which you may want to work. For students and professors, they offer a significant discount price on semester and annual subscriptions. I recommend you read it to know what's going on in the sports business world.

Check out the Sports Business Daily, too. It compiles all of the sports business news from various newspapers and websites around the country. I actually read this even more religiously than the SBJ. The same company produces both, and like SBJ, the SBD also offers student and educational discounts.

360 Degrees of Feedback

2008-08-17T22:26:00.010-04:00

One of the things that many companies offer is what is called 360 degrees of feedback. With 360 degrees of feedback, people receive feedback from their leader, their peers, and their direct reports. It is something that is invaluable. It's an opportunity to find out how others view you with regard to a number of things based on pre-determined questions from the company. It's a written report telling you where you need to improve in others' eyes.

Although this is written feedback, it's a specific type of written feedback. For individual feedback, it's best not to put any constructive feedback in writing. Tone and intention don't come across well in written form. Plus, the basic fact is that anything in writing can be kept by the other person forever. If you're writing something positive about someone, copy others, especially that person's boss. Copy the person's peers, others on the team, etc. If it's your direct report, copy your boss. It's parallel to the idea that you give praise in public (team meetings, for example), but give feedback in private (behind closed doors or one-on-one).

Feedback - Giving and Receiving

2008-08-05T23:18:00.001-04:00

I've had parts of this blog saved in draft form since October, 2007. The topic is feedback. I've been trying to figure out how best to write it in a relatively short form. This topic was a multi-hour class when I worked at Disney. These are just a couple of key points. By no means is it the end-all, be-all on this topic, but hopefully it will be a helpful start and encourage you to read-up on the subject for more details.

Feedback isn't easy to give properly and it's even harder to hear. I know, sounds like I have a firm grasp of the obvious here. In working with the grad students at OU, even at their age it wasn't something that I ever saw any of them able to give without getting personal. It's even less likely that younger students are going to figure it out without some coaching. I don't think it's something that is taught at school. In the workplace, it's only taught in companies with well-established training programs.

One of the things that I learned was to first ask, "Do you mind if I give you some feedback?" The idea is that no one is going to say "no." (I've never had anyone answer "no" to this question.) We all want to receive feedback, or at least we think we do. When the person answers "yes," she's given you permission. Remember, though, that it's permission to give feedback, not permission to attack her.

When giving feedback, you can't get personal with it. The feedback should be about the person's actions, not the person. It's not an opportunity to attack the other person, make her feel bad, or show how superior you think you are to her. Whatever it is that the person did or didn't do, it likely wasn't malicious. Often, people honestly don't know that they've done something wrong or annoying because no one has ever told them. One way you keep the feedback from being a personal attack is by relating it back to yourself and using non-accusatory phrases. What I mean by this is that you use phrases such as "I felt like" and "It seems like" and "I'm sure it wasn't your intention, but..." rather than using accusatory phrases and saying that they "did" such and such. An example:

"I'm sure it wasn't your intention, but when you made that comment in front of the staff, I felt like you were undermining my position."

If you've watched "The Last Lecture" by Dr. Randy Pausch at Carnegie Mellon (and if you haven't, you should), he tells a story about one of his mentors giving him feedback. Dr. Pausch acknowledged that he was quite arrogant as an undergrad. Instead of his mentor telling him that he was being a jerk and isolating people, his mentor told him, "It's a shame that people perceive you as so arrogant. It's going to limit what you're able to do in life." He didn't say you're an arrogant jackass, but he said the same thing without trampling all over his emotions. Not many of us have a real idea of how people perceive us.

In order to receive feedback, you truly have to be open to it. When it's given properly, you can't take it personally, either. You can't get defensive and try to defend your position or offer excuses, especially if you've asked for feedback or said yes to receiving it. Feedback is a gift, and it's a scarce one. You have to let that person speak, absorb it, and thank them for the feedback. Remember, it's not about what you meant to do or say, it's about what others perceive you meant. This is also not the time for you to turn around and give them feedback.

Unfortunately, one of the things you're inevitably going to face is people to whom you give feedback, but who will perceive any feedback as an attack. To this I can only say that at least you're trying. Just be the bigger person and don't let it escalate.

I'll have more on feedback in the next posting.

University of Charleston (WV) - New Job

2008-07-30T21:43:00.003-04:00

Sometimes things happen to force us down a path we know we should have been on already. Back in May, I was laid off from my job at GamePlan Technologies. It wasn't a surprise. I was pretty sure it was coming and had started looking for another job in spring. I looked at various teaching positions for sports admin programs and/or jobs at universities or in college towns so that I could pursue my PhD. Teaching full-time is something I've been saying I wanted to do for the last three years.

I found a posting for the University of Charleston (www.ucwv.edu) in February, but didn't post for it at that time. In May, I did post for it and was called in for an interview the next week. I fell in love with the program and the staff! It's a practical, real-world program that has a huge amount of potential, and a lot of the staff have had a great deal of entrepreneurial success, which I love. I have a lot of ideas for the program and how I would like to see it grow. I've also already started speaking to people in my network about internships for the students, ideas for projects, and information for class content.

I'm very excited to start my new job on Friday as a professor and program coordinator for the University of Charleston's sports administration program. If I hadn't been laid off, I wouldn't have pursued my dream of teaching full-time for several more years. Sometimes the things that happen in our careers that seem unpleasant are really serendipitous. We just need to make sure we're receptive to those moments and take advantage of them.

Meet and Greets

2008-07-14T00:24:00.001-04:00

When you first arrive for an internship or a new job--especially a new job--schedule "meet and greets" with various people at the company. They don't have to be long, drawn out meetings. It might only be fifteen or thirty minutes long. The purpose is simple and just what it sounds like--to meet the staff and introduce yourself. Ask them what their department does, how it interacts with your department, and how you can best work together. It's just a little thing, but it shows that you have initiative, that you want to learn about the big picture, and that you understand that your department does not operate in a vacuum.

One of the new employees at NYRR who is a friend of mine has been going through her meet and greets. She's in the marketing department, but one that she's scheduled is with the warehouse and logistics manager. He is a former employee of mine and is still a good friend. I can tell you that the fact that she contacted him to schedule a meet and greet was huge. Second, she offered to go to the warehouse to meet him. The first was huge. The second was monumental! His team is responsible for physically delivering the sponsor activation items her department needs, and they're often a victim of the "out of sight, out of mind" syndrome since the warehouse is in a different location. It makes sense for them to meet and talk, yet few people have done that when they've arrived (actually, I don't know of anyone else who has). Even fewer have taken the time to go to the warehouse in the Bronx (the office is in Manhattan). She's doing it because she's a good manager and a good person, but it's going to pay huge dividends down the road. Things being equal, we prefer to work with people we like. Things not being equal, we still prefer to work with people we like.

Mistakes

2008-06-30T18:21:00.016-04:00

One of the many things that is so important in life is to learn from our mistakes, but in order to learn from mistakes, we first have to be willing to make them. Mistakes aren't made and lessons aren't learned by those timid souls who sit idly by and wait to be told exactly what to do. When you start in a job, you may not quite know enough to do a lot of things on your own. If you don't, be proactive in asking your boss what you can help with next. Don't sit and wait for her to come to you. If you learn quickly, hopefully you have a boss who will encourage you to make decisions and will give you the authority to make them. Know this though, eventually, you are going to make a decision that is a mistake.

When you make your first major mistake, I hope you have a boss who works through it with you, who explains why it was a mistake and what might have been a better option. Enlightened bosses will know that you're going to eventually make a mistake. They hope they can catch you before you make it, but that isn't always possible.

An important piece after you make a mistake is how you communicate it. When you do make a mistake, own up to it. Don't blame someone else if you know that you screwed-up. None of us wants to think that we're the ones at fault, but when we really think about it, we might be. It wasn't done on purpose, but it was our fault. Our knee-jerk reaction is to blame someone/something else. I've worked in organizations where the first thing out of people's mouths when they screw up is "such and such was supposed to ________, that's why it happened." They also love to tell everyone else that same thing. Please don't do that. Be an adult. Don't start telling others that it was someone else's fault. Be willing to say, "It was my fault. I screwed up. It's a lesson I've learned and it won't happen again." Seriously think about what you learned from the mistake--you should have followed up with someone or you should have gotten the price quote in writing or whatever.

The next key is not to let it happen again. Making mistakes isn't career killing, but making the same mistakes over and over is. You don't want to become known as the person who always screws up. You also don't want to be known as the person who doesn't take responsibility for her actions.

Promotions Aren't Like Birthdays...

2008-06-24T09:23:00.010-04:00

Promotions at work aren't like birthdays...you don't get one every year. I've seen too many young people recently who think that they're entitled to a promotion after being in a job for only a year or two (and sometimes after an even shorter time). And they're pissing off their managers. Worse yet, when they do receive a promotion, then they expect one every year. It doesn't work that way in the real world. There are often situations where a candidate is on the border between title levels when he begins working at an organization. As part of the hiring negotiation, the company may agree to a review his performance after six or twelve months and agree to a promotion to the next level if his performance meets specific expectations. Even after that initial promotion, though, it may be 2-4 years before he receives another promotion.

