The Work in Sports Podcast - Insider Advice for Sports Careers

Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning at WorkInSports.com and this is the Work In Sports podcast… One thing I’ve noticed throughout my career managing people and working through varying situations is that there are two main ways people respond and react to change. There is a massive group of people who get angry at change, blame it, get frustrated, refuse to adapt because they like the way things have been. There is another group who owns the change. They adapt, innovate, adjust their strategies and approaches, and fit in with the change rather than expecting the world to come to them. They recognize, change is inevitable. In 2020 - change isn’t just inevitable, it’s an in your face, punch you in the gut, steal your lunch, and laugh at you while it walks into your future. It’s trite to say, this year has been a roller coaster - it’s been a roller coaster in a tornado, hit by a tsunami and shot into space. BUT, people, businesses, organizations, groups, non-profits -- have adapted. Not all, but many. They’ve taken personal responsibility for their growth. They have not only recognized change is here, they have accepted it, adjusted to it, looked for opportunities, and re-branded themselves. Change is good. It may not feel it at the moment, but looking back through history it is sometimes the worst events that spark the biggest sea change toward our future. I’ll give you one example, In 1965, at the height of the modern civil rights movement, activists in Alabama organized a march for voting rights, from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, the state capital. A march. Not an armed protest, not a riot, a march for voting rights. Around 600 people assembled at a downtown church in Selma Alabama, knelt briefly in prayer and began walking silently, two-by-two through the city streets. They crossed the Edmund Pettis Bridge and were forcefully pushed back by police. Beaten, trampled, attacked - for marching. You’ve likely heard of this event, but at some point you should watch it. I did, again recently with my kids, and they were horrified. BUT, and here is the key. Think about this… What if police hadn’t attacked? What if there wasn’t a video? What if there wasn’t outrage? What if the 600 people just peacefully matched to Montgomery? Would we be talking about it today? Would we be considering the civil rights movement and its importance to our history as we do today? Would John Lewis be as impactful a character in US History as he has been? Rest his soul. I don’t know… maybe not. Just to be clear I am not justifying what happened that day, I am not declaring it a good thing -- just pointing out, that we don’t often see the end result in the moment, because the future is unclear and we don’t allow ourselves to comprehend anything but where we are right now in the moment. Bringing it back to today, it is hard to see how 2020 will be a positive -- but what if you learn a new skill that is more applicable to the new workforce? What if you meet people you otherwise wouldn’t have reached out to? You learn social media advertising, or photoshop, or salesforce, or data analytics, or eSports. I don’t know the right answer for you -- all I know for sure is, our world is changing, you need to change with it. No one knows this better than today’s guest - Joan Lynch, Chief Content and Programming Officer for WorkingNation. Long time fans of the show probably remember Joan on the show last year, in one of our most popular episodes ever. Well, buckle up - Joan is dropping some serious knowledge on our changing workforce...right…. Now… Questions for Joan Lynch, WorkingNation 1: Before we get deep into the weeds on hiring trends and the prospect for the job market – give the audience a view into the purpose and mission of WorkIngNation 2: Let’s start off with a big topic – women in sports –

Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning at WorkInSports.com and this is the Work In Sports podcast… Look this is going to be a stressful week, election week is important in our country and I can’t stress to you enough, young, old, and somewhere in the middle like me, get out and vote. When you vote, you shape not just your world today, and next month and next year -- decisions like these impact your entire future. Democracy works when everyone votes, so get out there. This is not the time to be sitting on the sidelines. Ok, let’s look at the Stat line, get a picture of our sports industry -- OK, three stats to help you better understand the health of the sports industry. On WorkInSports.com the number one job board for the sports industry, we currently feature 17,226 active sports jobs! 1715 new jobs added this week -- down a little bit from last week… But that is still an average of 245 new jobs posted every day... Now trend analysis -- lots of internships posted this past week, which makes sense, this is the time of year you start to see companies post their spring internships. If you are a college student making your plans for spring - check out last week’s podcast, some really good info in there on internship prep. OK -- three fresh jobs on the job board the really caught my eye -- Job #1 -- Associate Manager of Social Marketing for Athleta -- now, this is a great example of a category of job that has been growing -- retail/lifestyle - you’ve heard me talk about this in the past, but brands like Athleta, Puma, Nike, Adidas are doing quite well right now, and are hiring for a lot of roles. If you are into sports marketing or social media, don’t limit yourself to teams -- look to the big brands too! Job #2 -- Sr. Editor, NHL at The Athletic -- senior role contributing to comprehensive editorial oversight of our NHL coverage, using data analytics to optimize performance, and partner with stakeholders across the editorial organization and business teams on a range of initiatives. Interesting that it’s not a strictly journalism role, using data to optimize performance -- keep that in mind all you journalism types, it takes more than just sports knowledge and writing skills to elevate in today’s sports media. And job #3 -- Athletic Director at the College of Saint Benedict -- here’s why this job stood out to me -- The College of Saint Benedict is a women’s college with 11 intercollegiate (varsity) teams and 8 competitive club sport teams. The program seeks to reinforce the college mission of preparing women to think critically, lead courageously, and advocate passionately through sport. I like that mission a lot -- sounds like a great stepping stone role for someone who wants a lead role in college athletics. Alright -- that is the stat line! Ok, before we get into today’s question -- I got called out by a fan last week, and i want to address what they brought up. Just to remind everyone, I like it when you call me out, I have zero problems with it. And I have already spoken with this person directly… BUT if they are thinking it, you may be too, so let’s talk about it. I’m all for transparency, Got an email last week that said “Hey Brian, I’ve heard you rant and rave about how all internships should be paid, and that it is unfair to create a system that requires experience ot get jobs, but the only way to get hired is by gaining experience through internships… but no everyone can work for free. I agree 100% with your sentiment, this fact has bothered me for a long time, I’m glad you’ve given it a platform… BUT, you also work for a site that charges money for people to apply for jobs. How is this any different? I’m not trying to be confrontational, just would like to hear your rationale since generally speaking, I find you to be on the level.” I’m not mentioning this person’s name because I don’t think they expected or wanted...

June 2014, just 6 years ago, the Atlanta Hawks finished their season 38-44 and were bounced in the first round of the playoffs. Their General Manager, former NBA player Danny Ferry, was in a conference call with team owners and organizational stakeholders outlining his off-season plans and possible targets in free agency. Luol Deng, was a free agent. Ferry, during the call, described Deng as a player who “has a little African in him” and “a guy who would have a nice store out front, and sell you counterfeit stuff out of the back.” The comments became public after being leaked. Ferry claimed he was only reading comments from a scouting report compiled by someone else. The team concluded from their own commissioned investigation that Ferry’s remarks did not include offensive language, and were not “motivated by racial or ethnic animus.” You can judge that for yourself, with or without a commissioned investigation. But that wasn’t the end of the Hawks problems. At the same time, the franchise’s controlling owner Bruce Levenson reported that he sent out a racist e-mail two months earlier criticizing the Hawks predominantly African-American fan base. The e-mail sent to Ferry detailed Levenson’s belief that the Hawks’ fan base was “overwhelmingly black” and the “black people scared away whites” from attending games. Levenson also wrote that the Hawks games were attended by a 70 percent black crowd with predominantly black cheerleaders, hip-hop music, 90 percent black patrons at the arena’s bars, and fewer fathers and sons at the games. He added that concerts at the games were mostly hip-hop or gospel, thus attracting more African-American fans. Levenson sold his interest in the Hawks upon revealing his e-mail to the NBA. October 7th, 2014, just a few months later, Hawks CEO Steve Koonin, seeing a need for change in his organization, posts a job listing for a chief diversity and inclusion officer. We so often think roles in diversity and inclusion are the norm in sports. That there are people and staff dedicated to the process of equality in workplace, culture, hiring practices, benefits, deeper cultural awareness, education, and sensitivity – and they have always been there guiding the ship of cultural equity. But when Steve Koonin and the Atlanta Hawks hired Nzinga Shaw to be their Chief Diversity and Inclusion officer in the fall of 2014, she was the first in the NBA. Amazingly, when Zing Shaw left the Hawks in 2019 to join Starbucks as their Global Chief Inclusion and Diversity Officer, she was also the first to hold that role at Starbucks. 5 years ago, Diversity and Inclusion roles in sports didn’t exist. And while it is important to note that Diversity Officers and D&I executives are now being included in every sports organization's corporate structure, the fact it took this long, and this big of a problem to make it happen, is sad. The Hawks, in case you were wondering, during Shaw’s reign, turned their image in the Atlanta community around. They created all-staff service days with six service projects in the city, accumulating 1,000 combined hours of community service. They had a float in the Atlanta Pride Festival, with current and former players and employees riding on the float and throwing 2,000 basketballs to the crowd with pride and Hawks logos on them. They became an organization focused on fairness, equity and inclusion. I won’t list all the actions they have taken to change their image, but suffice it to say, it is meaningful. This is a great turn-around story. We love stories where characters find a new truth and are reformed and changed – they’ve always been popular in our culture. But what if this happened at a smaller, lesser profile team or league or sports connected organization? If a minor league baseball team’s GM talks about a player in the fashion Danny Ferry did, it doesn’t become national news, it doesn’t spark change,

The Work in Sports podcast is brought to you by EMPOWRD This is the most important election of our time. Period. It’s is incredibly important for you to see through the noise, the chaos, the misinformation -- and VOTE. Your VOTE matters. I have already returned my early ballot, dropped it off in person at a designated official dropbox...and you know what happened. Rainbows. Immediately. If you want to stay informed, engaged, and ready to vote, check out the EMPOWRD app -- super powerful full of local information, tons of resources to help you. Download the app today at EMPOWRD.com Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning at WorkInSports.com and this is the Work in Sports podcast... Before we get into our new favorite segment, the stat line, quick note -- the final part of our four-part series on social justice in sports told through the eyes of our young diverse aspiring sports professional panel...is Wednesday. I hope you have been listening. If not. Do it. Start with part 1. After this series is complete we’ll get right back into our weekly sports industry interviews -- with a returning champion, Joan Lynch. Joan is the Chief Content Officer for WorkingNation, which means she studies the job market and has incredible advice. Her first podcast episode, last year at this time, was one of our most popular of all-time. Like, way more downloads than Leigh Steinberg, but not quite as many as Mailynh Vu. Which puts her in rockstar status. We’ve already recorded this interview and I have to say, I think it’s some of our best work -- Joan knows her stuff, and I get all fired up, and then she brings insightful data, and I rant and rave -- we are like a perfect yin and yang. So plan on tuning in, next Wednesday. Alright… let’s get into The stat line… The total number of jobs on WorkInSports.com -- the number one job board for the sports industry -- 17,286 -- pretty much flat week over week. We added 2,093 new jobs in the last week, an average of 299 fresh sports jobs per day during the last week. That’s a lot of fresh activity. Three cool jobs -- #1 The South Carolina Stingrays are hiring a Marketing Coordinator - great entry-level job -- I’ll wait a few seconds for you all to google search to figure out what sports the South Carolina Stingrays play. If you guessed Minor League Baseball as I did, you’d be wrong, this is an ECHL hockey team - minor league sports are a great career starter, check this one out. Go, Jamie Harrison! #2 The Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs are hiring a Director of Digital Media and Communications -- The Iron Pigs President and GM Kurt Landes was on this show...and the Iron Pigs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies are just 20.8 miles from my house. So if you get this job, let’s hang out. And job #3… Fox Sports in Charlotte is hiring an Associate Producer for Marketing -- so this is the creative side of marketing, the process of developing on-air promotions, in conjunction with the marketing team and creative directors. Very cool Check those three and 17,000 or so more, on WorkinSports.com right now... And that was the stat line… So, rifling through the email, the LinkedIn, the private Facebook group...looking for great questions, and rising to the top this week is Jemele from Florida -- I wish this was Jemele Hill, I’d love to have her on the podcast, but alas, I don’t think this is. “Hi Brian, I’m Jemele and I’ve been listening to your podcast for the last year, the advice you share is so easy to act on, so logical, but at the same time are all things I definitely was not doing, so thank you. I feel like I’m making smarter choices now that will prepare me for my future… on that subject, I’m a college junior and I’m trying to get my internship set up for the spring semester. Obviously, these are weird times, but let’s forget that for a second and just focus on...

The Work in Sports podcast: Moving Forward is brought to you by EMPOWRD This is the most important election of our time. And let’s be honest, voting during a pandemic is a little confusing right now. There is so much misinformation out there aimed toward making you believe your vote doesn’t matter Well, your vote does matter. Voting is the most important responsibility of citizens. Don’t give up that power or that right! Get engaged, informed & ready to vote - all with ONE app. All of these top athletes are out there supporting this great app that will make it easier for you to get all the information you need to vote! Download the app today at EMPOWRD.com Welcome to Part 3 of our 4-part Moving Forward mini-series analyzing social justice through the eyes of ten young, diverse aspiring sports professionals, I’m your host, Brian Clapp from WorkinSports.com. Social justice in sports, the idea of communicating anger and frustration based on racial inequity, took a few decades off. NBA Hall of famer Bill Russell, five-time NBA Most Valuable Player, 12-time All-Star, 11-time NBA championship, Olympic gold medal winner, NCAA Champion -- used his platform to fight against the racism and inequality that plague our country today. Russell believes you should stand up for your beliefs, no matter what the cost - and he has always lived that way. Fans were violent toward him, the FBI surveilled him, fellow pro’s criticized him -- but he persevered. He spoke his truth without fear of reciprocity because his goal was to do more than win basketball games, he wanted to change the world. This was the 60’s - the energy and fervor to fight oppression and inequality slowed down in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s and early 2000. 40 years of silence from our sports stars, the leaders and most powerful voices for change, unfortunately shut up and dribbled. Michael Jordan, Lawrence Taylor, Charles Barkley, Barry Bonds -- they were all outspoken, but rarely is ever about social change and inequality. The voice from within became silent. Glitz, glam and excess became the voice. Love him, hate him, respect him, admonish him - it was Colin Kaepernick who woke up the sports world and brought the athletes back down to the people. Others followed suit with power and passion -- but it became clear, it was no longer a shut up and dribble world. That voice, the one that comes from the inside, has so much power. In 2017, Bill Russell posted a photograph of himself on Twitter, in which he was taking a knee in solidarity with NFL players. Wearing his Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the image was captioned with "Proud to take a knee, and to stand tall against social injustice." In an interview with ESPN, Russell said he wanted the NFL players to know they weren't alone. This conversation, part three of our moving forward series, isn’t about the merits of taking a knee, it’s about using your voice from the inside to affect positive change. Everyone here listening doesn’t have the benefit of a platform like Kyrie Irving or Bill Russell, but change can come from listening, and using the platform you do have inside our industry. To help me through this conversation, join me in welcoming Devin Walker, Miguel Garcia Espinoza and Caitlin Wallen… Thanks to Caitlin, Miguel and Devin for joining me in this important conversation about change and using your voice. I’ll finish up by quoting historian Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States “We don’t have to engage in grand heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can change the world.” Thanks for listening.

