Technology

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

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

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

"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

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

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

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.