Let's say the levels of an organization are as follows:

-Coordinator - Assistant Manager - Manager - Sr. Manager - Director - Vice President - President

With a promotion every year, an employee will have worked through the entire organization in six years, and anyone who thinks that the norm is to be president of a company in six years is seriously delusional. Anyone who thinks that being a director after six years is delusional! And in sports, it's even less likely. The simple rules of supply and demand apply for sports jobs more than most other jobs. Be realistic before you start a job. Otherwise, you're going to show just how naive you are and you're probably going to piss off your boss in the process.

Voice Mail Messages You Leave

2008-06-10T15:55:00.005-04:00

Before you leave a voice mail message for a person who could possibly hire you for a job or internship, make sure you know what you're going to say. As ridiculous as it may sound, rehearse saying the message out loud. Do it often enough so it doesn't sound like you're reading it. You'd be surprised how easy it is to start rambling like an idiot and continually repeat yourself. Something I heard recently that I thought was a good suggestion was to call your own cell phone (even if from your cell phone) and leave a message when you're driving or just have some down time. Once you listen to it, you'll be able to pick-up on any annoying ticks (um, you know, speak at lightning speed, etc.) that you have and correct them.

Another minor little detail to consider is what you'll say if the person actually answers. I've been in the office late at night and answered the phone to a startled person on the other end. Don't discount the possibility of someone being at his desk. Additionally, sometimes the best time to reach the person you're trying to speak with is in the morning or the evening, before or after traditional work hours (7:00a-9:00a or 5:30p-8:00p). I know that I am NOT a morning person and was often in the office late at night. During the day when I'm running between meetings, I might not have time to speak at length with someone, but later in the day, I usually do.

Something I forgot to put in the last post about the message you have on your voice mail intro--be sure to say your first and last name if you have a name that people often butcher. None of us want to intentionally butcher another's name. This will help make sure they at least get close to pronouncing your name correctly when they do speak with you.

The Voicemail Intro on Your Phone

2008-05-29T01:42:00.011-04:00

"Hi, this is Michelle. You've reached the right number at the wrong time. You know the drill. Leave me a message."

As you begin to call professionals in the industry, you're invariably going to be leaving them a voicemail with your number so they can call you back. I'll save the items about when to call and what to leave on their voicemail for the next post. For this one, it's about the message that they're going to hear on your phone if they call you back. Personally, I'm OK with funny or informal messages. I think they show a little creativity, and I LOVE creative people. I don't like companies that are old and stuffy. But I can tell you with certainty that most business people don't care for those informal or funny messages. They hear them and cringe, thinking they're very unprofessional. They start thinking, "If she has that unprofessional of a message when she knows I may be calling and she's trying to get a job/internship with me, how unprofessionally is she going to behave with my customers? Could I even trust her to know what a professional conversation with my customers should sound like?"

Unfortunately, there are times when you will have to conform to the accepted "business norms," especially when you're trying to break into the industry or are just starting an entry level job with a long-standing organization (e.g., professional leagues, major universities, etc.) Personally, I hate the idea of conforming to "business norms" that are a throw-back to the 1950s and were created by WASPy old white men, but I'm also a pragmatist. Don't shoot yourself in the foot before you even get a chance to begin your career and show them what you can do. Unless you start your own company or find a really cool start-up or small company that embraces irreverence, you're going to have to get rid of your college student voicemail message. Welcome to the adult world of business where fun sometimes gets swept under the carpet!

The Forgotten Piece of Being Able to Work Independently

2008-05-23T22:30:00.009-04:00

I was talking with a professor here at OU today and she was praising one of the graduate assistants for how well she works independently. She was saying that the grad student needs almost no direction on what to do, but that because of it, she (the professor) doesn't know if a project is almost done or if it's barely been started. I think it's great that this student can work so independently. It's something that bosses love! What this student is missing, though, is that she needs to keep her boss updated on her projects and where they stand. It's a minor thing, and one I know this student will pick-up very quickly once she receives this feedback. It's a much easier fix to teach someone to keep her boss updated than it is to teach her to work independently. In the realm of personnel issues, this is a nice one to have.

In your jobs and internships, make sure to let your boss know where you stand on completing projects. Even if she doesn't ask, let her know either by dropping by her office or sending a quick email. It doesn't have to be anything elaborate or long. Quite frankly, it shouldn't be long. Just a few sentences or bullet points are all you need. The best solution is to flat out ask her at the beginning, "How would you like me to keep you updated on my progress with this project?" It will show a maturity level that isn't always seen in young employees.

In Chaos, There Is Opportunity

2008-05-12T23:37:00.007-04:00

In chaos, there is opportunity. I first heard this phrase in an old Cary Grant movie, Operation Petticoat, when Tony Curtis's character was scrounging for parts during a bombing. The phrase is true in the sports industry, too.

We all have those one or two top level organizations where we dream of working. We may even be lucky enough to get to work for them from day one. Sometimes, though, it's better to take an opportunity in a smaller or start-up or off-the-beaten-path organization. Why, though? Often, these other types of organizations can offer more hands-on experience in a lot of different areas than a large one can. Established companies often have long established policies and procedures. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. You can learn about a specific area in an established company, but in a small or developing one, you can learn about MANY different areas and help create the policies and procedures. It also allows you to have an impact on what happens in a bigger way. When you go to apply for your next job, you can give concrete examples to hiring managers of the impact you had on the organization.

I was in the second intern class at Disney's Wide World of Sports. The first class had three people who started working the year before the Sports Complex even opened. They worked 100+ hour weeks on a regular basis to help get it open. There were ten of us in the second intern class and only a handful of permanent staff compared to what Disney Sports has now. Our class got there about six weeks after they opened and just before the summer deluge of events. We all worked on all kinds of events and in a lot of different functional areas. It was the best internship possible and one where we were able to learn a great deal about a lot of different areas. We got to sit in on meetings and manage areas that I'm sure their interns today don't. The Disney Sports internship is still one of the top ones out there, but with 30+ interns and a boatload more specialized staff, the interns don't get quite the same experience we did. It was chaos and we had an opportunity that doesn't come along often with an organization like Disney.

When you're looking for your first job or an internship, take a look at some of those smaller university jobs if you want to work at a BCS school in the future...or if you want to work for an NBA team, look at a team in the NBA Development League...You get the idea. Search for your internship or job based on the experience you're going to get from it.

Professional Journal

2008-05-05T23:11:00.009-04:00

I don't know where I heard about keeping a professional journal, but it's something I've been doing since I started as an intern in 1997 at Disney Sports. Since then, I've read about various entrepreneurs who keep idea journals and/or notes about meetings. Maybe I read something about it back then and got the idea that way.

These journals have proven very valuable to me as I've worked on projects and needed to reference information. I started by recording information that my leaders would relate in meetings. They weren't necessarily things they were saying directly to me, but items that would come up in planning discussions with the entire event management team, things about event management that I just didn't know at the time. It could be anything--ratios to use when renting certain equipment (at least 1 portable toilet per 75 people and 1 ADA portable toilet per 150 people); standard revenue split percentages for merchandise sales with partners; keeping signage messages and PA announcements positive (use REMEMBER TO rather than DON'T FORGET TO); and dozens of other simple things.

From there, I started summarizing great articles I read (a lot of early Fast Company articles in my first journal), writing down key points from books, and taking notes from a multitude of speakers I heard. It's progressed now to the point of clipping key items that I know I'll use later, especially data/statistics and their sources. (Even though I know it could all be found relatively easily again on the internet, I still clip it and tape it into my journal. I know what's in the journal and can flip to it even faster than I can Google the exact info.) The latest evolution of what I keep in my professional journal includes ideas that I someday want to turn into my own business(es), sketches, names of people from my network I'd want to hire and in what roles, what I want my company employee policies to be, etc.

I have a friend who negotiates contracts with professional athletes for his organization. Last month, he was telling me that his mentor had kept meticulous notes of all his negotiations throughout his career. My friend started doing the same when he began working for his mentor. He said that it's his professional journal to help him with future negotiations, but it's also a great way to document his career for his own edification.

If you decide to keep a professional journal, make it something that is your own and fits your personality. There's no one way to do it. The only rule is to use it in whatever way is going to be beneficial to you.

Drive vs. Passion

2008-04-21T23:04:00.004-04:00

For me, I have to have a lot of passion around my work, which is why I jump around so much in my jobs. It's something that I'm sure is difficult for some people (especially hiring managers) to understand. Once the passion for the product or service or organization is gone and I can't re-invent or re-summon it, I go looking for something else. I know that I need change and continuous new challenges. My passion lies in exploring new and innovative ideas. There are people who can work at something that is "just a job" for a long time, but I'm not one of them.

The reason for this post is to advise you to find a product/service that generates a lot of passion in you and then work in that area. In the book The Monk and the Riddle by Randy Komisar, he describes the difference between drive and passion. Drive is something that pushes you along, a commitment or something that you do out of obligation. Passion is something that pulls you along, a force that you can't resist. If you really want to work in sports, you should have a passion for sports, but also a passion for your specific chosen area of sports. If you want to work in marketing, but take a long-term job in event management because you want to break into sports, it's not going to be enough to make you truly happy. Your passion has to cover both areas to continue to sustain itself.