The Work in Sports podcast is brought to you by EMPOWRD This is the most important election of our time. And let’s be honest, voting during a pandemic is a little confusing right now. There is so much misinformation out there aimed toward making you believe your vote doesn’t matter Well, your vote does matter. Voting is the most important responsibility of citizens. Don’t give up that power or that right! Get engaged, informed & ready to vote - all with ONE app. You know who is engaged, informed, and ready to vote with EMPOWRD - Trey Flowers, Detroit Lions Whitney Mercilus, Houston Texans Justin Reid, Houston Texans Anfernee Simons, Portland Trailblazers All of these top athletes are out there supporting this great app that will make it easier for you to get all the information you need to vote! Download the app today at EMPOWRD.com Alright, let’s start the countdown… Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning for WorkInSports.com and this is the Work in Sports podcast… Happy Monday everyone -- struggling a little getting things rolling this morning… but I’m ready to bring the energy now. Last week we published episode 2 of our four-part Moving Forward series highlighting 10 young, diverse, aspiring sports professionals on their journey to employment and facing the challenges of social justice. I am very proud of our conversations thus far if you haven’t listened yet, please do so, the discussions are eye-opening. This week we publish part 3 - on using your voice from inside an organization. I’m joined by Miguel Garcia Espinoza, Caitlen Wallen, and Devin Walker for a great conversation -- please tune in and download! Alright -- time for the Stat Line What in the world … I must have hit the wrong button. Randy Just our director of customer service just have gotten into my music playlist. Let’s try this again… time for the stat line.. Ah much better… it’s Monday morning, I’m not ready for EDM, dubstep, trap beats yet… man, do I sound old. Ok into the data we go… The total number of jobs on WorkInSports.com the #1 job board for the sports industry… has 17,124 jobs - we’ve crossed 17k, which is awesome. I was just looking at one of our competitors… they have 689 jobs, total. You tell me where the best chance is for you to find a job. In the last week, we’ve added 2,236 jobs to our job board - an average of 319 jobs posted each day of the week. That is opportunity. Ok, our most popular category right now is retail/lifestyle with just over 7,000 job opportunities -- but i want to better explain this category by highlighting a few really cool jobs. “Lifestyle” are all the brands and products that enhance your sports and active life… So let’s check out a few jobs here: Fitbit Environmental Sustainability Program Mgr - now this as just one gig that stood out to me, because I’m way into the environment and sustainability, but fitbit is one of the sports adjacent companies that is in the lifestyle category. They also have a product manager for audience engagement, and program manager for wearables -- pretty cool stuff. Alright, another brand in the lifestyle category -- Patagonia -- one of my personal favs - is hiring an Equity and Performance Lead, you will be responsible for instilling a mindset and culture of equity & inclusion, ongoing learning, and professional development by designing and implementing organizational and culture change efforts, performance management processes, training, and tools across the company. Another big one - have you heard of XOS Digital? When you hear of coaches directly after a game jumping on their iPad and watching cut-ups of game video… or sitting in a dark room watching video and scouting -- they are using XOS digital, they are the leader in sports performance analytics? Amazing company - they are hiring a senior product manager. If you want to work in coaching, scouting,

The Work in Sports podcast is brought to you by EMPOWRD This is the most important election of our time. And let’s be honest, voting during a pandemic is a little confusing right now. There is so much misinformation out there aimed toward making you believe your vote doesn’t matter Well, your vote does matter. Voting is the most important responsibility of citizens. Don’t give up that power or that right! Get engaged, informed & ready to vote - all with ONE app. You know who is engaged, informed, and ready to vote with EMPOWRD - Trey Flowers, Detroit Lions Whitney Mercilus, Houston Texans Justin Reid, Houston Texans Anfernee Simons, Portland Trailblazers All of these top athletes are out there supporting this great app that will make it easier for you to get all the information you need to vote! Download the app today at EMPOWRD.com And the Work InSports Podcast Moving Forward is brought to you by High Point Gamer: High Point Gamer is Central Florida’s premiere Esports consultant for forward-thinking gamers, brands and organizations. They help you add gaming to your marketing strategy. Their custom gaming-centric activations are tailored to support your business goals. Visit High Point Gamer dot com for more information. Welcome to Part 2 of our 4-part Moving Forward mini series analysing social justice through the eyes of ten young, diverse aspiring sports professionals, I’m your host, Brian Clapp from WorkinSports.com. The sports industry has long been our nations main source of entertainment. Look no further than the most popular tv series of 2019-2020. Sunday Night FootballThursday Night FootballMonday Night FootballThe Masked Singer The Last Dance Ahead of the bachelor, survivor, american idol, grey’s anatomy, this is us and a bevy of other highly dicsussed shows. If you look at the most popular individual TV shows - 19 out of the top 25 most watched shows of 2019 were sports. And not just football. The World Series, The NBA finals, The College Football Championship, the NCAA Men’s basketball championships. Sports dominates. With that in mind, you would hope and imagine that the industry itself would be representative of the stars in the games that have become so popular. It is not. For example, more than 45% of college football players are black, but black men only represent 9% of athletic directors and 8% of head coaches. We can play these numbers out down the line in all facets of the sports industry - women’s sports, men’s sports, college, pro, media companies, leagues. The disparity is real, and tangible. Progress only comes when the majority aims to help, support and advocate for the minority. If the majority persists as if the norm they are living in is what they want to see continue, things will never change. But, if a large enough group of allies from the majority are mobilizd and activated for change, they can hold the power and the key to stimulate positive change. As award-winning diversity, equity and inclusion leader Sheree Atcheson wrote in Forbes, Allyship is: a lifelong process of building relationships based on trust, consistency, and accountability with marginalized individuals and/or groups of people.not self-defined—work and efforts must be recognized by those you are seeking to ally with.an opportunity to grow and learn about ourselves, whilst building confidence in others. This is an important step for all listeners, to understand what minority groups, whether it be women, LGBTQ, or People of color - need, and how they need it. To be an ally, requires an ability to listen, support, self-reflect & change. Something all of us can and should do. The Work in Sports podcast Moving Forward is a 4-part discussion with 10 young, diverse, aspiring sports professionals sharing the issues that confront them every day as they attempt to embark on their sports careers and change the world.

The Work in Sports podcast is brought to you by EMPOWRD This is the most important election of our time. And let’s be honest, voting during a pandemic is a little confusing right now. There is so much misinformation out there aimed toward making you believe your vote doesn’t matter Well, your vote does matter. Voting is the most important responsibility of citizens. Don’t give up that power or that right! Get engaged, informed & ready to vote - all with ONE app. You know who is engaged, informed, and ready to vote with EMPOWRD - Trey Flowers, Detroit Lions Whitney Mercilus, Houston Texans Justin Reid, Houston Texans Anfernee Simons, Portland Trailblazers All of these top athletes are out there supporting this great app that will make it easier for you to get all the information you need to vote! Download the app today at EMPOWRD.com Alright, let’s start the countdown... Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning at WorkinSports.com and this is the Work in Sports podcast…. Before we get into the stat line, last week we published part 1 of our 4 part series titled Moving Forward, and I just want to say thank you for all the really positive responses we’ve received. Equality is an important subject - sports should be the ultimate meritocracy, both on the field and in the offices. The best should rise, no matter what they look like. No matter what their gender. But that isn’t always the case. We need to fix that, and so often that starts with conversations where our eyes are opened. I’d like to consider myself a pretty empathetic person, I put myself in the shoes of others often. BUT, to hear someone else’s experience in their own words is so powerful. When Gerald Taylor explained in episode one just how much it meant for him, a young black man, to have Jason Wright named team president of the Washington Football Team because it helped him see that it is possible-- you could feel it. When Jalen Mitchell, 19-year old Howard student, explained that not everyone has to be on the front lines for the fight for social justice, but everyone does have a role - the maturity, vision, and passion of this 19-year-old man gave me chills. It makes a difference to hear the conversation, hear it in their voices. Go back and listen. I’ll admit, I put a lot of effort into this series, and wanted to see it be successful. But I had an epiphany last week, thanks to some friends, you know who you are, and I don’t really care how many downloads we have. The people who do listen I know will be impacted, and even just one set of ears that are opened and maybe the conversation shifts their perspective a bit, and opens themselves up to their role in progress - that is the marker of success. Part 2 comes up this week with Destiny Jones and Alex Rodriguez. Now its time for the stat line… The Stat Line - Understanding the Week in Sports Careers We’re going to jam through the numbers pretty quick here because I have a very important message to get across… On WorkInSports.com - the number one job board for the sports industry, there are currently 16,493 active jobs, which is up about 1% from last week, so basically flat. We added 1,889 fresh new active jobs this week an average of 270 a day -- which is awesome, lots of reasons to come back to the site daily and see what’s up. Ok - now I have a quick explainer to get into -- for the last few months, I’ve been telling ya’ll about media/creative. I’ve been speaking in college classrooms around the country, and on this here podcast and I get asked all the time, where are the jobs in the sports industry, where is the job growth. My answer -- media/creative, tech/data, and retail/lifestyle. Those are the categories we’ve seen growth. BUT… just this past week you may all have been seeing headlines saying ESPN is on the verge of laying off hundreds of employees.

The Work in Sports podcast presents Moving Forward, a 4-part series highlighting the sports industry's role in influencing change for people of color, the LGBTQ community and women. We will discuss representation, allyship, having a voice on the inside, fearless communication and inspiring steps for our future. Join us in this conversation with an open heart and mind. One of the best ways to begin a career in the sports industry is through Minor League Baseball, it is the ultimate platform to do a little bit of everything and gain invaluable experience. In 2016, MiLB launched the FIELD program, which stands for 'Fostering Inclusion through Education and Leadership Development' a landmark program designed to provide an opportunity to sports career-minded individuals from diverse backgrounds. This is a wonderful program - we need more like it. Alumni of the program point to it as the launching point of their career and it has clearly added to the diversity amongst minor league organizations. But, this past June, just days after George Floyd was murdered by police officers in Minnesota, Minor League baseball was noticeably silent. As other leagues, teams, athletes, and organizations condemned the actions and called for change, Minor League Baseball said nothing for days. The silence as they say was deafening and didn’t go unnoticed by those who had been part of the most recent FIELD program cohort. The group banded together and released a joint statement professing their profound disappointment in Minor League Baseball and their belief in the need for progress in social justice and equity while acknowledging the positive role sports can play in changing the world. In the coming weeks, we will be joined by members of that FIELD cohort, young, diverse people, sharing their voice and thoughts as we watch the sports world continue to grapple with its role in social change. In week one we’ll be focusing in on using your voice to force change with Jalen Mitchell and Gerald Taylor. Questions for Moving Forward Part 1 with Jalen Mitchell and Gerald Taylor As young people in the sports industry, how was it that you and your group felt strong enough and empowered enough to speak out in this instance? What was the response like after you and your group posted your statement? What were you expecting, and what actually happened? Was there any fear of repercussion? And frankly, has there been any? When I was coming up in the industry, the biggest personas of the era - Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Mia Hamm - didn’t really speak up about politics, race, gender equality – but now, not only are the athletes using their voice, so are the young people, which is great progress – but where do we go from here? Sports has a unique ability to reach people, and in the last few years many organizations have started using their voice and brand to support social justice efforts and battles for gender quality– is it enough just to use their voice and platform, or should they be doing more? (hiring practices, executive positions, equitable pay etc?) One of the more inspiring stories for me personally, was hearing how Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics drove from Boston down to Atlanta to be part of the peaceful protests in his hometown. It doesn’t always have to be dramatic action, sometimes it’s just being present for the fight and aligned. As you’ve seen this all transpire, what or who has inspired you? What about you, what or who has inspired you and made you feel more powerful in this moment? Recently we saw the Washington Football team hire Jason Wright, to be their team president. How did you feel about this transaction? Nelson Mandela famously said, “Sports has the power to change the world” – do you agree? And if so, how? How will you continue to use your voice and push yourself and others to do more for positive change? Listen in to learn more from these two impressive...

The Work in Sports podcast is brought to you by EMPOWRD This is the most important election of our time. And let’s be honest, voting during a pandemic is a little confusing right now. There is so much misinformation out there aimed toward making you believe your vote doesn’t matter Well, your vote does matter. Voting is the most important responsibility of citizens. Don’t give up that power or that right! Get engaged, informed & ready to vote - all with ONE app. You know who is engaged, informed, and ready to vote with EMPOWRD - Trey Flowers, Detroit Lions Whitney Mercilus, Houston Texans Justin Reid, Houston Texans Anfernee Simons, Portland Trailblazers All of these top athletes are out there supporting this great app that will make it easier for you to get all the information you need to vote! Download the app today at EMPOWRD.com Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp VP of Content and Engaged Learning at WorkInSports.com and this is the Work in Sports podcast… First things first - it’s Monday, time for the stat line... [stat line] If you need a reminder, the Stat line is when we jump into the data of the past week in sports industry employment -- since WorkInSports.com is the number one job board for the sports industry and the industry leader since 1999 - we have lots of data. And we’re using it! First -- the total number of active jobs in the sports industry -- we’re up to 16,350! That’s a lot of opportunities. Just to put this in perspective, if you lived within 25 miles of Portland, Oregon, you’d discover there are 333 active sports jobs in your area. Pretty cool right? If you lived in Portland Maine, 33 active sports jobs -- not as many, but just proving… WorkInSports is everywhere, and so are sports career opportunities. Side note - I love both Portlands. OK, next data point -- the last 7 days we added 2,755 active sports jobs to our board -- which is an average of ...divide by 7, carry the -- 393 jobs added each and every day. That’s a good reason to come look at our job board every day. The top category of the week is…. media/creative! This area continues to thrive, lots and lots of jobs related to content. Seems like everyone nowadays is starting a podcast...so there is that too. Ok, top three jobs of the week -- my personal favs. Revenue Operations Analyst with New England Sports Network -- this is the business analyst job. Associate Director of Digital Engagement -- San Antonio Spurs - two parts of this job really stood out: Collaborate with a diverse group of internal partners across Content, Marketing, Broadcast, Game Operations, Global Partnerships, Sporting Operations, and Communications to grow our global digital audience and optimize organic digital content performance.Enhance revenue-generating campaigns, and improve data-capture opportunities LuLuLemon -- VP of Diversity, Inclusion and Equity -- And that is the stat line! Which dovetails beautifully into promoting our new series coming up this Wednesday and running through October… It’s called Moving Forward - we’ve brought together 12 young diverse sports career-focused professionals to discuss their experiences and perspectives growing in the sports industry. We’re talking about the sports industry through their eyes -- is it representative? Do they feel included? How important is allyship? Having a voice inside an organization. These are young men and women who either are just breaking into the sports industry or aspire to. You will listen and think to yourself, wow, this is just like my experience, or you will be enlightened and awakened to the knowledge that your sports industry is quitedifferent than theirs. I’ve been awakened in these convrsaations and I’m a pretty eyes wide open guy... So please, listen with an open heart and mind. This is important and valuable content! Alright let’s jump into today’s fan question --

The Work in Sports podcast is brought to you by EMPOWRD This is the most important election of our time. And let’s be honest, voting during a pandemic is a little confusing right now. There is so much misinformation out there aimed toward making you believe your vote doesn’t matter Well, your vote does matter. Voting is the most important responsibility of citizens. Don’t give up that power or that right! Get engaged, informed & ready to vote - all with ONE app. You know who is engaged, informed and ready to vote with EMPOWRD - Trey Flowers, Detroit Lions Whitney Mercilus, Houston Texans Justin Reid, Houston Texans Anfernee Simons, Portland Trailblazers All of these top athletes are out there supporting this great app that will make it easier for you to get all the information you need to vote! Download the app today at EMPOWRD.com Alright - let’s start the countdown… Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning at WorkInSports.com and this is the Work in Sports podcast. There are many attributes and traits that intrigue me about professional athletes. Throughout my career in the sports media I’ve often found myself interviewing pro athletes and thinking to myself, what makes them different? I worked hand in hand with NFL MVP Shaun Alexander for a few years and kept asking him questions, probing at his background his development as an athlete, his experience being the absolute best every phase of his life… I asked so many questions I think he got annoyed with me No that’s not true, Shaun is one of the kindest, most gracious athletes you could ever encounter. You see, I’m one of those people that looks for patterns. Is it where they grew up? how early they started training? Is it a passion that is born within that can’t be controlled only fostered? Is it purely size and speed? Game intelligence and instincts? I’d ask Shaun specific questions like, how did you know to cut that direction on a play -- that didn’t look like it was open at all?! and he’d go into a complex discussion of the blocking scheme, but eventually admit, instincts take over. So is that it? Is it born from within? This would go round and round and round and round. Finally one day, two years into our friendship - he gave me the answer. As he would explain it -- The baseline qualification is that you have the elite athletic combination - fast, strong, size, weight...that gets you to college. It doesn’t get you beyond that. To get to the pro’s and potentially elite level, long, award-winning, triumphant career, requires elite competitiveness. The belief that you need to outwork, outsmart, and out manuever everyone else. That when you line up to play, you raise your ability to an entirely new level. That when your season is done, all you can think about is how you will improve for the next turn. This style of competitiveness cozy’s up, very close, to obsession. Nothing else matters but competing. This is also why so many elite players struggle with mental health issues during their playing days -- not being quite elite enough, not handling the pressure well enough, not having enough outlets for their anguish. Imagine being this hardwired to compete on everything, and then having a day where your body just can’t do it anymore. In 2005 Shaun ran for 1880 yards and 27 touchdowns - he won the league MVP award. In 2008, just three years later he carried that ball 11 times for the Washington Football Team and was released. He was 31 years old. What do you do with all that competitiveness when your body just can’t do it anymore? How do you transition to a different life and world. The world literally sees you different. YOu couldn’t walk down the street without being mobbed before, now you walk down the street and people wonder quietly...is that...nah, can’t be. This mental adjustment, this transition, is just another obstacle in the journey of being...