Auxiliary Products and Services in Sports

2008-04-17T23:35:00.005-04:00

Inc. is one of my two favorite magazines. (The other is Mental Floss.) In the April 2008 issue on pages 30 & 31 there is a great picture and insets. It's a section called "Behind the Scenes: Companies at the Heart of Everyday Life." On it, it shows a photo from pre-game of a Pistons-Trail Blazers game. It highlights companies responsible for some of the things in the photo - the court, the courtside seats, the mascot uniform, the pre-game pyro.

These are great examples of parts of the sports industry that students don't often know or hear about. They're also great areas to look at to break into the sports industry, not to mention the fact that there are some really interesting things out there besides the obvious areas of pro sports teams, college sports teams, and marketing companies. Just looking at this picture I start to think about other areas that students could pursue that they may not know about because they're not so obvious.

I have a friend from grad school who works for Aacer selling basketball floors. I know another person who was a rep for Spalding basketballs. A guy I worked with at Disney's Animal Kingdom has a company that creates card stunts for stadiums. The company that managed the concessions and catering for the Indy car race at Disney also managed concessions for the Kentucky Derby and a bunch of other major sports events. A vendor/friend from New York Road Runners who is responsible for their major event signage also handles pieces of signage for the Super Bowl. John Anthony's travel company (Anthony Travel) has grown immensely in the last 10 years and now handles major accounts such as Disney Sports, the Iron Man Triathlon, the ING New York City Marathon, and countless universities and other groups.

There are all sorts of auxiliary areas out there to consider. There may even be an area that will pique your entrepreneurial interest enough to motivate you to create your own company. The opportunities in sports are out there. It may just take a little more thought or resourcefulness to find out what they are.

I'm Back

2008-04-17T23:33:00.001-04:00

Sorry for the recent lack of posts. I was on a brief personal break, but am now back and starting to resume posting.

iTunes U

2008-03-30T22:49:00.003-04:00

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.

10 Seems to Be the Magic Number

2008-03-18T11:42:00.001-04:00

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.

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

2008-03-13T09:32:00.012-04:00

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.

What Classes to Take

2008-03-10T22:49:00.001-04:00

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.

Keep Track of Events/Projects That You Work

2008-03-04T23:02:00.009-05:00

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.

No Single Career Path

2008-03-01T01:12:00.007-05:00

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.

Make Sure to Answer the Questions You're Asked

2008-02-14T10:08:00.004-05:00

I just participated as an interviewer for some of the students applying for admission to the Sports Administration Program here at Ohio University. One of the things I noticed quite a bit was that of the five candidates I interviewed, several of them never answered the question I actually asked them. It was a bit annoying, really, and something that stuck out as a negative for me in evaluating them.

I know interviews are nerve-racking and can get a person flustered, but make sure you concentrate on what the interviewer has asked. Anyone in an interview should carry a portfolio with a notepad in it. Write down the question if you have to or put quick notes about what you want to cover in your answer. If I saw someone do that it would actually indicate to me that they're thinking (quickly) about what they want to say and not just rambling freely.

Also, think about what person you use when you answer questions. I write this blog in second person intentionally. I write it as if it's written to an individual student ("you" this or "you" that). When you're in an interview, and you get asked a question "What would you do...," don't answer it in second person. I, and most interviewers, want to know what YOU would do. Answer it in first person. If it's a generic question, then answer it in third person ("a person would have to..." or "one might..."), but don't try to tell me what I would/should do by using the word YOU.

Lastly, try to avoid generational words. Take "like" out of your vocabulary during interviews. It's become as annoying as "um" that happens while people are pausing. "Awesome" is an over-used generational word, too. If you have to, look up some other descriptive words in a thesaurus. A good grasp of other adjectives leads me to believe that you're educated, well-rounded, and more mature than others. Whether it's true or not doesn't necessarily matter. It's how you come across in the interview.

Unpaid Internships

2007-12-23T18:37:00.001-05:00

When I was an undergrad, I was involved in almost every business group on campus (I majored in Business, not Sports Administration). Each one of the organizations, at some point, would have someone come in and talk about resumes/internships/job interviewing/etc. Often it was staff from the Career Resource Center or recruiters from companies interviewing on campus. Over and over I heard people say that if we had taken an unpaid internship, we should note on our resume that it was unpaid. They said that an unpaid internship was impressive because it showed that we were dedicated. They told us that it showed them we valued the key learnings that we would get from an organization (such as IBM) if we were willing to work for free. Fourteen years and one week removed from my college graduation day, I'm calling BULLSHIT!

There are some pretty big name organizations out there that still won't pay interns. I don't understand this. For years, Nike and other companies got hammered for paying low wages to international workers. Why and how is offering unpaid internships in this country still OK? Yes, interns are receiving training from top-notch organizations, but they're also doing work for them and contributing to the company.

I often tell people to volunteer for events to break into the sports business and start developing their network, and I still firmly believe that they should. The difference is that volunteering is done for the one or two days for a few hours a day. An internship is usually several months for ten and twelve hours a day, sometimes six or seven days a week.

In my last posting, I advised people to find organizations with name recognition for their internship. I'm still holding to that. Here's the amendment, though. If they're unpaid internships, think twice. I'll even change that to flat out say don't take them. They should pay something. They don't have to pay the equivalent of an executive salary, but interns do provide value and should be compensated for it. Graduate interns are just a few short months away from being the same people these companies will hire.

Thank goodness that I encountered the voices of sanity when I got to graduate school. I know what the stance was of the SAFM program with Dr. Kreutzer and Dr. Higgins at Ohio, and I'm pretty sure it's still the same. They never told anyone that they couldn't take an unpaid internship, but they sure didn't support it. They advised us to think long and hard about that decision.

If you're in a graduate program, what is your program's stance? Do they have one? It might be a good question to ask if you're interviewing to get into a program to see just how much value they put on your talents coming out of their program.

Finding Sports Internships

2007-12-17T14:41:00.000-05:00

There are a lot of internships out there for sports students. Some of them are pretty obvious--university athletic departments, professional sports teams and leagues, sporting goods companies. If you know that's the type of work you want, those are easy enough to find posted on the organizations' job boards.

I had a friend the other day tell me that he advises students to try to get their internship with an organization that is well-known and has name recognition in sports. I hadn't thought about it before, but the more we talked, the more I agreed with him. When you search for your first job, it's sometimes a different story (subject of a future blog), but it makes a lot of sense in looking for internships. When future employers see Disney or NFL or Nike or University of Florida or Octagon or USOC on a resume, they know what they are. They also have some pre-conceived ideas that go with those names that can work to your advantage. When I see names like that on a resume, I immediately start thinking some of the following:

- They understand customer service. I won't have to re-train them on going the extra mile. They may even rub off on some of my employees.
- That's a hard internship to get. This person must be pretty solid.
- They have to have seen, and now understand, the business side of sports.
- They've seen the details and intricacies of running a sports business. They understand it's about more than just being a fan.

Right, wrong, or indifferent, landing those types of internships gives people a leg up. Look for them and see what you can find. Every website has a jobs section somewhere on it. It may be down at the bottom or off to one side. If it's not blatantly listed as Jobs or Careers or Employment, try the About Us section. If you still can't find it, search within their website or Google "jobs at _______."

References Available Upon Request

2007-12-10T23:25:00.000-05:00

I've been working with a few of the students as they start to pursue sports internships for the summer. The next several posts will relate to areas of job/internship searches, resumes, interviewing, etc.

References available upon request. This is a common phrase that people put at the bottom of their resumes. I don't remember who gave me this advice, but I remember someone once told me that I shouldn't put that phrase on my resume. Instead, I should automatically include a list of references as my last page. The idea is that if I want this person to hire me, why make them work any harder than they have to by contacting me for additional information? I should make it as easy as possible for them to get as much information on me as they want.

For years now, I've done this. I've also passed this advice on to others. I now look for this, too, on all the resumes I receive for jobs. If I don't have to call and ask for a list of references, it also helps speed up the interview process. I will often call references before I even interview candidates. In some cases, it's helped people get on my interview list who wouldn't have been on it if all I had was their resume to review. Again, it all comes back to, and is related to, the professional network a person has. Make sure you have strong references who know you well and can speak about your talents.

It's a little thing, but it's often little things that make a big difference.

Competition vs. Cooperation

2007-12-04T02:15:00.000-05:00

I've been searching on the Internet to find out who first said that youth is wasted on the young. According to thinkexist.com, it was George Bernard Shaw. I guessed Mark Twain. Seemed like something he would have said. It was 100% true with me and I'm seeing that it is still holding true.

I absolutely LOVE being around a college campus again and working with students. I definitely want to get my PhD and teach, even if I only teach part-time and pursue other options full-time. There are certain things about being around students, though, that are really tough for me. I now understand the frustration that my mentors went through with me.

With two or three exceptions, the students I've come across this year don't fully grasp that the people in their class are going to be their network for the rest of their professional lives and not their competitors. They could do themselves a huge favor by eliminating the internal competition and focusing on cooperation. It's not as if they don't like one another or don't get along, because they do. It's just that they're ultra competitive with one another. I've seen it firsthand, this weekend being the most recent example. One of the students was incredibly secretive and evasive when asked what internship she was applying for when another student was giving her an update on some reference information.

They're so worried about other students going head-to-head with them for opportunities. They don't want to tell others who are interested in the same line of work where they're applying. In contrast, if they helped one another through the process and made sure that at least someone in their network gets the internship if they don't, they'd be so much better off. They'd have someone they know in that area who could help them out in the future! It's not the easiest thing for competitive people to do, but by helping one another, by being happy when one person does well, by accepting competition for internships, and by being willing to let their merits go head-to-head against anyone, it would solidify their reputation within their class as someone who's willing to help others reach their goals. Yet, they're secretive and they hide information.

The greatest example I've come across of what people would ideally be like when working with those who are also competing with them was the description of Lincoln in Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Lincoln took the idea of cooperation to levels I can't even fathom. I think it's one of the things that made him such a great leader. He chose four men whom he beat out for the presidency for major positions in his cabinet, any/all of whom were expected to be elected over Lincoln. He was continually back-stabbed by people in his cabinet, yet he knew that they had the best talents for the jobs. And even though they treated him that way, he never reciprocated. He chose these men because although they were competitors, he wanted them around him because they had the best talents for the jobs.

Again, cooperating with people you view as competitors isn't easy. It's really damned hard, because that behavior may not be returned! I can scream about it until I'm blue in the face, but like almost everyone through time, there are life lessons that we only learn through our own experiences, and not from others trying to teach us. Just be open to the idea of cooperation instead of competition.

Referrals

2007-11-27T02:08:00.000-05:00

In one of the summer seminar classes for the MBA/MSA students here at Ohio University, the instructor talks about the importance of referrals to the sales process. Referrals can be referrals for selling sponsorships/tickets/etc. and even referrals to other people in the industry to help you sell yourself in order to get a job/internship. One of the things he hits on is the importance of following-up with those people who gave you the referral. It’s important just to update them on what happened with their referral and let them know the status. You don’t have to give them constant updates. It can be as simple as “I contacted “x” and we have a follow-up call scheduled for next week. Thanks again for the contact.” I have to say that in the last several weeks I've experienced this firsthand.

One of the students in the class of 2009 is a close friend. Several weeks ago, one of her classmates asked me to help him out in pursing contacts in the pro sport of his choice. I was happy to do it. Helping students find and build their network is actually one of the things I really enjoy doing. I have two classmates in the sport of his choice. I contacted them personally, gave them info on this student, and then asked if he could schedule some time to talk to them. Both of them took time out of their schedule to talk to him. (That's part of the beauty of the OU SAFM network. Almost everyone is willing to help out fellow SAFM people.)

I've yet to hear another word from this student. Last week at an SAFM event I saw him and asked him how the conversations went. He told me that they went well and that one of my classmates gave him a suggestion that could lead to an internship. Great news! I’m really happy for this guy, but it would have been nice to hear this several weeks ago when it happened. None of us in the industry who help students are asking them to grovel at our feet or kiss our asses, but basic courtesies go a long way. I’m not saying that I absolutely won’t help this guy again if he asks, but I’m honestly not sure how much effort I’ll put forth on his behalf. I’ll think twice about it before I make a final decision, that’s for certain.

Delegating

2007-11-07T00:07:00.000-05:00

I just came back from working the ING New York City Marathon. One of the things that I think is hardest for people to learn is how to delegate to the other people, whether people who report directly to them or people who are reporting to them only on a specific project. This came out loud and clear with some of my former colleagues at the marathon. A leader’s job is to lay out the plan and overall vision for a project and then delegate areas of that project to her direct reports. There will be areas that she will manage, and she should know what is happening in all of the areas her direct reports are managing.

I saw a situation occur this weekend where a leader kept such tight control of an event that on the day of the event, his direct reports told a colleague of mine that none of them knew what they were supposed to do for the event (what their responsibilities were) because their leader, who was managing the event, was supposed to give them their assignments, but he never got around to telling them. This was scary to see because there was a lot that needed to be done, yet one person was the only one who knew the plan and he and was trying to complete it alone.

Too many people want to hang on to their areas of responsibility. I think it stems from a couple of issues: thinking that no one can do it better than they can and fear that someone else will be doing their job, and hence, taking away their spotlight. What they don’t realize is that they’re not doing themselves or their direct reports any type of justice by doing this. Good leaders understand and follow the mantra that in order to move up, you’ve got to give up, meaning that in order to grow and climb the ladder of an organization, you have to give up specific control of areas. This doesn’t mean that you give up responsibility for something, but rather that you give up the detailed control. You still oversee an area and are ultimately responsible for it, but you’re not the one hashing out the details. As a leader, you assign new areas to your staff and guide them through the minefield. They walk through the minefield on their own, but you as their leader never allow them to even get close enough to a land mine to cause any damage. One of the keys is to have regular (weekly) meetings with them to review their projects and guide them through the problem areas. A leader should understand all of the areas that report to him and know what is happening in them by way of regular updates from his staff. Giving up the specific tasks allows a leader to take on broader responsibilities and create future leaders by developing their talents. Good leaders lead managers. Great leaders develop and lead other leaders.

Books

2007-10-23T22:27:00.000-04:00

I love books. If I could have one thing free for the rest of my life, it would be books. I can drop a fortune in Barnes & Noble or on Amazon.com in a New York Minute. I'll go in spurts where I'll read several books a week. I just like to know what information is out there and how other people look at things. I'm always curious to see what people are reading or talk to them about the latest book they've read. In order to continue your growth once you leave school, try to read a least a few books each year, preferably more. Take a look occasionally at the best seller list, the business best seller list, or the business section at your local Barnes & Noble. Try out a couple of books and find an author you like. There are certain ones I love, others I can't stand, and some I liked to start out, but grew out of. You'll always learn something from every book you read, even if it's as simple as the fact that you don't like that author's writing style and that you'll never torture a reader like that with your own writing. To quote Tom Peters (one of my favorite business authors), "If I read a book that cost me $20 and I get one good idea, I have gotten one of the great bargains of all time."

Let me know what some of your favorite books are.

Do You Know What You Might Have To Do?

2007-10-07T20:53:00.000-04:00

Last week, I was having a conversation with one of the graduate assistants who works for me. She was noting that she didn't think a lot of people understand what they may be asked to do in their early careers. She had a few years of work experience in professional sports before coming to grad school and has had the experience of doing some of the, to put it bluntly, crap work that we all have to do in sports, especially starting out. Just because you have an MBA and/or Master's in Sports, it doesn't make you immune to it. You're going to be asked to make copies, man a check-in table for an event, take tickets at a turnstile, or even pick-up trash. If you kvetch and complain about it, or do it half-way, you're not going to do your career any great service. I've seen interns and entry level employees get written off by my colleagues, and I've written off people myself, because they thought that such menial tasks were beneath them.

Right, wrong, or indifferent, this is often part of paying dues in the sports industry. There's always someone else out there who will be willing to do the work. If you're not willing to step up and go the extra mile, you won't survive long.

Sports Business Savvy

2007-09-26T02:02:00.000-04:00

You are inevitably going to work with some people during your career who don't have ANY sports business savvy. Some of them don't even have common sense. There are some people who are only in the position they're in because they like that sport and thought they'd get a job in that sport. They obviously had good interviewing skills, and someone went ahead and hired them. Admittedly, I've seen it more in the non-profit area than the for-profit area. Regardless, it will drive you crazy. It can also throw a monkey wrench into your day. You could have to drop everything and fix what someone else broke. It is probably one of my single biggest frustrations. The worst part is, I don't have any advice on the solution, but I want to make sure you understand that it will happen.

Here are some real-life examples that I've seen:

- UPS was a high level sponsor of an event and it was a renewal year. An administrative person completed edits to the contract for the event's sponsor rep, several versions of edits over a few weeks. Obviously the UPS name was in multiple places in the contract, including the mailing address. When she sent out the completed contract to UPS for signature, she sent it to them in a FedEx envelope. The UPS rep took the FedEx envelope, folded it in half, put it in a UPS envelope and sent it back. It took a lot to repair that relationship and save a six figure sponsorship.

- We created a new revenue stream for an organization. When the first monthly check came in from the vendor, the manager sent the check to the finance department. The controller for the company called to ask what it was. The manager explained that it was revenue from this new area. The controller said she would just put it in the department's budget. The manager tried to explain that it didn't go in a departmental operating budget, but the controller didn't get it. After hanging up the phone, the manager immediately told her own VP. The VP called the CFO (the controller's boss) and told the CFO that although he (the VP) would love to have the extra money in his department, it shouldn't be there. The CFO said he would correct it, then said that the controller didn't understand the difference between revenues and expenses.

- An event had both a water company and Gatorade as major sponsors. The medical director for that event was quoted (correctly, he admitted) in the New York Times saying that Gatorade is no better for participants than water. Gatorade's response: Then why the hell am I sponsoring your event? This organization also had to repair a major relationship. This was a situation that became a drop-everything-else-you're-doing- for-two-complete-days-to-repair-it situation for three of the highest level people in the organization. And it's not like their schedules weren't already jam packed. All this caused by a loose cannon who just a few months later did a complete 180 and supported what his medical colleagues around the world were saying, that isotonic drinks are actually better than water for that type of event.