The Work in Sports podcast is brought to you by EMPOWRD This is the most important election of our time. And let’s be honest, voting during a pandemic is a little confusing right now. There is so much misinformation out there aimed toward making you believe your vote doesn’t matter - so why bother. Well, your vote does matter. Voting is the most important responsibility of citizens. Don’t give up that power or that right! Get engaged, informed & ready to vote - all with ONE app. You know who is engaged, informed and ready to vote with EMPOWRD - Trey Flowers, Detroit Lions Whitney Mercilus, Houston Texans Justin Reid, Houston Texans Anfernee Simons, Portland Trailblazers All of these top athletes are out there supporting this great app that will make it easier for you to get all the information you need to vote! Download the app today at EMPOWRD.com Alright let’s start the countdown… Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged learning at WorkInSports.com and this is the Work In Sports podcast… New feature -- big hit. Got a lot of positive feedback on our new segment -- so let’s jump right into...The Stat Line Alright quick recap of the week that was in the world of sports employment - through the lens of WorkInSports.com the number one job board for the sports industry… Three main data points and trends to keep you informed … we start with the top line number. There are currently 15,556 active sports jobs posted on WorkinSports.com -- that is a good healthy number. Now, this is down 1.3% week over week. But as is always the case data needs context. In the last week we added 3,302 new active sports jobs - and average of 471 new jobs per day and an increase of 27% week over week. So you may be asking -- how can you add 3,302 jobs this week and have less overall jobs? Well, that’s actually another really good indicator for the state of our industry. What this means is, there was a churn -- many jobs were filled, many new jobs added -- positive activity level. OK, final part of the stat line, three awesome jobs added this week: This part is subjective. Communication and Digital Media Internship with USA Team Handball -- look I don’t know anything about handball, other than I think I would be awesome at it -- but the opportunity to learn this skills for a national governing body is the type of thing that will sand out on your resume. Play-by-Play broadcaster for the San Diego Seals -- who are the San Diego Seals? They are a National Lacrosse League team in San Diego, I like San Diego. The only problem I have is that in San Diego, nothing should be indoors. Seriously, everything from showering to sports should be required to be outdoors in San Diego. And finally -- I have been in the sports industry for 20+ years and I still am introduced to new jobs and companies every damn day. Our final job comes from BallerTV who I heard of for the first time this morning. Based in Miami they are looking for a Live Sports Event Coordinator -- Baller TV according to my research, is a venture-backed startup that is building the world's largest sports network from the ground up. And that was the Stat Line! Do you like that segment? Any other stats you want me to add? Message me on LinkedIN, or join our private facebook group by searching for the Work In Sports podcast on Facebook. And, remember, a Work In Sports membership is just $8 for the first month. You can get access to all of these jobs and way, way, way, way, way, way more. Alright, let’s get to today’s fan question from Wyatt in Pennsylvania... “Hey Brian, I need a little convincing on the power of networking. I’m not a natural networker, I don’t really like it and I’m not fully convinced it matters in the long run. Can you help convince me that it is an effort worth undertaking?”Wyatt in Pennsylvania Good questions Wyatt -- thanks for asking.

The Work In Sports podcast is brought to you by EMPOWRD! NFL superstar Trey Flowers, ESPN anchor Maria Taylor and many others are encouraging you to get registered to vote with EMPOWRD! Empowrd is a technology platform created by former Oracle Tech executive Horace Williams to simplify civic engagement and put democracy in the palm of your hand. With EMPOWRD you can: Confirm your voter registration status, Link to register to vote in your state, Identifying your voting location (plus notification of any last-minute changes to help combat voter suppression), Preview your election ballot before election day and Ability to check-in on Election Day and most importantly, report any voting issues at the poll site. This is the most important election of our time. Get engaged, informed & ready to vote - all with ONE app. Download today at EMPOWRD.com. Alright let’s start the countdown... Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp, VP of content and engaged learning at WorkInSports.com and this is the Work In Sports podcast… Big ten football back in October -- look, this is great news all around, as a die-hard sports fan this is what we want to see. If the league commissioner caved to the pressure, thats not good, but if they did their work, consulted with scientists, public health officials and creatd systems to keep the athletes and staff safe and sounds… well, right now. I don’t know about you, but I’ve actually found the NBA and NFL experience without fans, a great experience. The NBA, I don’t even really notice the lack of fans anymore…The NFL is still a little weird, with the huge empty stadiums, but I’m getting used to it. Baseball… ugh, but maybe I’m tainted by my Red Sox being awful. But there is something magical about college sports. I’ll be the first to admit, growing up in the Boston area, there isn’t a huge college sports component, it’s all pro sports. I always thought of college sports as the minor leagues to the pros, and therefore less important. In my world view the pro game was the pinnacle and everything else was just a pathway. But really, this is the wrong lens to look through. This perspective changed for me, when I was in my late 20’s. I travelled to England to watch a few premier league soccer games -- I saw a game at Arsenal, and another at Chelsea - and these were experiences I had never had in sports. The fans were different, the stadium experience was different, the vibe was different. I remembered returning, and going back to work, which was at CNN/Sports Illustrated at the time and telling anyone who would listen.. Oh my gosh, I feel like a different sports fan with different expectations. One of my co-workers said to me… have you ever been to a football game at UGA? Well, no. Another -- have you been to a game at Tennessee? (this is when Peyton was huge) And then my boss, a Michigan grad, said ..dude “what about the Big house?” you been? It wasn’t until I started experiencing these college sports cathedrals that I realized mine was the skewed perspective. That the real passion and enthusiasm and maniacal fandom was in college sports. That booming of 106,000 people on a saturday in the fall chanting so loud your chest felt like it was compressing. And it’s not just football… Most of the athletes in college aren’t on the professional athlete path, they play water polo and volleyball and tennis for the pure love of the game and competition. That’s the magic you want from sports. And as my journey has continued, as I’ve interviewed associate athletic directors from Ohio State, Purdue and Michigan… you realize how much goes into operating a department representing sometimes 30+ teams, not just one. The effort and coordination it takes to maximize the experience of thousands of student athletes across a department...and to draw fans not just to football saturdays, but mid-week soccer games, and track and field and baseball.

Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning for WorkInSports.com and this is the Work In Sports podcast… In case you weren’t sure...2020 is still a massive kick to the you know whats. Rest in Power Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a champion of equality for all people, and the rule of law. For everyone dealing with wildfires, hurricanes, and our global pandemic, please stay safe - this is a time for diligence, not complacency. I know we all want to get back to normal, but right now that just isn’t our reality...so be safe and be smart, care for your fellow citizens. Before we get started with today’s question -- we have a new segment -- I like to call it The Stat Line I get asked just about every day about the state of the sports industry --- so we’re going to give you a quick update each week based on our data at WorkInSports.com - in case you didn’t know, we’re the leading job board in the sports industry and have been for a little over 20 years. The Stat Line will consist of at least three valuable data points for you -- How many jobs are currently in our database. Whether that is an increase or decrease over the previous week, and month. Top categories for job postings, and highlight three jobs currently active on our site that I think are interesting. So let’s start with the top line number -- 15,763 active jobs right now on our site. That’s a good number -- lots of opportunities -- but let’s get a little nuanced. It’s important to see the trends… in the last week we have added 2,392 sports jobs...the week prior we added 1,842 --- now that’s a short term trend, but it’s good news. As for categories -- where is the growth? 2,343 jobs in media/creative -- remember eleven without fans, teams leagues and organizations are still creating content for their digital and social platforms. Over 6,000 active opportunities in retail/lifestyle - many of these are far more working the register at Dick’s Sporting Goods -- no offense, Dick’s, we love you, in fact, if you want to sponsor this podcast… call me. Many of the jobs in retail and lifestyle apply to huge brands like Puma, Adidas, Nike, Under Armour, these brands are thriving right now and they are HUGE businesses. As for my three favorite jobs of the week -- Zamboni Operator which is about 30 minutes from my house. Back up plan. Happy Gilmore. Assistant General Manager for a summer collegiate wood bat league which just sounds awesome. And the director of video content for the Tennessee Titans -- I mean I’d be drooling all day making videos of Derrick Henry stiff arms, and I’d get to work with former guest Amie Wells -- so that would be fun, Alright -- that is the stat line! If you have data you want me to share on a regular basis -- let me know… I want to help you all be smarter about your job search! And I’ll get through it a little faster in the future, this was a set the stage episode. Ok onto today’s topic! Sometimes as I prep this show and go through the myriad of questions we receive each week -- rather than handle a specific question, I notice a theme which we can dive into. Again, if you want to submit a question for our Work In Sports podcast Monday episode - you can email me, [email protected], you can ask me via LinkedIn, you can ask me as part of our private Facebook group - of course, you’d have to join it first… but that’s easy search for the Work in Sports podcast on Facebook and answer a few questions, then I’ll let you in, then you can ask your question. It’s an incredible group for networking with other sports career-minded people, so jump in. So the pattern. Many many questions have come in lately with topics like “I can’t decide what sports career I want… “I can’t decide which role to take…. “I can’t decide what to include on my resume… “I can’t decide what to wear for my interview…”

Hey everybody I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning for WorkInSports.com and this is the Work In Sports podcast. In 2007 today’s guest, Kara Walker, graduated from Ithaca College. The Massachusetts native began her career in Ticket Operations with the Boston Celtics. Today she is the VP of Marketing and Content Strategy with the Boston Celtics. I’m not just reading her resume, there is a very clear point, or at least it should be. Kara started in sales but today she is a VP in a much different part of the organization. I mention sales jobs and customer service roles to people who want to work in sports and I watch their face change. It’s a reflexive reaction that borders between disgust and annoyance. It’s like they think I’m insulting them by saying they should look into sales roles, rather than be named the GM of their favorite team right out of college. I get it. Everyone has big dreams and those dreams don’t include cold calling people for season tickets, or convincing a church group to buy 30 tickets to the Sacramento Kings game in November. I speak in college classrooms all the time and I’d guess about 25% of the people want to be sports agents. Ask them why and they’ll say they want to be close to the players and it looks like fun. Good luck. You think it’s glamourous, it is not. There are around 830 agents certified by the NFL Players Association and 1,590 active players on 53 man rosters. Not great odds…but now go even further 75% of the players are represented by just 17% of the agents. A half dozen or so super agents handle all the big players and the big deals. The other 824 agents scrap for what is left. When NFL rosters go down to 53 people at the end of training camp as many as 300 agents have no active clients at all. Now, let’s compare that to jobs in sports sales. For the last 20 years of WorkInSports.com -- that’s right, we’re in our second decade of sports industry domination now, sales jobs have made up about 50% of the jobs on our job board. Now, I’ll be transparent -- things are a topsy turvy right now in the sports industry. The whole global pandemic, no fans, no tickets has put a damper on jobs in sales. I’m not being flip, near 200,000 americans have died in this pandemic and we all think about them daily, maybe not specifically, but we think about this terrible situation daily. Sals jobs are lower on our job board than ever before -- but let’s have some perspctivce. Sales equates to revenue. Revenue is the #1 goal of any business. Sales jobs will return in full force. Matter of fact, they’ll return in greater numbers than ever before as sports teams get back to normal and the need to make up for lost revenue is present. In the long game of life -- the number of sales jobs and opportunities will be in your favor. But, I get it – you aren’t convinced – you’ve been told all your life to do what will make you happy, and sales isn’t it. I’m with you, I have never worked in sales, I haven’t even been a waiter at a restaurant trying to sell someone a steak dinner, and I turned out OK. But, I’m not giving up on this. You need to see the truth. Sales isn’t a life sentence, it’s a step inside the building of an organization. Kara Walker started in Ticket Operations with the BOSTON CELTICS, one of the most storied franchises in sports. She gave herself an opportunity to prove herself, learn the business, connect herself with revenue generation, build her reputation and grow from within a premium organization. In two years’ time she was changing departments into content and marketing – she shifted her entire career, but stayed with her top organization where she wanted to be. I can go on and on about following the path of opportunity and least resistance but you need to believe it and buy into it. Now, I have to admit three things before we get into this interview,

Hey everybody I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning for WorkInSports.com and this is the Work in Sports podcast… Alright, this is the first time I’m speaking about this publicly, I have some big news about the podcast. Something exciting and important. Over the last decade, we’ve all watched at sports figures have opened up to the world. Whether via Players Tribune, their own social accounts, their voice in press conferences, what they wear, and how they display their world views - we have gotten to know athletes better. As I have said many times prior -- In my era, we never really knew how guys like Joe Montana, Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, and Rickey Henderson felt about the world. We knew how they played, and how they acted as teammates...and that was about it. Back in June when George Floyd was murdered and peaceful protests took over the streets of our nation... they also took over the arenas. Athletes used their voice, sports became a greater vehicle and platform for social justice and expression. I for one love this. I hate the “shut up and dribble” as if athletes were placed her to sing and dance and run for us… just to entertain. These are human beings with important views and global impact. At the same time as George Floyd, a group of diverse young professionals also stood out from the rest of the crowd. The 2020 cohort of the Minor League Baseball FIELD program, which stands for 'Fostering Inclusion through Education and Leadership Development' spoke up, loud and clear, when Minor League baseball was silent. At the time I was impressed with their unity, fearlessness, and voice. I only wish I had this strength at their age. I began connecting with each and every member of the cohort, offering to help them with their careers and network. And one young woman, Adrienne Brown, took it one step further. She asked is we could do a series of podcasts with the FIELD cohort to discuss being young and diverse while trying to work and make a name for yourself in the sports industry. Enthusiastically I said yes. In the month of October, we will debut our 4-part series titled Moving Forward and featuring young diverse professionals speaking their truth and sharing their experiences. We just conducted our first interview sessions last week, and I couldn’t have been more impressed with our first two guests -- Jalen Mitchell an incredibly impressive student at Howard University and Gerald Taylor, a recent graduate of Virginia State who is trying to stand out in the world of diversity and inclusion. The conversations are eye-opening, and important. Please listen with an open heart and mind. Ok, on to today’s question… Keisha from Chicago… “Hi Brian, I’ve heard you recently in two different zoom sessions and I was captivated by your talks -- you have a very engaging demeanor and speak with so much passion! I have a follow-up question if you don’t mind answering it. You talked about the most important traits you need for the sports industry - being competitive, coachable, and curious. I wrote them down to keep me inspired. But I have a question… is being competitive just another way of saying work hard?” Keisha -- I am so excited by this question. You submitted it via LinkedIn and many times I just respond personally to questions but this one I really really wanted to elevate to the Monday podcast. So here goes…. NO working hard is not the same as being competitive. I’ll explain, but let me run through all the traits first just to get everyone else up to speed, then we’ll dive into the difference between being competitive and working hard. It’s true - I try to get these attributes or traits across in just about every presentation because I believe they are vital. Let’s start with Coachable. I always look for new ways to articulate and back up my theories, and just this weekend I saw “Coachable” in action...so let’s talk about it.