- From the company lawyer: "Well the last person in your job used to just not tell me about it and then just hire a (third party marketing) company. Why do you need me to write a contract for these people? If you just don't tell me, then I don't know about it and I don't have to write a contract. But since you've told me I guess I have to write one." Well, maybe I would like you to write one for things like 1) making sure they know they must have "x" in insurance coverage and list us additional insured, or 2) making sure we have a non-performance clause in their contract in case they really botch part of their work, or any number of endless legal necessities in a very litigious society.

Hopefully it won't be something that you encounter very often, but be prepared for it and don't be surprised by anything. To quote Albert Einstein, "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits."

Job Search Techniques

2007-09-16T23:02:00.000-04:00

I've gotten a couple of email messages from students recently asking about how to get started working in the industry and how to find jobs if they haven't yet developed their network of people who can refer them to others for jobs and/or if they want to get some work experience before going to graduate school.

One fo the easiest ways to find entry level positions that are open is to use one of the online services. One of the free ones is www.teamworkonline.com. It's a pretty good site as far as entry level job postings, but I HATE the part, or I should say parts, of their site where a person actually posts for a job. It's absurd! Another organization that is a sports executive search firm is Turnkey Sports and Entertainment out of New Jersey. Most of the positions they fill are well above entry level, but it's a site to look and and pay attention to for your future, and who's to say they won't start filling entry level positions in the future. One of my favorite sites overall is www.workinsports.com. This one is a subscription service, but one I like if you're willing to pay.

If you have trouble breaking into an entry level job and can financially swing an internship, that's always a possibility, too. It's not a fun option to think about, but it's an option if that's what you have to do to reach your goal. One of my classmates from grad school worked three lengthy internship before he found a permanent job. I think his internships totaled almost two years. He knew he wanted to work for an NFL team in a specific area and that's what he had to do to reach his goal. He's now the Assistant GM of the New York Giants.

When I speak to people, this next one seems to be the most overlooked search technique. For sports leagues/sports organizations/teams and for companies that sponsor sports (e.g., Visa, Sprint, HomeDepot, etc.), you can go to the job section of their websites. If you look at the bottom of the page, it usually has a link something similar to "Careers" or "Jobs" or it may be in the "About Us" section. In the keyword search, type in words like "sports" or "events" or "sponsorship" or "sports marketing" and you may get some hits in their sports and/or events departments. Also, on those specific league sites, they will often have the same jobs, and sometimes more, posted as www.teamworkonline.com does. Sometimes the link for posting will take you to the posting system for www.teamworkonline.com and other times it is the league/team/company's own job posting site.

Again, these are recommendations for entry level positions if you don't yet have your network developed. The best option is always your network. Often, job opportunities aren't presented by someone directly in your network, but from someone who knows someone in your network and is then referred to you. Think six degrees of separation, which seems like it's reduced to about three degrees of separation in the sports industry.

Presentation Skills

2007-08-20T22:06:00.000-04:00

Last week, I sat in as a judge for presentations made by graduate students (MBA's and MSA's (Master's in Sports Administration)). This wasn't a full term class. It was actually a three day training session. The book the instructor used, Presenting to Win: The Art of Telling Your Story by Jerry Weissman is one that he had recommended to me last year. I finally read it a couple of months ago, and I must say, it's a dead-on accurate book. Forget the standard schlock you hear or read about presenting. Weissman, who is a former television producer, provides detailed explanations and detailed how-to's. His book is packed full of useful information on everything from why the story is so important, to various types of flow structure for the message, to proper usage and layout of slides, etc. The book is a great investment that is worth much more than the cost of the book. You'll never be able to watch a presentation again without asking yourself the preparation questions posed in this book.

Overall, the presentations and presenters were exceptional. It was impressive just how much they had all taken in from the instructor and the book. The work they did was very detailed, the slides were well-prepared and not merely a regurgitation of what they were saying.

One of the other class assignments required each student to come up with a 30 second elevator pitch about themselves. The idea was for them to have a way to introduce themselves to someone they wanted to meet in the industry if they were to run into that person. I think it's a brilliant idea. Too many people, including me, run-off at the mouth when someone asks them about themselves or when they try to explain the work they do (or have done). I know it's something I need to work on. My next self-improvement project is to prepare my own elevator pitch. It's definitely an exercise that anyone starting in the sports industry should also undertake.

Handwritten or Email?

2007-08-17T15:07:00.000-04:00

When I receive a handwritten note or thank you card from someone I've helped or even talked to, it ratchets them up a notch in my eyes and keeps them in my memory. If it's a personalized note card that has their name embossed (and the person isn't an executive who gets personalized cards as part of his/her job), it ratchets that person up several notches in my eyes.

Email may be the means of communication today, but it's still too casual in my opinion. Take the time and make the effort to write out a personal note to people you meet, speak with, work/volunteer for, etc. I may glance over an email from someone just because I'm rushing through my day, but if I receive a handwritten note, I ALWAYS read it, usually a couple of times. A handwritten note conveys a message to me that the person sat down and took the time to try to make a personal connection. They weren't just blasting off another email in a 200 email day.

I know there are other stationery stores out there, but an easy one, and one I've used for years, is www.americanstationery.com. It's easy and relatively inexpensive. If you can't afford professionally made cards, there are alternatives. With today's easy to use graphic design add-ons and programs, many people can even make their own professional looking cards with supplies from Staples.

Handwritten notes are a small thing, but they're a big deal to me and others that I know in the industry. In talking with colleagues, it's amazing how few (almost none) of the people interviewing for entry level and next level jobs don't send handwritten thank you notes after an interview. In an email generation, handwritten notes are another way to distinguish yourself from others, especially if you're just starting in the sports industry.

Leadership vs. Management

2007-07-20T20:52:00.000-04:00

One of my biggest pet peeves is when I hear or read about "managing people." To some people, the difference between leadership and management is just semantics, but it's more than that to me. Processes are managed; people should be led.

Management is about making sure that procedures and tasks (processes) are properly taken care of and done on time--things such as expense reports, financial tracking, time management, administrative paperwork, business processes specific to your industry, etc. Leadership is about creating a vision and developing people.

I've had peers who have tried to manage people rather than lead them. It wasn't pretty. Their staff had no respect for them. People need to know that you're committed to them and their development. Once a leader makes that commitment, she has to make sure to follow-up on it, ALWAYS, even when she doesn't feel like it. Just as with emails and voice mails, not following up will cause a leader to lose all credibility with her direct reports. It's the kiss of death.

Good leaders genuinely care about the welfare of their employees. Great leaders learn what it is that each employee wants and needs, what motivates them, what their goals are, and help them reach their potential. Yes, I do think that there are some people who are natural born leaders, but that doesn't mean it's hopeless for those of us who weren't born with that ability. Being a good leader can definitely be taught. A person can learn what makes a good leader and practice those behaviors.

There are certain traits that you will almost always hear when someone describes a good leader. Emulate those. Learn about them. Develop your own leadership philosophy and practice it. Two of my favorite sources that I think best describe a good leader and how to become one are The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John C. Maxwell and Disney's Great Leader Strategies, which were developed by Lee Cockerell (www.leecockerell.com). Lee recorded CD's of one of his Great Leader Strategies presentations in 1997. The presentation is ten years old and I still listen to it at least once a month. I always learn something from listening to it again.

Some of the things that I thing make good leaders, traits that I look for in leaders I work for are:

- They always make time for me when I need to speak with them or need their assistance.
- They learn about me as an individual, what my career goals are, and are committed to helping me reach those goals.
- They make sure that I am in an environment where I am constantly learning new things. They give me assignments to help me grow professionally and even take a role in directly teaching me new things.
- They give me the freedom to try new things and new ways of doing old things.
- They give me feedback and direction rather than criticism. (Direction tells people what to do. Criticism tells people what NOT to do.)
_ They let me manage my area and lead my direct reports without micromanaging.

Leadership isn't easy and it certainly isn't something that can only be done once in a while, but the rewards are well worth the effort.

Buying Into A Leader

2007-06-27T13:24:00.000-04:00

“You can dream, create, design, and build the most wonderful place in the world, but it requires people to make the dream a reality.”

This is a quote from Walt Disney that was painted over the cast entrance to the tunnel at the Magic Kingdom (probably still there). I have found this statement to be very true. I've seen too many leaders think too much about themselves and their own capabilities. They think that they are the only ones who make things happen. The best leaders I've seen and worked for take the notion of this quote to heart, whether they're familiar with the specific quote or not.

I have seen leaders of organizations who had a vision of what they wanted to do, but went about trying to accomplish it seemingly by themselves. Too many times, leaders forget the basic crux of what this quote explains. They start believing their own press releases and hype, and start thinking that they're the only ones who can make things happen.

I've witnessed one leader who has a great passion for her vision, but has done an exceptionally poor job of selling that vision to her staff. Quite frankly, the vision statement, and sometimes the leader herself, have become a punchline within the organization. The main reason, in my opinion, is because the staff doesn't buy into her as a leader. And people will first buy into the leader and THEN buy into the vision. She hasn't done the basic things that good leaders do in order to get to know staff and gain their trust and respect.

She is leading an organization that is teetering on a divide. Within the next six months, I think it is either going to go one way and become a major force in its industry or it is going to fall the other way and completely implode. Unfortunately, my bet is on the latter. In the last three months, seven people have quit (five from one department), which equals 12% of the entire staff. There's been no acknowledgment of it and no desire to find out why. Don't get me wrong, everyone is expendable, but when numbers like that start a mass exodus from an organization, it's a sign of some major problems. A good leader will 1) find out why people are leaving, and 2) do something to correct the problem(s). Neither effort has been made.

My caution in telling this tale is for the following reason: when you start looking for jobs, really consider who the leaders are in that organization. Find out as much as you can about them, their leadership style, their vision. Use your network and ask a lot of questions. I remember hearing a conversation with a 30+ year Disney leader where another person asked him what he looked for in new assignments at Disney. He said that the first thing he always looks at is who his leader will be and what type of leader that person is. I have always remembered that and it has become a major criteria in my job searches as well. There are certain leaders I'd work for again no matter what company they'd joined. All it would take is a phone call from them asking me to come work for them. These are people I've bought into as leaders because I know and respect their leadership style. They've learned what it means to be a good leader. I have confidence that whatever vision they have for their organization will be sound.

In the next post, I'll go through some of the qualities that I think make a good leader, some of the qualities that the people whom I've bought into actually have.

Networking

2007-06-10T21:07:00.000-04:00

The contacts you make in the sports world will be important throughout your career. Some of the things you do that may not seem like much at the time or that you do for reasons besides networking, may bring future dividends.

My mentor, JC, was the venue manager for boxing at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. In the late 80's and early 90's, she worked for ProServ. One of her assignments early in her career at ProServ was to meet with the insurance broker about coverage for their events. She said that at the time she thought she was being punished or overlooked by being handed this boring assignment. She became friends with the insurance broker and they are still friends today. The president of the insurance broker's company was friends with Billy Payne at ACOG (Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games). That person forwarded on her resume to Billy Payne who sent it to one of his lieutenants. One meeting later in Atlanta, and she was hired.

I stayed involved with the Ohio University Sports Administration Program for my own personal reasons of wanting to give back and make a contribution to the program that first provided the opportunity for me to make a full-time career of sports. That network has paid off with some of the best friends I've ever had, but also by presenting job opportunities, including a possible new job. The Ohio University SAFM network is very strong. It's almost like an informal family. Anytime I've placed a call to any alumni, they have always returned my call, from the time I was a student to the current day.

Building your network is one of the most important things you will ever do. It's not always important who you know, but rather who knows you. That won't get you the job necessarily, but it will often get your foot in the door and allow you to do the rest of the job of selling yourself. And that is all we as professionals can ask for--the opportunity. You never know where your next opportunity will come from, so keep your network and contacts up to date.

Returning Phone Calls and Emails

2007-06-05T06:21:00.000-04:00

One of the things that will take up a lot of your time during the day will be returning phone calls and emails. Always return messages within 24 hours. Follow-up will give you credibility. This is an easy way to establish credibility and a good habit to develop. Schedule time(s) during your day to go through all your messages, even if it has to be before or after traditional work hours. Schedule a specific time or times during the day that you will return voice mail messages. Leave this information on your message so that people know when to expect to hear from you. Remember, even if you don't have an answer for them within 24 hours, still return their call or email to let them know you're woking on it and will get back to them.

Finding Employees

2007-05-27T21:37:00.000-04:00

The way for companies to distinguish themselves from their competitors is through their employees. The skills, knowledge, commitment and abilities of the people who work for the company are the greatest assets they have. For great workplaces, there is no shortage of talent. Smart companies are involved in constant hiring. They have talent scouts within the company who are always looking for possible new hires.

For example, Walt Disney World has a program known as Casting Scouts. Throughout the year, cast members (employees) are given small cards with the casting scout logo and information on the card. There are lines on the card where the cast member fills in her name and work location. If she experiences great guest service at a restaurant, hotel, convention center, the airport, etc., she can give one of these cards to that person and tells him that he should consider working at Walt Disney World. The card has the number of the Casting Department (Human Resources) that the person can call. This card tells Casting that this person has exemplified the type of guest service that Disney is looking for. They pass step one of the hiring process.

In The Gifted Boss by Dale Danten, he states that the exceptional employees are rarely the ones who are looking for jobs, which I would agree with. He relates a story of how Lou Holtz would keep a hiring wish list with prospects to fill each coaching position. Holtz said, "You can't wait till there's an opening and say, 'Who can we hire?' That's how you end up with a group of second-stringers." He'd get to know the prospects well enough to know if he wanted to work with them in the future and how to win them over (what their goals were). Being on his wish list was halfway to being hired. Most importantly, when he did have the opportunity to hire them, he wouldn't ask them to come help him, but rather, tell them how he could help them get what they wanted out of their careers.

After I read Danten's book in 1999, I vowed that I would be that type leader in my hiring when I got into a position of authority to be able to make hiring decisions. When I worked various events with great people, I would ask them about their goals while we were making small talk and get to know them better. While at NYRR, I had a list of five people I'd worked with before that were on my hiring wish list to bring to NYRR. I got two of the five in the two years I was there. I don't know if that's a good percentage or a bad percentage. The work that those two exceptional people did was extraordinary. The great thing about hiring exceptional people is that their standards and work ethic are already higher than most other people's. They've both made huge contributions to an organization accustomed to mediocrity. Because I had gained the confidence of my boss by bringing in great talent, the other three people had open-ended job offers. My boss and I had an agreement that if any of those three people changed their minds and called for a job, we would find a place for them in the organization whether we had positions open or not.

Event Planning Tools - Timelines

2007-05-17T09:10:00.001-04:00

Timelines

This is probably one of the most important documents you'll learn to use. The best program to use for timelines is Excel (in my opinion). Other people use Microsoft Project for their overall project plan, but I'm not a huge fan of Project. Excel is a very important program to learn to use. It is capable of doing many, many things. Also, most people have Excel on their computers. The same is not true for Project. When creating a timeline, I start out by looking at the various functional areas and what the respective deliverables are. Work with your contacts in those functional areas to establish realistic deliverable dates.

For the format, moving left to right on the page, I usually have the following columns:

Days Out - meaning how many days before the event is the task due
Date Due - the date that this equals
Task - what needs to be done, in detail
Responsibility - either the person's name or the department's name
Notes - any special information
Sometimes I will add a Date Completed column. I will do this in a situation where it's a new event that will be a repeat event, and I don't know how long it will take to complete a lot of the tasks.

I also put an auto filter on the entire document to allow sorting to be much easier, especially for very detailed and long timelines.

If you're working on repeat events, you can set up a template timeline. Put in the number of days out that the an action needs to take place (e.g., signage ordered 30 days before the event). With Excel you can create a formula that allows you to simply enter the date of the event in a cell (I put this cell at the top of my timeline), and the due dates will fill in the second column based on the number of days out previously entered in the first column.

Timelines keep everyone on task and keep the project moving forward on a common schedule.

Event Planning Tools - Fast Facts and Checklists

2007-05-08T23:06:00.000-04:00

There are some major tools that event managers use everyday. Three of the main ones are: fast fact sheets, checklists, and timelines. They're all very important for keeping the planning and management of events on track. Different people use different formats, and some may even have different names for some of these documents. This blog will cover fast facts and checklists. A later blog will cover timelines.

Event Fast Facts

This is usually 1-2 pages. It is a very high level summary of all the general information. This should be short, to the point, and unambiguous about the information it covers. This document is very helpful for people in the organization who answer the phones and/or email. They often get a lot of general, high level questions, and rather than calling you for the answer to every one of them, they should have the information at their fingertips.

Here are some of the standard types of information I include in my fast fact sheets:
- start and end times and loctions (both for internal setup and for participants)
- maps and diagrams
- transportation options and directions
- broadcast information
- registration times and locations
- website addresses
- travel booking contact numbers
- awards
- volunteer information
- contact numbers and email for event staff, both on race day and before

Checklists

Checklists can be used in pre-planning and for the day-of the event, but I primarily use them for the day-of. My timeline often acts as my pre-event checklist. For each area on event day (e.g., for a road race - start, course, finish, post-race, etc.), prepare a checklist of what needs to happen in each area by what time. Also, prepare an equipment checklist for the logistics team for packing and setup. For example, drop-off of specific equipment, volunteer arrival, participant arrival, etc. This helps the person managing that area help you by making sure nothing is missed.

These two tools will prove invaluable in your preparation for your events.

Know Your Environment

2007-05-01T22:58:00.000-04:00

A lot of companies will schedule happy hours throughout the year. Although I definitely recommend going to these to get to know the people you work with, it's also important to be aware of your environment. Understand the difference between drinking with your friends and drinking with colleagues, even if the people you work with are both. I've seen people do some pretty stupid things, like slamming boilermakers in front of company executives while they looked on with mouths gaping. Although this person and some others thought it was funny, his professional image never recovered. The work he did was fabulous, but he was never assigned any projects that were high profile or that involved sponsors. Upper management were afraid of what he might do or say when in meetings, via email, etc. Right or wrong, perception is often reality, and it carries over to other areas. Don't let stupid decisions you make in your early career impact where your career may go in the future.