Calling all up-and-coming broadcast talent – here’s your chance to make a name for yourself overnight. Compete against others in SiriusXM’s “MLB Fan Call of the Month” contest. Visit SiriusXM dot com slash MLB Fan Call, and make your voice heard before the contest closes on September 10th at 10AM Eastern. One winner, as judged by the SiriusXM programming team, will have their play-by-play call air on SiriusXM MLB Radio, and advance to compete in the final “Fan Call of the Year” contest for a grand prize that includes a trip for two (2) to attend the 2021 MLB All Star Game at Truist Park in Atlanta, Georgia, plus the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to call a half-inning of the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game, LIVE on SiriusXM MLB Radio! Go to SiriusXM dot com slash MLB Fan Call for a full set of contest rules, prizing details and more. Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning for WorkInSports.com and this is the Work in Sports podcast… Buenos Aires, the Paris of the South, known for its architecture, cuisine, shopping, history, entertainment, beaches -- one of the top travel destinations in the world. But in the 1970’s Buenos Aires was in the midst of the Dirty War, a period when Argentina’s military dictatorship turned against its own people. Quick trip down history lane -- it was 1976 when the Argentine military overthrew the government of Isabel Peron, the widow of populist president Juan Peron. It was a political coup called Operation Condor and it was sponsored and supported by the United States. The military took power by force, and turned against Argentina’s citizens, taking away political dissidents and people it suspected of being aligned with leftist, socialist or social justice causes and incarcerating, torturing, and “disappearing” an estimated 30,000 people. Still to this day, every Thursday, the mothers and grandmothers of the 30,000 unaccounted for victims of the Dirty War, gather in one of Argentina’s most famous public squares, the Plaza De Mayo, wearing white scarves and holding signs covered with names. Why am I bringing all fo this up? Why the trip down Argentinian history? Today’s guest is one of the most famous sports broadcasters in the world, Andres Cantor, known around the globe for his legendary play by play call when a goal is scored in soccer. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL! I can’t do it, nor will I try. But to really understand a person, you have to know where they came from. When I was given the opportunity to interview Andres, a man I have long admired for his artful, entertaining work in soccer, the Olympics, and as a leader in the Spanish-speaking community - I wanted to understand the man behind the call, not just the call itself. Andres grew up in Argentina, in Buenos Aires, during the Dirty War, when the military took to the streets and people he knew disappeared. His family fled the country, and came to America, where he had to completely restart his life. I strongly believe we are formed by our early years, they become our foundation for what we believe is true, valued and important - our early experiences shape the way we see the world. Not put yourself in Andres shoes. War-torn country, on his doorstep, in his vision every single day. Fleeing the country, starting over, new people, a new language, new culture, new everything. He had ever reason to make excuses, to blame the world for its injustices, to crumble in the face of the challenges ahead of him. But he didn’t. He became a legend. This year Andres celebrated his 20th year at Telemundo, and I had the honor of interviewing him on his illustrious career. One note before we get started -- 5 minutes before we started our interview, Andres’ phone started blowing up because Lionel Messi announced he wanted to leave Barcelona. He has sincere retracted, but in that moment,

Calling all up-and-coming broadcast talent – here’s your chance to make a name for yourself overnight. Compete against others in SiriusXM’s “MLB Fan Call of the Month” contest starting on Thursday, September 3rd at 10AM Eastern. Visit SiriusXM dot com slash MLB Fan Call, and make your voice heard before the contest closes on September 10th. One winner, as judged by the SiriusXM programming team, will have their play-by-play call air on SiriusXM MLB Radio, and advance to compete in the final “Fan Call of the Year” contest for a grand prize that includes a trip for two (2) to attend the 2021 MLB All Star Game at Truist Park in Atlanta, Georgia, plus the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to call a half-inning of the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game, LIVE on SiriusXM MLB Radio! Go to SiriusXM dot com slash MLB Fan Call for a full set of contest rules, prizing details and more. Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning for WorkInSports.com and this is the Work In Sports podcast. I have an ongoing internal dialogue - no I’m not talking to myself, I’m not that old or senile yet - no, I’m constantly asking myself “what else?” This has become a little bit of a joke between my wife and I, she was on a job interview once years ago, and the interviewer started with a broad question about the role, and then for the next 30 minutes just kept repeating “what else?” every time my wife paused. While I think this is a terrible interview technique -- it is a pretty good question to ask yourself about yourself. I do this often and in many ways. With my kids, I wonder - again in my head -- what else can I be doing to help them become good people? What else can I teach them that school may not? Maybe it’s life skills, maybe it’s about the history of racial oppression, maybe it’s about climate change and sustainability? I wonder “what else?” can I do to be a better husband, mentor, friend, volunteer, member of society -- the list goes on. What else? I have an industry friend who always talks about the extra 1% you can do -- similar concept - he’s always telling people it doesn’t have to be huge, it just needs to be 1% better than everyone else...and this is just another way to get into a positive mindframe of doing a little more. I’m not perfect at it, sometimes I ask myself “what else” - come up with a good idea for something more I can do, and then cease to actually do it. Turns out, you make less of an impact when you don’t actually do the stuff you think about doing. Who knew? Anyway, the reason I bring this up is not out of self-importance or even a desire to be transparent… it’s because my mind has been raging lately about the podcast, this here show. What else? I feel like I should be doing more, that the traditional industry expert interview style is good and I enjoy it thoroughly, but maybe we need to break through and push a little more. I don’t know, I don’t have it all figured out yet, but I feel there are some more creative approaches I am yet to unlock but will continue to work on. With that in mind, I am taking a bit of a different approach to today’s show… a little shift that i think is pretty cool. Today’s guest is Andrew Diamond, Manager of Sports Sponsorships and Marketing for SiriusXM - cool job right? Andrew has also worked for Octagon, FanDuel, Topps and more - he’s a pretty interesting dude. If you were listening at the top of the show, SiriusXM is running a really cool contest called “Fan Call of the Month” with a chance to win a trip for 2 to the MLB all-star game and a chance to do play-by-play for a half inning of the sirius xm broadcast of the All-Star futures game! Pretty cool contest right? So what we are going to do today is tell the story of Andrew’s job, through the lens of this particular project -- how the Fan Call of the Month, went from idea, to activated project rolled out narttionwide.

Where is the Sports Industry Going?! Calling all up-and-coming broadcast talent – here’s your chance to make a name for yourself overnight. Compete against others in SiriusXM’s “MLB Fan Call of the Month” contest starting on Thursday, September 3rd at 10 AM Eastern. Visit SiriusXM dot com slash MLB Fan Call, and make your voice heard before the contest closes on September 10th. One winner, as judged by the SiriusXM programming team, will have their play-by-play call air on SiriusXM MLB Radio, and advance to compete in the final “Fan Call of the Year” contest for a grand prize that includes a trip for two (2) to attend the 2021 MLB All-Star Game at Truist Park in Atlanta, Georgia, plus the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to call a half-inning of the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game, LIVE on SiriusXM MLB Radio! Go to SiriusXM dot com slash MLB Fan Call for a full set of contest rules, prizing details, and more. Alright, let’s start the countdown… Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning at WorkInsports.com and this is the work in sports podcast… Cool note to add to our new sponsor, SiriusXM, coming up on Wednesday we’re going to have on SiriusXM Manager of Sports Partnerships and Marketing Andrew Diamond -- I thought it would be super cool to change our normal format and do a little something different. Andrew is going to take us through his job and his role at SiriusXM in sports partnerships, through the lens of the “Fan Call of the Year” contest -- from concept brainstorming to organizing the teams necessary to make the concept real, to meeting with stakeholders, promoting and activating -- you’ll get an idea of what it’s really like to work in marketing, by seeing how an idea turns into reality. I’m excited about this, because I love the idea of learning about the role through the actual process of creating a sports partnership! Of course I love the idea… it was my idea! Tune in Wednesday for that -- and seriously, if I was even slightly interested in sports broadcasting, or just wanted to have some fun, I would be all over this “fan call of the year” contest -- you could call a half-inning of the futures game on SiriusXM MLB radio and get a trip to the all-star game in Atlanta? Super cool. Alright on to today’s topic. Actually quick recap -- last weeks episode we talked about cancel vs. consequence culture -- and again we used misogyny in the sports industry as the launching point for the discussion… If you haven’t listened to the episode you should, it’s raw and it’s honest, but I also want to follow up on two things: 1: For those of you that requested I stick to sports and stop having conversations about topics like this -- stop it. You are embarrassing yourself. Don’t listen if you don’t want to be challenged, and if you truly think subjects like misogyny and social justice don’t intersect with sports and our day to day existence -- wake up. Every sports league, team, lifestyle brand, agency and organization connected to sports is taking on these issues because they are important, and they affect all of us. 2: I did get called out for one thing, and I’d like to say thank you for it. Kae Dube, rightfully pointed out that not all women have 2 X chromosomes. And she is right, she knows I didn’t say it in a derogatory way so we are cool, but I should not have been as verbally clever as I was being, I should have been more clear. Let that be a warning to all of you, sometimes leave the creative writing at home and just b clear with what you are trying to say. Alright -- now let’s get into today’s subject… Alisha from Pennsylvania writes in -- “Hey Brian, long time listener of the podcast and I’ve heard you speak a few times in different panels -- your enthusiasm and energy for this industry is just awesome, thank you. Question for you -- with the world being turned upside down with coronavirus and the sports industry being...

Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and engaged Learning at WorkInSports.com and this is the Work in Sports podcast… I know this may sound trite, but I learn something from every interview I conduct on this show. It’s true - when you keep yourself open to learning and open to your own need for improvement, you start to see the opportunity in everything. I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag, but today’s guest Shahbaz Khan director of digital content for the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx, really woke me up during this interview with his ideas. Now, full disclosure -- if someone asked me what my dream job would be right now, it would be leading a digital content group for a pro sports team -- so Shahbaz had me piqued from the get-go. One thing I always listen for in all of my interviews is HOW someone got the gig they currently occupy, or frankly any of their jobs. Did they find out about the job on our site WorkInSports.com -- like Dan Kaufmann from the New York Jets? Did they get it by referral and networking like Hannah Huesman from the Philadelphia Phillies? How did they get where they are? Well, Shahbaz shares a story, coming up shortly, about how he got his job with the Twolves that I have now cited in multiple speaking engagements that I have been a part of -- it’s a zoom world, and I’ve been doing a lot of career-focused panels. I’ll summarize quickly, and then you can listen to him share the details. But essentially he wanted to work for the Twolves as a social media associate, and he figured out a way to make himself come to life. He started a new twitter account and started doing the job. Seriously. He started doing the job of a social media associate for the Twolves. He was able to then show the Twolves how he would operate in the position -- his tone, his creativity, he created his own proof of concept. This is what we mean by -- what else can you do to stand out? He could have submitted his resume and waited - but he went the extra 10%. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again -- it takes a lot of faith to hire someone, you are banking on their words and the paper they hand you celebrating themselves. You interview them, and you hear theem sell themselves… but you never really know how they will operate until you get them in your building...and that is daunting. I have hired people before that were incredible in the interview process, their references were good, their resume was tight -- and then in the job itself they failed. What Shahbaz did was genius, because it overcame the fear employers have of hiring someone who can’t really perform when the red light goes on. If you can figure out this magic for yourself, if you can figure out how to show proof of concept, and show you can do the job and help quell any fears an employer may have on making you their next hire -- that is magic. And Shahbaz caputed that in his process. I’m telling you -- there is a lot more than just this story coming up, Shahbaz shares great stuff on creating digital content during this interview, so I’ll shut up and let you listen… here he is Shahbaz Khan, Director of Digital Content for the Timberwolves and Lynx. Questions for Shahbaz Khan, Minnesota Timberwolves Director of Digital Content 1: I love getting into my guest’s background and seeing something that jumps out – for you this is clear: you started college studying electronics engineering! Quite the departure from sports social media content. What was your plan early on, and how did you eventually change to a sports focused career? 2: You joined the Timberwolves/Lynx in May 2014 as a social media associate – what do you remember most about that first interview process with the Timberwolves? 3: You jump right into working with an NBA and WNBA team on their social channels – obviously they aren’t going to hand over the strategy and execution on day one – what did your role look like in...

Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp VP of Content and Engaged Learning at WorkinSports.com and this is the Work In Sports podcast. So, I want to rant for a little bit - it’s my show, I get the soapbox and I’m deciding to use it. There is so much anger and division on cancel vs. consequence, and I want to try and have a meaningful conversation with you through the lens of Mike Milbury’s recent comments on the NHL on NBC Stanley Cup Playoff coverage. For those of you not in the know, during a recent game Milbury and analyst Brian Boucher were discussing the benefits of the NHL's playoff bubble. Boucher: "If you think about it, it's a terrific environment with regard to -- if you enjoy playing and enjoy being with your teammates for long periods of time, it's a perfect place," Boucher said. And then Milbury added: "Not even any woman here to disrupt your concentration," Since the comment, Milbury has announced that he will not be part of NBC Sports' broadcasts "In light of the attention caused by my recent remark, I have decided to step away from my role at NBC Sports for the remainder of the Stanley Cup Playoffs," the 68-year-old Milbury said in a statement released Saturday. "I do not want my presence to interfere with the athletes as they try to win the greatest trophy in sports.” There was and is outrage on both sides of the subject -- some say it’s an overreaction, and Milbury’s comments were just the truth and this is another example of cancel culture. Others say this is the same tired cliches minimizing women, their impact and value, degrading them to a distraction and fodder for men to ogle at...and that this is an example of there being consequences because words matter, and what you say matters. Let me start by saying this -- analysts have a tough job of trying to speak off the cuff in a fast-paced game and when they try to be irreverent, get off-topic, play for a laugh line, or teeter out of their lane -- things get out of control fast. But, the best at it, don’t seem to run into this problem -- because they have focus and they know their job is to talk about the game in front of them, not seek out high fives from adoring fans who think they are witty and on the edge. Let’s get into the comment itself in the most simple way possible -- is it fair? or is it cliche? Look, I’m a white straight married male, the most privileged class in our society, and I’m so fricking tired of the stupid, old, cliched tropes like this toward women. This is the most banal, boring observation about the human condition -- women are a distraction and men are just prey to their seductiveness. This is the slippery slope of irreverent commentary -- it may look harmless or funny to some when isolated -- “ah, what he said wasn’t so bad, loosen up!” But put it in context, weigh it down with the history of misogyny, put yourself in someone else’s shoes who has battled inequality and hasn’t been fed privilege throughout their life… and maybe you’ll hear things differently. To be honest, I’d be offended if I was on either side of this narrative -- of course, it’s more insulting to women, who surely don’t deserve to be relegated to “distraction”. But if I was a player, in the frickin Stanley Cup finals, and some dude was assuming I couldn’t hold my focus and concentration because a woman, or women, or my wife or my partner or girlfriend was in the bubble -- I’d be like “how simple do you think I am? I can’t prioritize this moment? I don’t value my teammates enough to perform at my best? I can’t willfully decide to focus?” And to put this burden on any woman, that just their mere existence inside the bubble could shift the power axis out of orbit. If I was a woman, and I heard this quote it’s like “rewind and repeat the same old junk about how we aren’t value adds to this equation… just a distraction.” Let’s get real here -- Do you know how many women came to me during my...

Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning for WorkinSports.com and this is the Work In Sports podcast. Well, I’m not often one to get into self-aggrandizement -- ok, maybe a little - but I have to say this is a pretty proud day. On September 9th, 2017 we launched this podcast with the intention of helping guide young professionals into sports careers. We aimed to share advice, insider knowledge, seasoned perspectives, and cover the journey of hundreds of careers and organizations. The first-ever guest on the Work in Sports podcast -- and some of your old schoolers who have been here from the beginning -- Scott MacDonald, Jake Kernen, James Ebo, Kelsey Smith, Carlton Robie, Dasmine Evans, Gary Pinson, and others I’m forgetting and sorry -- probably remember it was Carl Manteau then Senior Director of Group Sales for the Milwaukee Bucks. Today is episode 300 of the show. Alright, slight confession it;’s actually 301, my math didn’t line up as I had planned but don’t get lost in the details, I’m on a roll here. Three years ago, Carl and I talked about the journey into sports from inside sales, today we talk about new subjects like mental health through a pandemic, group sales when there are no groups to sell to, and developing culture in a world that is distant and through computer screens. Now, while that sounds depressing -- it is not. Carl is one of the most positive, insightful, and motivating people I know. He paints a picture of light with his words, sharing ideas that can make this time productive, efficient, and set us all up for future success. He highlights the good things, like the positive culture of working in sports, and how we can support one anothers mental health with simple gestures. This is a podcast of positivity, rooted in reality - we aren’t painting unicorns on the ceiling, we’re seeing the silver inside the grey. Here’s my guy, Carl Manteau, who is now the Senior Director of Group Sales for the Chicago Blackhawks.. Questions For Carl Manteau, Chicago Blackhawks Senior Director of Group Sales 1: The returning champion! In February, you left the Milwaukee Bucks, an organization you had been with for almost 7 years, to join the Chicago Blackhawks as Senior Director of Group Sales. What has it been like starting with a new organization and having the entire world turn upside down just a few weeks after starting? 2: For a decade or longer I’ve been telling young people, if you want to work in sports look to sales, that is where the opportunities are. In February we had 25,000 jobs on WorkInSports.com – around 12,000 of those, almost 50%, were in sales. We dropped down to 8k jobs in April, and now we are back up to 16k. But only 622 are in sales. What do we tell all the young professionals who were listening to guys like us say they should work in sales, and now there are either no jobs for them, or they lost the one they had? What advice can we give them now? 3: I know you can’t predict the future – but the NHL is in its playoff bubble right now, and it looks like the next season will start in December versus the normal October start. Has the conversation shifted to “how” to bring fans back into the arena versus “if” you can bring fans back? 4: Things have likely settled down a bit now as we’ve hit the 7th overtime of our global pandemic, but I keep picturing the early scene in Jerry Maguire where Tom Cruise is frantically calling his clients trying to retain them with little luck. I envision this is what it was like for most salespeople in the first few months of COVID, trying to call their big groups and premium clients to settle their fears, or respond to their questions – am I on track, as it pretty crazy? 5: It’s strange, in this time of social distance and isolation I’ve talked to hundreds of professionals in marketing, operations, technology and social media -- and they’ve all told me about...

Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning for WorkInSports.com and this is the Work in Sports podcast… I’ve been thinking a lot about energy, burnout and mental health lately - so in searching through our database of inbound questions for this here show, I was hunting and pecking for questions on this subject...and I found a lot. This is something many of you are dealing with and want to discuss. These are very personal subjects, but I think it can help to have a larger discussion so that you, the individual at home, can know you are not alone in this battle for mental health and energy and the battle against burnout. I picked this one from jane in Ohio -- but really I could have picked 20 others. Before I get into Jane’s question, know that you can send me your career-focused questions either by connecting with me on LinkedIn and messaging me there or by emailing be at bclapp at workinsports.com -- Here’s Jane’s really good question -- “Hi Brian, I’m a big fan of the podcast and the knowledge you share - you have helped me immensely in my career. I have a topic for you to discuss on your show. In the first few months of quarantine, I framed my mind around the idea that this would be just a few months, and I could get through it. I took a pay cut but kept my job, and I’ve sat in my apartment essentially by myself for 3 months, but I kept telling myself it was temporary. The longer this drags on, the more I feel myself losing hope. I don’t mean suicidal or anything that dramatic, but I would use terms like depressed, confused, frustrated, and kind of burnt out. I’m not looking to you to solve me in a clinical sense, I just want to have the conversation so that others know they aren’t alone if they are feeling the same way” Hey Jane, first off thanks for your email, showing this level of vulnerability and putting yourself out there is impressive, so thank you. First I’ll share a couple of personal anecdotes then we’ll get into a little more robust ideas on how to handle this. I want to stress beforehand, I’m not a doctor or psychiatrist and if you are feeling depressed and having suicidal thoughts, please I beg you talk to someone. Someone you love, someone with expertise - just talk to someone. Another voice matters. As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been thinking a lot about burnout, energy, and mental health lately. Energy is an important topic to me -- and think of energy like spirit, enthusiasm and excitement -- not necessarily the ability to run a marathon. I believe, we all have things in our life that provide us energy. We gain energy from certain experiences, lifestyles, endeavors, challenges -- I know people who gain energy from social experiences, so they needed to have a balance of work and workplace social engagement. I know people that gain energy from completing a complex task, so they always kept a Rubix cube with them, or a book of puzzles, I know others that gain energy from their environment -- so a walk in the woods or a run makes them feel energized. I think learning this about yourself is one of the most important goals you can have in life. What gives you strength, energy, vitality enthusiasm? Pay attention to your body and your energy levels and understand what makes them grow and change and diminish and flourish. When you figure this out, lean into those experiences. I battle some seasonal depression -- maybe depression isn’t the right word, but when the sun goes down early and the weather is cold, I lose my energy focus and “want to”. I am solar-powered, I love the green of the trees, the noises of nature, the sun on my body. That makes me feel energized. So with that in mind, and our current situation I have been worried about my own mental state when things turn grey again. I know that I have to focus on getting outside no matter the weather. I have to make that time each day.

Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp VP of Content and Engaged learning for WorkInSports.com and this is the Work In Sports podcast… Community relations is food for the soul of an organization. Still one of my favorite quotes. It’s from an anonymous CEO, I’d give credit if I could. And it’s a true statement. When most departments of an organization are focused on internally beneficial revenue creation, it is the community relations department that is focused on more outwardly impactful projects. They are literally giving, with no intention to receive anything but joy and fulfillment. But, even though the quote hits the mark on the spirit of community relations, it’s purpose and mission, it doesn’t take into account the actual scope of the job. What we see from the outside are hundreds of events each year utilizing the reach and power of a team brand and its athletes to make a difference in the local community. Support for education, the military, cancer survivors, blood drives, coaching -- that what we see, and are moved by as human beings. But when we talk about the job, when we talk about Community Relations as a career, yes it starts with caring about the people and the causes -- but it also requires elite skills. Event management, marketing, promotions, budgeting, staffing, leadership skills, and more are required to impact and change the local community. It starts with heart, but it requires skill. Today’s guest is a shining example of that mix, a combination of elite skill and unrivaled passion and enthusiasm for making a positive change the world. Kevin Brown is the Director of Community Relations for the Detroit Red Wings and the Director of the Detroit Red Wings Foundation -- it’s my pleasure to have him as our guest Here we go -- let’s dive into the world of community relations with Kevin Brown… Questions for Kevin Brown, Detroit Red Wings Director of Community Relations and Director of the Detroit Red Wings Foundation 1: Let’s start with an easy one – in your opinion why is community relations such an important part of the sports industry? 2: Early in your career you worked with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and like most sports focused people, you filled various early career roles – Game Day Supervisor, Training Camp Assistant, Team Services Assistant – how did you eventually figure out Community Relations was your path? 3: You earned your degree in marketing, and now find yourself in community relations – do you find there to be valuable links between the two fields? 4: Most people understand what community relations is, but I don’t think they full appreciate the depth of the role – how would you describe the main skill sets necessary to thrive in community relations? 5: During your years with the Bucs, you were also the Super Bowl Community Relations rep from 2010- 2016. Every player I’ve interviewed over my career just shakes their head when they talk about the playoffs or super bowl, as if to say “it’s a whole different world” Did you feel the same about your super bowl experience, like this just ramped everything up? 6: What do you remember most about your first Super Bowl event? 7: After 14 years with the Bucs and the NFL you jumped to the NHL in a newly developed Director of Community Relations role with the Detroit Red Wings. Initially were there any ah-ha moments as you became accustomed to how things operated in the NFL vs. NHL? 8: With many jobs we talk about measurable metrics, attempting to quantify impact, how are you able to do that in Community Relations? 9: With the Bucs and Red Wings you have been a team spokesperson, managed huge events, built partnerships in the community, handled huge budgets, developed the long term strategy and more – what did you view as the hardest part to get used to, or master, was there a certain aspect that was out of your natural comfort zone? 10: Management of people is a big jump in...

Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp VP of Content and Engaged Learning for WorkInSports.com and this is the Work in Sports podcast! Alright, a quick recap of the past few weeks shows -- they’ve been awesome. If you haven’t listened go back and check out: Raleigh Anne Gray, CEO of Must Love Sports and Senior Director of Athlete Exchange for WassermanMelissa Silberman, Atlanta hawks Director of Partnership Activation Ameena Soliman, Player Personnel Coordinator for the Philadelphia EaglesNeeta Sreekanth COO of INFLCR I just noticed that it’s been ladies’ night on the Work In Sports podcast for the last month-- love that! It wasn’t even intentional! Coming up this week is Kevin Brown, Director of Community Relations for the Detroit Red Wings and Director of the Detroit Red Wings Foundation -- super cool guy, I learned a lot about the power of community relations from our conversation. I know you will like it. We’re also getting all of our fall semester sports curriculums up and running -- for those of you who don’t know, we have an online Sports Career Game Plan program with over 120 pages of content, 30+ videos, downloadable worksheets and audio files and more. Our program is being used by Grand Canyon University, University of Florida, Ball State, University of Findlay, Fontbonne University, Dubuque University, and many more. If you are a professor listening, this program is available to you -- it teaches the strategies and tactics to get hired in sports. Period. From the feedback we’ve received from students, it’s life-changing. If you are interested in learning more or seeing a demo -- email me - b clapp at work in sports dot come. If you are a student -- push your professor to learn more about our program. Your goal is to get a job after college, and we’ll teach you how. Alright on to today. Before we get into today’s question - I have a request for all of you. I need more podcasts to listen to, personally. Now, here are the rules: I don’t need more sports podcasts, I have plenty of those and I know what I like. I need more podcasts for when I’m not listening to sports. I don’t need political podcasts, I have a few I listen to and respect, and I’m well covered there. I really really like well-produced professional podcasts that tell a story over a 6-10 episode arc. Examples: Winds of Change, The Clearing, The Catch and Kill podcast..and the granddaddy Serial.If you have any interview-style shows, like mine but not necessarily related to sports or sports careers, let me know those too...I’m always trying to improve my questioning and techniques. I’m looking for more smart, insightful podcasts so if you have a suggestion that hooked you - please let me know. I’m a content junkie, and I like to learn. Jump over to our private Facebook group, by searching for the Work In Sports podcast on Facebook - answer a few questions so I know you are for real, and let me know what you like and are listening to right now. I’ll start the thread over there and you can all share… OK, now to today’s question from John in Los Angeles… and I’ll be honest, it’s a subject I don’t like very much: “Hi Brian, I’ve recently graduated and while the world is turned upside down a bit right now I am lucky to be in the midst of interviewing with two companies. Your advice over the years has really really helped me, I wouldn’t be where I am right now, feeling like success has arrived, without your help. My question is simple -- I think both companies are going to offer me positions -- how do I negotiate to get the best deal for myself and my future? “ Hey John, thanks for the kind words and I’m thrilled to know I helped. Even if it’s just 1%, I’m glad to be a part of your story. Negotiation is so incredibly important, but it’s also awkward and difficult… for everyone. The first thing to recognize is that you are venturing into an area many many people are afraid to even travel...

Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning for WorkInSports.com and this is the Work In Sports podcasts… So think about this for a second -- remove all your preconceived notions - remove everything you’ve been told over the years - clear your mind. You are a 19-year old elite college athlete. A basketball star, a softball star, a football star - doesn’t matter, you are elite. I love this dream already - I always wanted to be an elite 19-year old athlete, instead of a well, you know, a decent high school athlete who went on to a successful intramural career. Ok, back on track, dream scenario, elite athlete… You, the 19 year old elite athlete, start to appear in marketing materials for your university. You are selling tickets. Your jersey, with your name and number on it, is top selling merchandise, generating massive revenue. A video game company, puts your face, your body, your brand on the cover of their game...and sells millions. You, the product generating everything, the machine that makes it all go, sees nothing. Meanwhile, you post a video of your most recent training session on youtube -- it generates thousands of views, tons of comments… and by a mistake, you had on the option to include ads, on the video, so it generates some revenue for you. It’s your brand, it’s you. But now you are penalized, threatened with losing your eligibility over generating revenue on yourself and for yourself. So everyone else can profit off of you, but you can’t. Just to clarify with some real numbers, the NCAA generates over a billion dollars yearly in just media right deals, to broadcast their events, and thee athletes upon who’s back this is generated receive a good old fashioned opportunity to gain an education - not without value, but not exactly equal either. This scenario doesn’t have to be relegated to the elite 1% Zion Williamsons and Trevor Lawrences who end up on video games -- literally any student-athlete should be able to build a brand and monetize it. They have access, stories, fan bases and if they work to cultivate and grow that reach they should reap the benefits. Period. Full Stop. pont made. Drop the mic. Is there nuance to my dream scenario we are overlooking, sure, but stick with the overarching scenario - the big birds eye view is far from equitable. Now, it took 50 or so years, but we may finally be reaching a point that makes more sense for everyone. Without getting too litigious -- the NCAA has forbade athletes from profiting off their name, image or likeness (NIL) forever. But California, who knows how to party, signed a law last year saying in our state student athletes can profit off of their NIL -- called the fair pay to play act. Basically telling the NCAA - you don’t hold all the power. While many college coaches and administrators started clutching their pearls, decrying the coming downfall of American civilization if athletes are allowed to, you know, make money, 30 other states passed the Fair Pay to play act -- forcing the NCAA hand. The NCAA backed into a corner said “sure sure sure” we love that idea… we universally agree to allow student athletes to profit off their nams images and likeness in 2021. According to research company MediaKix -- influencer marketing is a 5-10 billion dollar enterprise. Now, let's break that down a little further -- FiveThirtyEight did what they do best -- a massive data and projection project, and put actual names and valuations together and came up with potential annual revenue numbers. Here are some highlights -- and this is JUST BASED on a combination of Twitter and Instagram followers - there are many more ways to monetize. Paige Bueckers - UCONN Women's Basketball - $670,000Trevor Lawrence $454,000Haley Cruse - University of Oregon Softball Player $117,000Spencer Lee Iowa Wrestler -- $26,000 5’3” 125 lbs of pure muscle -- with a little over 120,

Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged learning at WorkInSports.com and this is the Work in Sports podcast… If you haven’t listened to last week's interview with Ameena Soliman, Player Personnel Coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles yet, I suggest you do that… right after you listen to this episode. As a long time fan of the show and Florida State Football Recruiting Assistant Jake Kernen remarked to me in our private Facebook group “the interview with Ameena Soliman is some of your best work yet. “ Now, I’d like to take all the credit, because I’m only humble from time to time, but in all honestly, Ameena made it great because of her answers and approach to the conversation, so go give it a listen. Coming up later this week--- is my interview with Neeta Sreekanth, COO of INFLCR, a sports tech company building the brand and monetizing the impact of athletes. With the NCAA approving Names, Images, and Likeness rules going into effect in 2021, student-athletes will be able to profit off of their brand. Neeta and her team at INFLCR are leading the way in marketing, branding and monetizing this potential… and what is really cool is that they are working collectively with the schools and the athletes to follow best practices and make it a win-win for everyone. I like this a lot, I respect it, because rather than saying “let’s grab all the athletes and go crazy!” they are doing this in a responsible manner that still helps the students get exposure but in a responsible manner. It’s a great interview - Neeta started out by telling me she likes to spit fire on podcasts… and she did. Tune in for that on Wednesday, and in the coming weeks, I have Kevin brown Director of Community Relations for the Detroit Red Wings and The Detroit Red Wings Foundation. Another incredible conversation… and Shahbaz Khan, Director of Digital Content for the TWolves and Lynx. We keep crushing these interviews! If you guys and gas listening have specific types of guests you want me ot have on, or recommend a specific person, hit me up. Connect on LinkedIn and let me know! Also, if you have a specific sports career-focused question - share it with me and I’ll do a deep dive on the podcast! Today’s question comes in from Hannah in Nevada, “Hi Brian, I’m looking to land my first real grown-up job out of college, I know not the greatest time, and I’m struggling with my resume. I have some experience, I have some good grades, I have clubs and stuff -- but I’m having trouble making it show the best version of me! Can you help?” Hannah -- I will gladly do so! Oh my gosh I just channeled the giant crab Tamatoa in Moana, my kids love that movie... and if you haven’t seen it the always funny Jermaine Clement plays the giant crab and ...why am I going down this tangent? Ok, back on track. First things first -- some overarching concepts then we’ll dig in. Coordinator, assistant, associate -- searches like that, When they say 3-5 years’ experience, they don’t really mean it. They really mean 0-3, but for some reason, employers always say their dreams rather than their expectation. Don’t let that discourage you. The expectation is that the entry-level candidates won’t have a ton of experience, but they do want to see some relevant experience, some cultural fit, and personality, some real skills that line up and make sense for the role and some leadership positions. Let’s dig into those concepts for a bit: Relevant experienceCultural fit and personality Real skillsLeadership If you emphasize those things you are in a good spot. But let’s get into the tactics a bit. 1: I am way against and way over the idea of an objective statement, or mission statement to lead off your resume. Here’s why -- no one knows how to do them. They alays focus on what they want -- i want to earn a position at a leading company that will allow me to use my penchant for marketing and...

Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning for WorkInSports.com and this is the Work In Sports podcast… I started to read a new book the other day and after about 70 pages I had to put it down. This is abnormal for me, I’m the type of personality that once I start something I have to finish it. I have to know how it ended. This is true for novels, movies, hikes to waterfalls you name it. I have to reach the moment of closure. I could be watching the worst Matthew McConaughey romantic comedy, which is slowly rotting my brain away with each passing line of dialogue (hello Failure to Launch), but I still have to see how it ends. This frustrates my wife, who can cut ties in a moment's notice… but that’s another story. She’s from Philly, she doesn’t suffer fools. Back to the book. I had to put down this book for a very simple reason. And this is a book of great acclaim, an international best seller that was turned into a pretty darn successful movie. I put it down because it followed every generalized cliche you could possibly make about races, cultures, religions and creeds. The Japanese character was good at math and a whiz on computers. The Palenstinian character had been involved in terrorist acts. The Russian character was cold, calculating and emotionless. The Mexican character worked hard in the fields and then drank beer every night. The Jewish character was tight with their money and a shrewd negotiator. Of course, the American character was dashing, intelligent, and fearless -- I'll leave that to your own interpretations. But I didn’t make it much past those characters. This isn’t me being “woke” or pandering to our current culture war, I just really hate generalizations. I hate cliches, I hate lazy, boring storytelling. Spreading this narrative and reinforcing to people where they should fit, is a dangerous weapon, meant to discourage. I’m not having it. I may spark some outrage with this, but I fail to believe we are all pre-determined to fit into categories at birth. We can be whoever we work and are driven to be. Period. Of course, I am oversimplifying, there are systemic obstacles that prevent many of us from becoming exactly who we desire to be, but the over-arching point is simple -- none of us fit into a cliche, we are all individuals. Generalizations like the ones exhibited by this trash book slide their way into our sports world often. I just finished reading an article where the EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT/CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER OF THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE, Renie Anderson, posted an opinion piece on NFL.com reminding people that “hey, women work in sports too, and there are lots of us in the NFL!” Let me repeat that - She is an Executive VP and Chief Revenue Officer in the NFL - which immediately qualifies her as a badass - and she had to write an article telling people that women really do work in sports. In 2020. Let’s break down some more walls, let's get out of this generalized, homogenized world and invite in change, diversity, and something a little unexpected. Ameena Soliman has one of the most interesting jobs in sports. As a player personnel coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles, she is an integral piece of the player personnel department, and I’ll let her explain to you what that means, exactly. I’ll sum it up from my point of view -- I’m jealous. She is a Muslim woman working in football personnel, meaning she breaks all the rules of probability and smashes every stupid cliche. Now, let’s be clear about something -- I didn’t invite Ameena on just because she is a Muslim woman working in player personnel. I invited her on because her role and experience are incredibly interesting and there are things we can all learn from her. Being a Muslim woman in sports is part of her story and we will talk about it some, we will talk about micro-aggressions and the way...

Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning for WorkInSports.com and this is the Work In Sports podcast… I know I probably say this all the time...but I am on a hot streak lately for great guests. Last week Melissa Silberman Director of Partnership Activation for the Atlanta Hawks really brought it. Great info and insight. Later this week, Ameena Soliman Player Personnel Coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles will blow you away. She is so impressive -- focused, measured, direct -- just totally in control, which I loved. Last week I also conducted interviews with Neeta Sreekanth COO of INFLCR - for those of you who follow me on LinkedIn likely saw mee share a photo with Neeta posing with Ken Griffey JR. while being photobombed by Trey Wingo. Here is a professional woman barely across 30 - and she’s already worked in key roles for the Dallas Cowboys and ESPN prior to joining INFLCR -- so cool. And Kevin Brown -- Director of Community Relations for the Detroit Red Wings and Director of the Detroit Red Wings foundation -- Kevin is another one, so insightful, so passionate and so driven to make a difference in the world. He uses sports as a way to make a positive change in the community -- it is so inspiring. Ameena debuts later this week ---then Neeta...then Kevin… so stay tuned and subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss a thing. Alright today’s question comes in from me. Let me explain. The impact of covid hits us all. Feels weird to hear someone you respect in the industry so much can be let go, like wait, that’s a thing? Makes you fear for yourself a bit… if they can be removed, who the hell am I? My dad got laid off when I was a kid and I remember feeling like -- wait, that’s possible? He’s superman. Makes you feel vulnerable. But it’s also a chance to give -- I've been connecting my guy with my contacts for the last few days and that feels good, the ability to pay him back for all he’s done for me, even if just in some small way. BUT. the reason I am saying this week question comes from me is because --- it does. The question is “how do you become a strong mentor to others?” Everyone has a chance to mentor others, even if you are a college student, you can lead high schoolers and underclassmen. Mentoring makes a difference -- so let’s talk about how this works and then I’m going to give you examples from being mentored by my guy, Steve Becker. 1: There is no set it and forget it process to mentoring...everyone you mentor is different, so everyone needs different things from you. Don’t try to fit the experience into your world, be flexible. 2: Understand your mentee - what motivates them? what are their goals? what are their roadblocks? How do these things line up with your skills? 3: Be vulnerable -- admit mistakes, missteps -- etc there is noting that connects you more with people than resisting the urge to be a know it all. No one want to be around people who think they have it all down. 4: Treat your mentee with respect. Your mentor becomes part of your team. 5: Lead by example - model the behavior you want to see. Listen in to this episode of the Work In Sports podcast to hear more detail and actionable advice for becoming the best possible mentor.

Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning for WorkInSports.com and this is the Work In Sports podcast. There are so many interesting conversations to have right now surrounding the abnormal sports world we are currently immersed in. The other day I was asked during a panel discussion what I thought were the most important skills someone in the industry should be utlilizing right now. Now, in normal conditions I say coachability, competitiveness and curiosity. Those are literally my three favorite terms when it comes to employment in any industry. But right now I’ve had to adjust my thinking some -- those three terms are still incredibly viable - but I’m going to throw three more at you. Flexibility, improvisation and innovation. Let’s break these down a bit because they are all aligned, but subtly different. We’ll start with Flexibility - there is a narrative in every industry that we continue doing things because that’s the way we’ve always done things. Routine. History. Legacy decisions. This is not acceptable now. The assumption that we just keep plugging along without change is flawed. We need to entertain ideas and we need to be flexible in their deployment. We need to be flexible in the ways we generate revenue, allocate resources and more. Processes and objectives need to change. Improvisation -- this is the act of coming up with ideas on the spot. We all need to open up and engage the parts of our brain that spark creativity and different thinking. We’ve been so long following patterns, that we need to spark the fire of improvisation. We all need to consider the unconventional. Look at high school sports -- the NBA can have a bubble, the NFL can test daily, high school athletes are at higher risk of contracting and spreading. This is beyond doubt. That is not a political statement, it is fact. So when people say “have you considered playing in spring, have you considered a condensed schedule...have you considered ...have you considered…” We have to turn on the thought provoking sides of our brain and say “we should consider everything” Innovation -- chaos breeds opportunity -- Where is it? This needs to be the mantra of all businesses and employees -- where is the opportunity, how can we shift, re-align, change products, change approaches, INNOVATE. Companies that changed their clothing textiles to mask development, innovated. Sports business that created digital platforms and webinars and podcasts and virtual internships… they innovated! We need that spirit back. Innovate. Improvise. Be flexible. No one embodies that more than today’s guest. Melissa Silberman is the Director of Partnership Activation for the Atlanta Hawks -- simply put, she works to make sure team sponsors have impactful campaigns that reach their audience with powerful messaging. Well, a big percentage of that is through in-arena activations -- the 21,000 crazy fans coming to State Farm Arena on game night ar seeing and engaging with sponsor activities. So how does Melissa and her team show their sponsor there us great value in association with the Hawks, without 21,000 crazy fans coming to game night. Flexibility. Innovation. Improvisation. Here she is, Melissa Silberman! Questions for Melissa Silberman, Atlanta Hawks Director of Partnership Activation 1: There are so many topics I want to get into today about your career and journey to the Atlanta Hawks – but let’s start with this, you got your Bachelors and Masters in Sports Management at the University of Florida and for the last 7 years have been working in Partnership Activation. You clearly had a vision to work in sports – but did you choose Partnership Activation as your path, or did it choose you? 2: I’ll admit, I’ve been in the sports industry for 20 years but I don’t know much about Partnership Activation – so explain it to us all,

Hey everybody, I'm Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning for WorkInSports.com and this is the Work In Sports podcast. I’ve been ending every show sharing the importance of wearing a mask -- but I don’t want to bury this conversation at the end. It’s not a political statement, it’s not controversial, it’s a simple thing we all have to do. Wear a mask. Be safe. I want sports to return, I want fewer people to die, I want my kids to go back to school safely. We can all contribute to that... just start with wearing a mask. Later today I’m really pumped to be interviewing Ameena Soliman, Player Personnel Coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles, Ameena spent multiple years with the Temple University football program, interned with the NFL league offices, and began working for the Eagles three years ago -- we talk player personnel, the combine, learning to evaluate players, being a woman in sports, and even deeper being a Muslim woman in sports who wears a hijab and I’m guessing has been the subject of stereotyping -- we’ll learn more shortly. And then Wednesday this week -- check out my interview with Melissa Silberman, Director of Partnership Activation for the Atlanta Hawks. Very cool business conversation - Melissa is in the business of providing sponsors value with, a lot of the time, in-arena marketing activations. Well -- how do you pivot when there are no fans in the stadium and still create value for sponsors. That’s what we talk about and it’s really fascinating so tune into that on Wednesday. Today - great question coming in from Michael J. Hi Brian! Hope all is going well! I have enjoyed listening to your podcast! I will be attending my first virtual networking event in a couple of weeks. I am a person with a lot of social anxiety and struggle with networking events. Would you be able to provide any advice on how to handle a virtual networking event? Thank you, Michael Johnson Great question Michael. Many points to be made here. Networking isn’t easy for most of us I’d say envision it as a bell curve. There are 10% of people who love and adore the art of networking. 10% of people who are deathly afraid of it, and then 80% of people who are in the middle, don’t love it don’t hate it. I’m in the 80%. Don’t love it, don’t hate it. What this really means though is 90% of people, aren’t really avid fans of networking. But we all realize it’s important. Social anxiety is a real thing. Of course you know this, you don’t need me to validate you -- but anyone out there that deals with social anxiety needs to accept it, not fight it. Don’t try to convince yourself you aren’t or you can fix it. Be who you are, it’s OK. I’m reading a book right now, it’s based on a story from the 1930-50’s so before WWII, during and after. There is a character who was gay but tried for decades to “fix” himself. I found this heartachingly sad. I would hope anyone, anywhere today would be themselves...be who they are, accept it, love who you are, and figure out how to get the best out of yourself. If you are someone who deals with social anxiety, learn your triggers, figure ou those things that really inhibit you. I remember our team of reporters interviewing Ricky Williams back in th day when he left University of Texas to enter the NFL - and he deals with social anxiety, he would conduct interviews with his helmet on. People thought h was weird or aloof... no he was dealing with anxiety and it helped him Don’t be afraid of what helps you. Don’t try to please everyone else, make yourself happy. Let’s get into what you can do Social Media is your friend. A Virtual networking event may not be. Round peg, square hole. There are literally thousands of people I have had intelligent, thoughtful conversations with, without ever hearing their voice. Listen in to the Work In Sports podcast episode to learn more!

Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning for WorkInSports.com and this is the Work In Sports podcast. Not a day can go by without there being some messaging that directly affects the young people of our world. When I was growing up in the 80s and 90s we felt the burden of nuclear war, I remember being fearful every time a plane flew overhead they were carrying a nuclear bomb set to destroy us…. Yes, I was slightly neurotic. But the theme of the decade was War Games. It felt like we were in constant threat of massive military action. Compared to the onslaught young people are facing today - that seems trite. Job prospects are down, industries are failing, people are dying en masse -- you don’t need me to recite the hateful mess that 2020 has become. I feel for all of you, and that is not patronizing, that is truly from the heart. I think of all of you daily who are doing so much right to prepare yourself for professional life and create the best version of yourself… and yet, the opportunity, in many ways, is being taken from you. I read someone yesterday pitching a concept, a marketing plan, with the main thrust being a push for people to “Find Something New” … “Find Something New” Your career and life may be in shambles, your goals may be in disarray, your internships are canceled and your dreams look to be off track, you are collecting unemployment, you don’t have healthcare, you are afraid of a highly contagious virus killing people around you … but hey, just find something new. As if it was that easy. Personally I found this upsetting. Kind of like Marie Antoinette saying to the poor people of France without bread to eat… “Let them eat cake” These words essentially claim the unemployed just aren’t creative enough - they need to just find something new! A mantra like this says - the burden is on you, just shift and do something else. You’re on your own kid, figure something out. Now, I’m all for personal accountability, I think we all need to own our path, make our choices, adjust, learn new skills, adapt…. But these are really, really strange times. This is abnormal. Our current events are something none of us have any experience with, so in my worldview, the burden is on all of us to come together and help each other. Not just pass the buck, not just put the burden back on the individual and say “figure your own shit out”. The time is now to help...and that burden fits firmly on my generation. Those of us with employment, those of us who can help, those of us who can guide and assist and mentor. No one exhibits this spirit more than today’s guest Raleigh Anne Gray. Raliegh has a career in sports as impressive as they come -- ESPN, Twitter, The Players Tribune, Wasserman -- she has the iconic sports brand royal flush on her resume. But that is not where this story stops, it’s barely the beginning. A few years ago Raleigh launched her own LLC, Must Love Sports, and I’ll let her explain the details of that venture. BUT, when coronavirus hit, she immediately identified a problem facing the young college-age professionals and set out to fix it. Internships were being canceled everywhere. College students need experience, but also, many need the specific internships credits to graduate! So now imagine you are a college student, who’s internship has been canceled, but you need to intern to graduate. Well, now, that’s a problem you didn’t see coming. Here comes Raleigh. Must Love Sports pivots their business model, puts together a summer session virtual internship program, and offers it FOR FREE. 355 students sign up. Raleigh is changing lives. This is community action. This is a collective move to work together and force positive change, to help others, to work as a team in the game of life. I couldn’t be more excited to have Raleigh on this show -- here she is,

Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning for WorkInSports.com and this is the Work In Sports podcast.Big week this week! Coming up on Wednesday is my interview with Raleigh Anne Gray -- Raleigh is incredibly impressive -- having worked at ESPN, Twitter, The Players Tribune and currently at Wasserman.Get this - at Wasserman, she is the senior director of athlete exchange -- which means, she works directly with the athletes Wasserman represents to help them build their brand and audience. Dream job.And as if that wasn’t enough -- she also launched Must Love Sports a sports company dedicated to helping people in the sports industry connect and learn from one another. During the corona quarantine, she said to herself… how can I help? She identified students aren’t able to complete their internship requirements to graduate, so she created a virtual internship session, utilizing all of her industry contacts to put together a curriculum and program to help students… for free. 355 students enrolled. Can you tell I’m a big fan of Raliegh… stay tuned for that on Wednesday. Also, later today I’m interviewing Mlissa Silberman, Director of Partnership Activation for the Atlanta Hawks, and leter this week I’m bringing back returning champion Joan Lynch from Working nation to discuss how sportsindustry employment will change in the near future.For those of you who are long time listeners, Joan was on the show last year and was one of our most popular guests. She knows employment, and as one of the main people behind the 30 for 30 series on ESPN, she knows sports. I’ve also booked some other really cool guests in the coming weeks so make sure to stay tuned, subscribe, all that good stuff. Also, if you are a professor listening, it’s time for you to check out our sports career game plan -- we have an online curriculum that will knock your socks off. Perfect for the online world we are migrating towards. 120 pages of carer changing content, over 3 hours of videos, downloadable worksheets and checklists, quizzes, assignments and more. It is a living textbook - growing with your students and preparing them to enter the sports world. If I just piqued your interest… email me, [email protected] and I’ll show you the goods.And for the rest of you who aren’t professors… tell your professors about it. And for the rest of you that aren’t in school -- well, tell someone. Alright let’s get into today’s question -- Oh one quick note, every once in a while Apple podcasts will send me all the most recent reviews of the show. Thankfully, we have 194 ratings and a 4.9 average -- so you guys and gals like the content -- thank you.But I found one review quite funny -- Headline: A Not Annoying Podcast “Brian has great information, great guests and a great show. He also speaks at a normal speed which is so much better than those slow-talking podcasters speaking in soft tones. I want good info given to me in a normal conversational tone and speed.” Cheers to fast talking!Alright today’s question comes from Nick S who it looks like just finished getting his MBA at Jacksonville State University -- Congrats Nick:Nick writes in --Hey Brian!Just finished the newest Gap Year episode. I took my gap year before grad school, and just graduated in May with my MBA. Perfect timing right? I obviously want to work in sports, but I feel the need to get a job as soon as possible. Do you think that it would be viable to accept a position in a business, and be able to switch to the sports industry down the road? I have no idea what to do if I were to receive, say, a marketing offer from a business company rather than a sports team. Great question Nick -- let’s get into it. I obviously have feelings on this and I will share them shortly, but no joke immediately after you sent me this, I was on Twitter and I saw friend of the show Dior Ginyard post a response to your question. For those of you that haven’t listened,

Hi everybody, I’m Brian Clapp VP of Content and Engaged Learning for WorkinSports.com and this is the Work In Sports podcast…Corporate Social Responsibility.It’s a big term with a lot of weight, but for a long time Corporate Social Responsibility was a “nice-to-have” part of an organization. A “check the box” procedural decision of large corporations in sports and in business.These massive organizations figured Corporate Social Responsibility, or Community Relations, was a way to feel good about their org, to do good in the community, and grab some positive press here and there.Now, times have changed, Corporate Social Responsibility is no longer a separate piece of the business strategy, it is an integral part.It is no longer a division of the organization kept separate from the larger organization plan, it is part and parcel.It is no longer just a desire to do some good, it is an essential part of a business being successful.Why? Why this fundamental change?If you ask me the reason is two-fold – competition, and current events.Even in sports, there is competition for the almighty fan dollar. This isn’t the 1980’s where if you are a fan of a certain team you have to go to the game to see them play. There are alternatives to spending money at the arena.There are other sports, you can watch on TV, heck you can even bypass your local team and watch out of market teams in a myriad of ways or you can choose completely different things to invest your money in.Competition is huge… if your team isn’t likable if it doesn’t have a soul if it is mired in controversy… people will turn away. Corporate Social Responsibility aims to fix this.. to give a heart and soul to the big business. In addition, current events demand someone keeping an eye on the decision making of the organization and making sure it aligns with the expectations of society. Sexual misconduct, race relations, freedom of speech and countless other issues are at the forefront of our day to day society.Never before has it been more important for sports teams, leagues and organizations to lead in this regard rather than react from behind.This week’s guest, Tiara Brown, Charlotte Hornets Manager of Corporate Social Responsibility sees this all happening first hand. She and her team with the Hornets aim to strengthen the Charlotte community by supporting education, military, hunger and wellness initiatives – and they are doing one heck of a job.Here’s Tiara Brown…

Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning for WorkInSports.com and this is the Work In Sports podcast…Obviously, we are in some crazy times right now, and it feels like a bit of a struggle to come up with new ideas that are related to career development when it feels like carers are stuck in neutral… am I right?I was reading a survey this morning asking millennials and college-age students words to describe how they feel about their careers right now, and the number one response was “frustrated”.I think that sums it up. You’ve been in school prepping for this moment to enter the world and start your new direction… and the world is like “Hold up, wait a minute...take a break while I ravage your global society”I have three kids, so I am constantly thinking about how this “pause” will affect their growth, and what I can be doing to help mitigate the lost classroom time… because no matter what anyone tells you, virtual learning is not the same. They are missing out on key social development, emotional intelligence, and straight-up learning. Side note -- we have watched a ton of documentaries though - anything from 13th - which is a documentary on the 13th amendment abolishing slavery - exploring the history of race and the criminal justice system in the United States.To Mission to mars -- which is more self-explanatory. It’s about the Mission to Mars. For a little context -- 13th was produced in 2016, and it is incredible. Hard to watch. We actually watched it over three days so we could stop it, have a discussion, answer questions..and then take a break. It’s some heavy shit, that can be tough but awakening for the kids. It’s made an impact. My 8 year old literally said to me on the 4th of July… shouldn’t Juneteenth be independence day since that was the day everyone in america become free?I wish I had that knowledge and perspective when I was 8. Ok, back on track… My point is, as I think about my kids and their growth, I also think about how tough it must be for high school, college and entry-level staff ages. People just getting started in their career getting things rolling, are being told … sorry go home, we’ll see where this takes us. High school seniors are evaluating what the fall means for them...is it worth it to pay tens of thousands of dollars for a virtual college education? College students are wondering does it make sense to take a year off and come back later? These are all perplexing questions...which brings us to the thrust of today’s conversation. Yeah that was just the preamble. Noah writes in …“Hey Brian, I’m a high school senior and what is supposed to be the best summer of my life full of parties and prepping for college… really sucks. I didn’t plan on spending my summer at home with my parents. Some of my friends are going to the beach still and doing things as normal, but I am not, and I am really missing out. True story - 4 of my friends got coronavirus after bragging about going out without masks and hanging at parties with strangers, so while I am bummed, I’m also fully understanding of my parents choice to keep me in and safe. Ok, my question, I had a plan to go to college in the fall, but I’m wondering if it may be smarter based on the circumstances to do a gap year, and if I did that, what should I do to enhance myself? Thank you, Brian, I love your podcast I really do.”Noah this is a really great question and I’m excited to dig into it. Two notes first -1: If you have questions you’d like me to handle on this here podcast you can email me at [email protected] -- make the subject line Podcast Question - so I can easily identify it from all the other stuff I get. If I read your question on the air, I’ll give you a free month of full access to our WorkInSports job board. At the lowest point of the corona, we went from 25k jobs down to 8! Now we are back up to 13k… which means we are headed in a better direction.#2 before we get into Noah’s question -- I know it...

Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning for WorkinSports.com and this is the Work In Sports podcast.I very rarely listen back to our podcast episodes after I finish creating them. The neurotic side of me can’t stop analyzing the way I deliver questions -- I’ll be walking around with ear buds yelling at myself to “stop talking already and let them answer!”It’s not a good scene and not all that healthy, so I tend not to listen once the final production is done and published. But I’ll admit, Monday night I listened back to part 1 of Stu Grimson’s interview and despite having already listened to it multiple times during production… I was hooked again. I thought the 30 minutes went by really fast and I wanted to hear more. Stu is a fascinating person to speak with, and I couldn’t wait to publish and listen to, part 2. So I’ll take my own advice and stop talking -- so you can hear Part 2 --here’s Stu Grimson. Questions for Stu Grimson, Cheif Counsel THIRDHOME and former NHL Enforcer10: Were former teammates and opponents surprised that you were becoming a lawyer, or was this the locker room secret – that the brawler who would beat the snot out of you was smarter than you too? 11: In the practice of law you deal with leverage all the time – was leverage something you started learning about as a player as you assessed your own value to a team?12: To become an NHL player puts you in the rarest of categories – it is such a miniscule amount of people that make the pros. Then layer in becoming a lawyer, and again, you break all the rules of probability.Both of these roles require incredible discipline and work ethic - where did your work ethic come from, and is that a skill you can learn, or is it something you are born with?13: Your side gig beyond being chief counsel for ThirdHome is as a senior analyst for NHL network – this role as an analyst is a logical step for a lot of ex-players, was this part of your post-playing days plan?14: Is it hard to be critical of players, when you know how difficult it is to be an NHL player?15: Do you have a favorite player you like to watch right now?16: Ok, I have this weird curiosity with friendships and relationships – like I watch a movie and wonder if the two main stars are still friends because they seemed to have so much chemistry in the movie.I know, I’m weird.But it makes me wonder – are the majority of your friends from hockey former teammates, or the guys you got into brawls with? I picture you hanging out with Marty McSorley or Dale Hunter and it amuses me.17: We’ll finish up with this – we have a lot of student-athletes in our audience, people who dream of being a pro – looking back at your 20-25-year-old self, what advice would you give that guy that could be helpful to someone in those shoes today…

Stu Grimson was one of the most feared men in the NHL and now he's a fixture in the boardroom. Learn more about his transition from brawler to lawyer on the Work In Sports podcast.Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp VP of Content and Engaged Learning for WorkInSports.com and this is the Work in Sports podcast.I love contrast. Contradictions. The unexpected. It can be as simple as a flower in the desert, a kid quietly reading a book when all of their friends are on their phones, or Tom Brady going to the Buccaneers. Alright, maybe I didn’t love that last one so much. But on a grand scale, I tend to seek these things out, always on the hunt for contrasting elements - I don’t know why - just one of the quirks of individuality I guess. These moments of contrast bring me great joy. I guess they remind me that the journey is not predictable, that patterns and assumptions aren’t finite - nature and people are always able to change and throw you a curveball when you are looking dead red. And isn’t that an incredible lesson -- doesn’t it harken you back to the idea your mother drilled into your head not to “judge a book by its cover”? That we as people are all the sum of our actions, and actions themselves are individual and unpredictable?Ok, maybe I’m going to abstract here and I need to reign it in, I get it. But if you haven’t noticed lately, our society is largely based on the superficial judgment of others. We see looks, and judge, we see patterns and assume. Ugh. It’s so maddening. I can’t say we’ve lost touch with compassion, empathy, and understanding for each other, because I’m not sure we ever had it. Well, I’m here to admit that I made the same mistake just last week and it was really enlightening. I assumed I knew someone based on my superficial knowledge of their past. Stu Grimson played 13 seasons in the NHL as one of the most feared enforcers in the game. 211 career fights, of which he estimates he won about 80% of them, and watch the videos, he’s right. His nickname is the greatest in sports -- the Grim Reaper. I mean come on, you are a fighter with the name Grimson, and you earn the nickname Grim Reaper. It doesn’t get any better. When I worked in the media during his playing days I would celebrate this man as the baddest MF’er in hockey -- and cheer on his vicious battles. I assumed he was a lug nut on skates. I born brawler with what little he had between the ears beaten out of him over years of repeated head trauma. I assumed that he may be addicted to painkillers somewhere. I assumed that he followed the predictable storyline of former player fallen on tough times. You know what I didn’t assume -- that he’d be a successful lawyer. Never entered my mind. We all do this. We try to fit life into predictable channels. We try to put our own conclusions on people based on our limited information. This is wrong at its core.What follows next is one of the most enjoyable and insightful conversations I’ve ever had on this podcast. Stu is amazing, and I’m not just saying that because I fear for my health after assuming he was a lug nut on skates - I’m saying that because over the last few weeks I’ve gotten a little glimpse into the man and I respect the hell out of him. Our conversation was long… so I’m going to break this into two parts -- I’m not editing out a simple word, part 2 will air on Wednesday! Here’s Stu GrimsonQuestions for Part 1 Stu Grimson, Chief Counsel ThirdHome and Former NHL Enforcer1: There are so many topics I want to speak with you about, so I’m glad we have some time to truly dive into your whole journey and story.Let’s start with your playing days in the NHL - 13 seasons with 7 NHL franchises, we often talk about the glory of professional sports – the money, the fans, the winning – but as you look back what was the hardest part of being a professional athlete?2: With a nickname like “The Grim Reaper” there is no denying how you made your name in the game – you were an enforcer.