Reality Check

2007-04-24T15:04:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, my newest employee, who has only been working at the company for less than five months, asked me for a promotion. I was floored. She's newly out of undergraduate school (less than a year) and this is her first "real" job. I explained to her why that wasn't going to happen right now, and probably not for at least another year. I chalked up the request to inexperience. Come to find out, she also later told my department Vice President that she should get a promotion. He was floored, too. Another Assistant Manager, who has been in the position for less than a year and has no prior experience, also felt he deserved a promotion. Without going into the details of why each of them didn't deserve a promotion, I just want to make sure people know what to realistically expect when entering the job market.

Here are some realities of working in the sports industry:

1) You will work evenings and weekends. I don't know of any area in sports where people don't work any evenings or weekends. Some areas of sports work more evenings and weekends than others, but all areas work at least some.

2) Salaries may not be what you expect when you start. I was completely clueless of how little I would actually be making. Before graduate school, I worked for Ashland Chemical in sales. After my graduate internship at Disney Sports, I was hired in as an Event Manager, a level higher than Coordinator where other people had to begin. As a manager with a master's degree I was making $15,000 less than I did when I left Ashland Chemical, and that's just salary. At Ashland, I also had a company car, the company paid for my gas and auto insurance, and I had the opportunity to earn a bonus. I don't regret the decision to work in sports, even with the lower salary, but I would have planned differently had I known what to expect. It's the simple law of supply and demand. There are a lot of people who want to work in sports. If you won't take that starting salary, there's someone else who probably will. We often get paid to do what a lot of sports fans would do for free.

3) You're not going to be vice president or general manager within a few years of starting a job unless you start your own company. Don't get too caught up with titles. Understand that it's a marathon, not a sprint. Choose opportunities that will help you learn skills that will get you to your ultimate career goal. Yes, there will be people who are promoted quickly, and you may be one of them, but they're usually the exception. Andy Dolich, Memphis Grizzlies President of Business Operations, has a frame in his office of all of the business cards he's had over his career. I don't know the exact number, but it's definitely more than a few. Be realistic about how long it may take you to get to the position you want.

Don't be discouraged by these things. Know that any great organization rewards performance both monetarily and with more responsibility, just have realistic expectations when you start.

Managing Up

2007-04-17T01:47:00.000-04:00

In talking with my newest direct report, I mentioned that one essential skill for her to learn is how to manage up. She said that she had heard the phrase "managing up," but didn't know exactly what it meant. Here's what I explained to her.

My first week of working for my mentor, she sat me down to go over her expectations of me with respect to my work and also as someone who would be reporting to her. Her first "rule" is one that I've adopted and taken with me everywhere I've worked: Don't ever let your boss get blindsided. Ten years later, I still follow this rule. I practice it with the people I work for and I ask my direct reports to do the same for me. This is the first piece of managing up.

Too often, people go about their work and don't update their boss. Any project you're working on, make sure your boss knows what is happening. There are many ways to accomplish this: hallway conversation; phone call; regular meetings with your boss; departmental meetings; written departmental reports; email summary. Update her on what you're doing, what your concerns or challenges are, what other people's concerns are, etc. If there are any potential problems or issues, she will know something about them if she's asked, or at the very least will have heard something about them. By knowing about them, she can also help push things through.

Second, don't let the first time your boss (or upper management) hears something be in a planning meeting. When you're working on a project that is going to encompass many different areas, you'll likely have meetings with all of the stakeholders. With so many people involved, you'll run into some conflicting ideas. Work the building before a meeting, especially with the respective executives. They, or at the very least your boss, should know about any new idea before the meeting. That way, they can punch any holes in ideas and give you time to adjust. They can also help sell the idea once you're in the meeting. People are naturally resistant to change. You may get push back on a great idea just because they don't want to change. Talk about the idea with the other stakeholders beforehand and give them time to think about it. A meeting should not be the first place they're hearing about something new.

Third, learn what the hot buttons are for your leader and make sure you've covered them in your planning. Every leader has one or two things that they will focus on for an event. Here are some real-life examples that I've experienced. When I would give an overview of an event, after I had gone over all the details, one general manager would always ask what the rain plan was. Another general manager would always ask about the nearest restroom access and want to know if I had custodial staff scheduled to be on site at each location. A VP wanted to know what the "a-ha" moment was that we were going to provide for the client (whether in the contract or not - see blog on adaptability). One manager wanted to see in the plans the name and contact number of who to call for each area if something didn't happen when it was scheduled to happen. After a couple of times of presenting to each of these specific people, I learned what I needed to address when presenting.

Managing up is keeping your leader and partners aware of what's happening and ensuring that they have the information they need.

Meeting Agendas and Meeting Notes

2007-04-12T22:38:00.000-04:00

Meeting agendas and notes are things that are pretty basic, but I don't ever remember anybody teaching it in any undergraduate or graduate level class that I had. Maybe because it is basic we're expected to just know it or it's supposed to be common sense, but even the most basic of things have to be taught to us at some point. It may be so simple that we understand the concept after hearing about it once, but we still have to hear about it at least once, don't we? This is simple, but hopefully helpful.

You will invariably be invited to internal meetings where the meeting leaders have not sent out an agenda ahead of time. Even when you get in the meeting you may not see an agenda. It's sometimes hard to tell what the purpose of the meeting is, and after the meeting you don't see any follow-up summarizing the points that were discussed. Be a person who manages meetings in a more organized way.

Meeting agendas set expectations for what will be covered. Just because people are invited to a meeting doesn't necessarily mean they all have to attend. By sending out an agenda ahead of time, attendees can determine if they really need to be in that particular meeting and then let you know. People are busy, including you. Don't waste their time. Send out the agenda a day before the meeting, at the latest, and include an overall meeting purpose. e.g., Purpose - To discuss the signage installation for the marathon. The subjects could then be broken down by various areas of signage--expo and registration, merchandise sales, press conferences, start, course medical stations, course sponsor zones, general course signage, finish, awards area, family reunion, etc. One company where I worked had a policy that if invitees didn't receive an agenda at least 24 hours in advance, they didn't have to attend. The philosophy was, 'If you can't tell me in advance why I need to be there, then I obviously don't need to be in the meeting.'

Put times by the subjects on the agenda and try to stick to them as much as possible. A lot of planning meetings can become very long. Time ranges on the agenda indicate the approximate times you think you will get to those subjects. This will allow people to only come to the portion of the meeting where they're on the agenda. Most people will come to the entire meeting to get the complete overview of the subject, but sometimes they're schedule won't allow that. They attend the meeting for the approximate time range that covers their subject, then leave. They may also send one representative from the department to be present at the entire meeting, take notes, and then report back to the department.

Take notes in meetings. If you're leading the meeting, it can sometimes be difficult to do both, but it's necessary. If possible, ask a colleague or subordinate to take notes during the meeting for you or in addition to your notes. This option will let you lead the meeting with a smoother flow, yet still capture all the information. As an intern, being assigned as a note taker was a great learning tool. It made me pay attention in meetings and boosted my note taking skills.

Always send out meeting notes within 24 hours after a meeting. This is something that is very simple to do and it gives you credibility as someone who follows-up. Find a format that works for you. When I send out meeting notes, I leave the header that I had at the top of the agenda to note when and where the meeting took place. I list the names of the attendees. From there, I use the agenda topics and put the respective notes for those areas under the corresponding category headings. If something was discussed that wasn't on the agenda, I put that category at the bottom. At the end of the notes I have a section called "Follow-Up Items." Anything discussed in the meeting that creates a follow-up action for someone is listed here, along with the person responsible and the due date. (When you're taking notes put a star by these items, underline them, highlight them, whatever works for you. At the end of the meeting verbally summarize these points to make sure you have all of them and then put them in the meeting notes. If someone says they will follow-up on something, always ask the next question: by when?) The last section of my notes lists the dates, times, and locations of any upcoming meetings.

When you send out the meeting notes, ask people to review them and get back to you by a specific date/time if there are any corrections or additions.

Again, something basic, but hopefully it will be of use.

Email Strings and CYA

2007-04-09T21:00:00.000-04:00

We've all done it in our jobs. We write an email, maybe copy a number of people, and proceed to work out the details for a specific aspect of an event or project. It usually leads to several back and forth emails, questions, answers, etc., when the easiest thing to do would have been to simply walk over to that person's office or pick up the phone and talk to them. So why is it that we don't just take the simple route? CYA (Cover Your ***).

We've all been burned at one time or another. We go over things with people, agree on what's going to happen and who's going to do what, and then BOOM! Someone throws us under the bus. Someone basically saves their own skin when something doesn't go as planned, and we don't have anything to show what was agreed on. From this point on, we put everything in writing. We shut down on verbal communication and rely on written communication.

The easiest way to work with other people, and the best way in my opinion, is to talk to them, whether face to face or on the phone. I understand the need to CYA. I put things in writing, too. What I would recommend, though, is this: develop relationships with people. This is an important part of any job. Talk with people to plan and work out the details. After the meeting, send an email (a single email) summarizing the details of what was agreed on. "Per the discussion we had about staffing/registration/sponsor deliverables/whatever...." This email will serve the purpose of documenting the details and making sure that there isn't any confusion.

This is advice I've given to the people who currently work for me. We had some contentious times between departments in the past, but the relationships have gotten a lot better, simply by increasing the direct communication. Relationships are personal. Email, too often, is not, and if that's the only way you're communicating with people, it could make your job all the more difficult.

Adaptability

2007-04-05T02:23:00.000-04:00

In addition to my own thoughts, I've been asking a lot of colleagues for their opinions on what they think people entering the sports industry should know, things that they've seen newer employees struggle with. Recently, I had a conversation with my friend Ann. She's been working in sports for nearly twenty years. Ann currently is the head of a sponsorship department of fourteen people, many of them with less than two years of work experience. Her insight is definitely pertinent.

One of the most important things, regardless of whether you're working in events, sales, marketing, ticketing, etc. is adaptability. What you learn about a situation or the rules for the way something works may not apply to every situation. In fact, they rarely will apply across the board. You need to be able to ascertain the specific situation and the background of the people involved to best adjust your thinking.

I've had people who have worked for me who had a real problem with this concept. The best advice I can give to people is not to think of too many things as "rules," even if that's the word that is used. When someone gives you a rule for something, think of it more as a guideline. Guidelines are flexible. They give you a foundation knowledge, an understanding of the basics, but then rely on your judgment from there.

An example where I've seen this, and experienced it myself when I was younger, is with contracts. The first major event I worked on once I was hired full-time at DWWS was the National Senior Games. The contract was something like fifty-eight pages long. Ridiculously detailed. I practically had it memorized with respect to what deliverables we owed them and what they owed us. When we would have meetings with the NGB (national governing body), my boss and other executives would (I felt at the time) cave in on requests that they made of us that weren't in the contract, things that often cost us money. No one ever sat me down and explained why they would do this in general. They would explain specifics--we're giving up "x" so we can ask them for "y" in the future. Often times we would give up items without anything foreseeable to gain. I don't recall anyone having a conversation with me about the overall concept of handling contractual relationships. Maybe they thought it was common knowledge or that I understood. Not sure, but I can say without a doubt that it's not common knowledge. I've seen that first hand from people who have worked for and with me. Ann is the person who has best been able to verbalize the explanation. I use her explanation quite often when I'm teaching someone about contracts and why it's important to be open-minded. Her description is that a contract is the best understanding of the agreement at the time it was signed. Other things come up during the life of the contract that require changes. It's inevitable that it will happen. The more adaptable you are and understand that things aren't written in stone, the faster you're going to learn and move through the organization.

Plug for Ohio University Sports Administration and Some of Its Alumni

2007-04-04T01:57:00.000-04:00

Although I grew up in Ohio and received my master's degree in Sports Administration & Facility Management (SAFM) from Ohio University, I received my undergraduate degree in business from the University of Florida. I'm a very happy fan and proud alumna after Florida's defeat of Ohio State on Monday night. In looking at the men's Final Four, I'm also a very proud alumna of the Ohio University SAFM graduate program. Why?

University of Florida - Athletic Director Jeremy Foley and three other staff are alumni of Ohio's SAFM program
Georgetown - Athletic Director Bernard Muir is an alumnus of Ohio's SAFM program
Ohio State - two of the athletic department's staff are alumni of Ohio's SAFM program

Pretty good statistics for one program, I'd say, especially considering that's only looking at the schools in the Final Four.

For anyone planning on going to graduate school for Sports Administration, Ohio University is definitely one of the first places you want to apply.

Note - News is all over about the University of Kentucky trying to recruit Billy Donovan to come to Lexington to coach. The Athletic Director at UK, Mitch Barnhart, he's also an alumnus of Ohio's SAFM program.

Mentors - part 2

2007-04-04T01:30:00.001-04:00

Often, people think that a mentor is someone who has to be their mentor forever. That’s not always the case. If you find a mentor(s) for the duration of your career, then consider yourself lucky.

You can ask someone to be your mentor for a specific time frame or to teach you about a specific topic. If you arrange such a mentor/protégé relationship, talk with your prospective mentor and come to an agreement on the following things:

1) Expectations – What is it you’re looking to learn from him? Have a specific topic(s) before you ask someone to be your mentor. If you don’t have an idea of what you want to learn, you may end up disappointed. You may want to learn about budgeting, but without any guidance ahead of time, he may start teaching you about something completely different that he thinks is important. If you’re not quite sure what you want to learn, ask others (professors, people you know in the industry, etc.) what they think are important things to know for people starting in the sports industry.

2) Meetings – Agree on how many formal meetings or phone discussions the two of you will have. A prospective mentor may work better off a set schedule and be more willing to say yes if he knows how much time it will take up on his calendar.

3) Time Frame – Set a time frame for the mentorship with a specific end date. Especially if your prospective mentor is high up on his company’s organizational chart, he is going to be very busy. It may be easier for him to say ‘yes’ if the time frame is finite. You don’t want it to be a situation where it seems like you’re looking for another parent and asking him to be your mentor for life. Again, if you relationship develops into one where that person remains a lifelong mentor, be grateful.

Most people I know, including me, have had a number of mentors throughout their life, not just one. I have people who have been long-term mentors and others who were mentors for only a few months. Either way, mentors often teach you some of the most valuable lessons of your career. They have for me.

Mentors - part 1

2007-04-02T21:10:00.000-04:00

After my master's degree classes at Ohio University, I finished my degree by completing an internship at Disney's Wide World of Sports in Mega Events department (yes, that actually was the name of the department). DWWS actually just celebrated its 10th anniversary. I started there just two months after they opened. What a learning experience!

The biggest factor in my learning experience was the mentor I was assigned. I can't express enough how important it is to find a good mentor. My mentor (JC) was assigned at random and I was extremely lucky. If the person you're working for isn't a good mentor, find one.

Some of the things to look for in your mentor:

1) Someone who wants to be a mentor.

One of the funniest stories I've heard about mentors, and saddest really, came from my intern class at DWWS. One of the other managers assigned as a mentor asked JC how often she talked to "her intern." JC didn't quite understand the question and asked, "You mean how many times during the day?" The other manager's response, "You mean you talk to your intern every day?" That person still works at DWWS. Subsequent interns assigned to him asked to be moved to other departments and assigned other mentors. Find someone who's not being a mentor simply because they were assigned to by the intern manager.

From day one, JC was great. She let me attend EVERY meeting with her. Simply being in the room for the planning meetings and hearing the conversations at an upper management level allowed me to absorb so much. I was like a sponge. After meetings, we would talk about what happened in the meeting, why a decision was made, and then she would answer any questions I had about the meeting. It was the biggest factor in my learning so much so fast. The people in the room had decades of experience working in sports, and I got to learn from every one of them.

2) Someone who will let you be involved and give you assignments to help you grow (if you work for your mentor).

On the second day of my internship, JC said, "You're going to be the event manager for the Inner City Games." I'll never forget my response. I was scared to death and shocked. I told her, "I've never managed an event before!" Her response was great. She told me, "Don't worry. I won't let you fail. I'll guide you through the planning, but you're going to do the actual planning and manage it."

Too often, I've seen managers who won't let interns or young employees take the lead on projects. The key is that your mentor actually allow you to do the work. Your responsibility is to provide regular updates, ask questions, and get feedback. A good mentor should also allow you to make your own decisions and mistakes, yet not allow you to make any decisions or mistakes that will jeopardize the project.

3) Someone who likes to teach

Mentors should be people who like to teach and pass on information. They should sit down with you and review projects, review best practices, share examples based on their experiences, etc. Good mentors want to pass on their knowledge.

Introduction

2007-03-31T02:23:00.000-04:00

I decided to start this blog after having several discussions with people about working in the sports industry, especially younger people just starting their careers or currently in college.

Why a blog about the sports industry and working in sports?
1. When I went to graduate school for my master’s degree in Sports Administration, what we were taught wasn’t often what it was really like in the work world. Grad school was great for theorizing, but it didn’t address a lot of the everyday issues I’ve faced working in sports.
2. I enjoy teaching and mentoring. I’ve done quite a bit of it over the last 10 years, to the point where many people are encouraging me to do it as a full-time occupation. We’ll see.
3. I want to cover some of the basic things about working in sports that I don’t think many people are taught. They’re often forced to learn them on their own.
4. I’ve searched various places on the web and haven’t found many of this type out there. I’m trying to fill a perceived void.
5. I want to comment on current events happening in the sports industry and also on some of the things that I’ve experienced/witnessed in my ten years of working in the industry.

I’ll try to keep the postings relatively focused on a single item/issue. If a topic needs to be broken up, I’ll continue it in postings on subsequent days.

Not by any stretch of the imagination do I presume to be the authority on working in sports. I have, however, seen quite a lot in many different areas of the sports industry and will give my observations and opinions based on them. I also talk to a lot of friends in the sports industry and get feedback from them on what they wish they would have known or what they wish their employees knew.

I welcome questions and comments. Hopefully people will find this useful in some way.