Hi everybody I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning for WorkinSports.com and this is the Work in Sports podcast…In honor of baseball returning, finally, I hope, I wanted to bring back one of my favorite episodes over the last few years with Tripp Keister from the Washington Nationals organization. I also want to state for the record, as Bill Simmons from the Ringer gets rightfully dragged this week on social media. Not all people from Boston are racist idiots. I’ve never liked Bill Simmons, always found him snarky, smug and elitist - and I see lots of people saying things like “he’s from Boston, what do you expect?”. Well, I judge people by their actions, not where they are from or what they look like, so don’t lump me in with that clown because we share an area code. But let’s get into something a little more positive. Tripp Keister is the winningest manager in Potomac Nationals history, but he doesn’t care about that, what he cares about is player development.Since the day we started this podcast I have had fans ask repeatedly – please get someone in player development.This has been one of my big failures to date – I’ve struck out a ton. I’ve likely requested interviews with 30 different people in player development, which resulted in 29 very polite no thank you’s.Dior Ginyard, Senior Player Manager for the NFLPA was my one success, and if you ask me one of our best interviews to date, primarily because player development is a very interesting subject. Helping elite athletes develop as people, serving them so they can be the best version of themselves on campus, or in the minors, or in the big time.As you likely have noticed I’m a little obsessed with the development side of people in general. That path from student to professional is fascinating to me – the steps people take to find their true calling and to master their art form. The influencers who have guided them, the tough love that drove them, the micro-decisions that have resulted in massive change.All of this fascinates me, which is why I, like you, wanted to have more guests in player development.This week's guest, Tripp Keister, is the single-A manager of the Potomac Nationals. He’s the winningest manager in Potomac Nationals history…but you know what it says on his LinkedIn account: that he works in player development.Not that he’s a master of double switches and pitch counts, but that he’s in the development of the young men that come through his dugout.And they all do.As the manager of the Washington National High A team, most if not all of their top draft picks and prospects start with Tripp.This again fascinates me.Think about this for a second, Tripp is managing a bunch of 18-year-olds embarking on their future, not just on the field but often in their first times away from home, their first time having to manage their own lives!This makes me wonder – how is that any different than Mike Judge managing the inside sales staff of the Cleveland Browns?Is it the same? Is management, management? Is motivation and technique and evaluation and discipline the same whether you are developing high powered athletes or entry-level employees?I found my conversation with Tripp fascinating, and his overall approach to developing young men into really good, productive people. Success is different for everyone, some will reach the majors, some won’t, but I think they’ll all look back and remember the influence of Tripp Keister.Let’s get into it – here’s Tripp Keister... (listen in to the Work In Sports podcast!)

Show outline:It’s time to be your own cheerleaderOld school -- work hard people will notice you and you’ll get promoted. I lived this way, I hustled, I worked the grind -- late-night shift, extra work, volunteer for more. Yes yes and yes. But I never leveraged any of it. I just hoped and prayed my bosses would notice and good things would happen.Not until I started to be more self-promotional did good things happen. I mean this honestly, businesses have a different objective than you do. Your objective is likely some combination of feel fulfilled making good many, enough to do things outside of work that I enjoy. Businesses have the inverse goal -- get as much positive production as they can out of each employee to generate revenue...and shareholder satisfaction.I’m not on some capitalism is awful rant, I’m just trying to show you, businesses don’t necessarily want to see you as more than a productive pice in their machine. It is upon you to be your biggest cheerleader, it is upon you to show you are deserving of more, it is upon you to know yourself, your accomplishments and your value ...better than anyone. All of you sit back and think for a second of people in your industry, co-workers, fellow interns -- who received more accolades despite doing lesser work. Likely it is because they are better at self-promotion and personal advocacy. I know there are people in my space, podcasters in the career development conversation, who do far lesser work than I do, but they are way way better at personal promotion. They post videos of themselves, quote graphics of their wonderful thoughts, that are mostly cliche, pictures of them yucking it up with celebrities… and they have huge audiences. I am not slamming them, they have built a brand I haven’t. I am recognizing that this applies to all of us. It’s not just you, it’s me too! This concept of factual bragging applies to internships, jobs, opportunities, speaking engagements, etc. You have to be your cheerleader. Ok, so how?First, start with your goals. If you want to be a national audience guest speaker, that is a much different approach than if you want a promotion, or an entry-level job or an internship.Let’s stay focused on the jobs and internships part for this conversation. Imagine you need to be noticed more, and someone in charge of decision making needs to be able to see and understand your worth quickly. You must be an expert in you, no one else will be.Key components:Don’t be afraid to say what you are proud of. Don’t be afraid to tell people what you have accomplishedDon’t be afraid to tell people what you have done to improve yourself. Subtle -- I read this book recently and was struck by the ideaIn your face - in my two years with organization X my social media strategy helped us increase twitter followers by 47% Get your own website and domainProfessional looking social media pictures that are all aligned.LinkedIn - bulk it up, treat it like your personal domain, share accomplishments, videos, blogs, metrics, contact info. People, including recruiters, will look here!Resume metricsEmployment or internship journal - keep track of your wins.Remote interviews -- be quick to explain why you are a positive hire. How you not only understand their organizational goals, but will help them deliver on them, Be excited about you If you have a job right now and are working remotely, make sure you take the time to escalate your wins and your value to the org. You want them to feel like they have made the right decision keeping you on. Businesses have cover right now, they can lay off or furlough employees and no one thinks they are heartless, they think it’s just the times we are in. Well, if they've kept you on, that means they believe in you, make sure you validate that belief and are selling all of your wins. Final point -- being your own cheerleader also means being thee cheerleader for others you believe in.

Hi everyone, I’m Brian Clapp VP of Content and Engaged Learning with WorkinSports.com and this is the Work in Sports podcast…We all have a public persona, the one we let the world see.Our work personality, our behavior at parties, our disposition in challenging moments, our temperament when dealing with others.These are all part of how we are seen by others.But we are all much more than that. Every one of us is composed of formative experiences that build our character…but aren’t as apparent or evident to the people around us.While you may think your friends are an open book – sharing with you their dreams, loves and fears – chances are there is more to their story that they are unable or unwilling to share. They may not even realize how formative certain experiences have been.We are all much more than our public persona.We are all forged through our unique experiences and even deeper, our individual interpretation of those experiences As John Milton in Paradise Lost wrote:“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.”Perspective matters.To one person an experience makes them stronger and more resolute, to another going through the same thing…it may break them.I just watched A Star In Born with my almost teenage daughter, and for those of you who have seen it, it’s a sad sad movie, I won’t ruin the ending for you. But I asked her afterward what she thought, and she said “you don’t always know someone by what you see on the outside”She made me cry just a little. Today’s guest Lauren Sisler is an award-winning sports reporter for the SEC Network. 2-time Alabama Sportscaster of the Year. Emmy award winner. 2-time Alabama Associated press Best sports anchor.She is a Rockstar in the sports media.But she, like you, is much more than that. She is an amalgamation of events and experience and interpretation.Remember earlier when I said the same experience can break one person, and make another stronger? Lauren Sisler is the embodiment of that. She dealt with unspeakable tragedy early in life that could have, and maybe should have, broken her. But it didn’t.She found a way through it all…and not just through it, beyond it, to a heralded life on the other side.This story is about much more than just being a high-profile sports reporter… yes, we will talk about that, and yes, Lauren will share incredible career advice…but it’s also about the person inside all of us. The unification of events that creates us… and then, what we do choose to do with the experience. We aren’t just the standardized results of our experiences, we have a choice in all of it.At some moment, maybe she can pinpoint it, or maybe not, Lauren Sisler decided that she wasn’t going to be defeated by her experiences. She would persevere, and she would thrive. Let’s let her tell it… here’s Lauren Sisler…

Hi everybody, I’m Brian Clapp VP of Content and Engaged Learning for WorkInSports.com and this is the Work in Sports podcast.A couple of housekeeping notes before we get into today’s sports career-focused question -- want to welcome the newest member of the Work In Sports team, Laura Wilhelm! Laura just recently joined us as an account executive, and she’ll be working directly with me to help sell some of our products focused on helping others advance in their career. We have our sports career game plan, focused on the strategies and tactics necessary to get hired in the sports industry. We also have our student game plan, which is similarly focused on career and professional development, but for any industry. And we’ve also developed an entire suite of new tools to help sports employers hire the right staff more efficiently. As I know from going through the hiring process with Laura -- hiring is tough -- talent acquisition managers tell me all the time, we get tons of applicants, but most are not qualified. Well, we took that advice to heart and thought, how can we help sports employers find the most qualified candidates more efficiently. And we’ve done it. Laura will be reaching out to sports employers and helping introduce them to these new tools that can really help them hire more efficiently and effectively -- so welcome Laura, and if any of these products sound interesting to you, your organization, or for your school or university -- reach out and I’ll connect you with laura! Or you can talk to me - it’s not like I won’t talk to you -- I’m a talker, that won’t change. I just need help and laura is a boss. Ok, today’s topic -- Lots of people with time on their hands have been asking me -- how do I find out where I fit in the industry?Here’s a specific version of this question from Bart in Minnesota --“Hey Brian, big fan of the podcast thanks for your continued help and guidance. I’m a college sophomore and I love sports, but I have no idea what to do for my career path. Can you help me understand the future of the sports world, and where I may fit in it?”Jeez, Bart, that’s a heavy responsibility. First off, you don’t meet many Barts nowadays -- I had a great friend in high school named Bart, but I don’t think I know too many others. Bart Scott? I don’t know him, but that’s the only other Bart I can think of. Ok, back on topic -- Finding your fit in the industry is an important topic -- I started a few months back trying to make one of those cool diagrams, not an infographic, more of a choose your own adventure - based on sports careers.Like one of those -- do you like to talk to people -- yes or no -- follow that path, then different questions from there, with the idea it would land you in a category or bucks that could help you explore this area. It got too hard. I may resurface that idea later...but really when you start to break down all the possibilities, it’s like an ice cream headache waiting to happen.This is the advice I believe in wholeheartedly -- this is a personal decision, that is ultimately up to you, BUT I’ll help guide some. The first idea -- go to our site WorkInSports.com and enter in keyword searches for terms. NOT job terms, rather entry-level terms. Search for the word “associate” -- this will return a myriad of potential opportunities that are entry-level or close to it. I just did the search and came back with 1,852 sports jobs out of nearly 12k on our site.As I look through the openings I see:Associate Product ManagerAssociate ArtistAdvertising Operations AssociateProduction AssociateHR associatePro Tennis Operations AssociateSocial Media AssociateThe list goes on… read these job descriptions, and see what stands out to you. When I was coming up I knew I wanted to work in Sports TV, so I could lean that direction in my job search. For you, if you are unsure, you need to get where I was, and the best way to do that is by exposing yourself to the opportunities that are out there.

Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning for WorkInSports.com and this is the Work In Sports podcast…I find there is a certain spirit that I look for in my guests. Not everyone wants to, or is comfortable coming on a show like this and sharing their journey, with tidbits of wisdom and advice thrown in -- but that’s exactly what we need! We need guests willing to share more than what we can read on their resume or LinkedIn profile, we need guests who are willing to go there. People that will share their bigger thoughts, advice, nuggets of change through their journey and dig into more than just their career moves...but rather their how and why.Every once in a while I ask our private Facebook group -- which if you haven’t joined yet, you should - just search for the Work In Sports podcast on Facebook and join the fun. Anyway, every once in awhile I will post a question, asking our audience who their favorite guest was of all time. While there is a wide range of responses, there are also about 10 episodes that I could tell you beforehand would be the most popular. They aren’t the biggest names, they are the ones willing to go there and share their deepest insights, motivations, change moments and share...really really share. These are the moments that inspire me, those are the episodes that drive me deeper and further, for all of you listening. But how do you find more of these people? How do you find those willing and able to share real insight? I used to send out 20 invites a week -- randomly selected, barely researched, and my success rate was about 10%. For 2020 I changed my process and the results have been incredible. Twitter.I’m being totally serious. Over the last 3 months, I’ve seen about 10 new podcasts launch which are focused on sports career advice -- so maybe I shouldn't share my secret formula - but what the hell. I start on LinkedIn, I research companies, people, and roles -- because in my mind, it often starts with some experience and credibility. I read I research, and then I go to twitter and look at their personal accounts.You see on twitter, I think you tend to find out a little more about someone’s spirit, passion, and enthusiasm. Sometimes you also find out they are a horrible person, and you are glad you didn’t ask them to be a guest -- that has happened. So I’ll give you an example of what I mean, using today’s guest Sean Halbmaier from the PGA Tour. I was searching for people at the PGA Tour - I like to make sure I cover different sports teams and leagues - it’s spring-summer, a good time for golf talk. I see Sean, with a pretty cool title -- director of advanced advertising. If I asked myself, self, what does a director of advanced advertising do? I would have no answer! That makes it interesting! I want to dig into new areas!So, then I head over to twitter and look for sean. His pinned tweet is an article he wrote breaking down his first 10 years in the sports industry -- ok good start, someone willing to share and give back!Then I see: 3 skills to acquire to be valuable to your employer… Always be learning. Be Curious Be vocal. Have an opinion.Ok, now we got someone with a willingness to share guidance and advice.Next:This is why walled gardens are so insanely effective for marketers. They have your identity via login (the license), but they also have the full “wallet” of essentials based on your activity on their platforms.Ok, I have no idea what that means -- but I see a willingness to get into the weeds of his role, and a passion for explaining what he does.This is the ultimate mix!After all that, I make the invite and cross my fingers. Thankfully, Sean, and about 90% of the people I reach out to when I do this level of research and intentional booking -- said yes, and we are all lucky for it. Here is Sean Halbmaier - Director of Advanced Advertising for the PGA Tour! Let’s talk about revenue optimization!!Questions for Sean Halbmaier,

Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp VP of Content and Engaged Learning at WorkInSports.com and this is the Work In Sports podcast.I have some pretty big news before we get into today’s sports industry question -- We have completely overhauled our site WorkInSports.com!Background -- since 1999 we’ve been the leader for jobs in the sports industry, but as times change we have to be agile and adjust our approach. That’s one of the benefits of being a small, family-run, company - we can make decisions and act on them quickly, not a lot of red tape. You may not know this - but WorkInSports is 10 people. That’s right, we’re not some huge media conglomerate, we are 10 scrappy people trying to change sports employment.Another cool stat about our business -- we added Jesus Guzman last year at this time to our staff as a front end developer, Jesus is awesome and has been instrumental in this relaunch, but my point for bringing this up… of the ten people on staff, Jesus is the rookie with 1 year on the WIS team. I am the next newest employee and I’ve been here for seven years. The rest of the staff has been with Work In Sports for 14 years plus. That is unheard of! But again, good people, good environment, good products… people stick around.Ok, so what is the big news -- I’ll get off my tangent and get back to the news -- we set out with a mission to be less of a list of jobs and more of an interaction hub between sports employers and sports job seekers - more connectivity, more interaction. And we are there. For a while, free members will still see the old site. All paid members and employers will see the new product. Couple of highlights to feature:Our matching technology is way ramped up - upload resume. When we post new jobs, active search through the databaseWhen you see a job you like, give it a thumbs up Sports selectFor employers, we have a ton of new tools -- all geared toward helping you find the right candidates efficiently. No more pushing through 1,000 resumes of unqualified people. We have THE sports resumes, and when you post a job with us, we will actively match your needed skills against our database of candidates.There are many other tools for employers we have developed I won’t get into them all here. But if you are an employer and want a new way to find the most talented people for your roles -- reach out to me, and we’ll schedule a demo of the new products -- bclappworkinsports.com.We’re excited -- and we are in active beta right now, so if you play around and have feedback - share it with us so s we can continually improve. And remember a premium membership with WorkInSports.com is more valuable than ever… and it keeps me employed! So check it out!Ok, on to today’s sports career-focused question… “Hey Brian, this is William from Chicago, I know yours is not a political podcast but I respect your opinion and wanted to talk about what is currently happening in the world today. The company I work for in the sports industry, who I love to work for, has been completely silent about the George Floyd murder, the protests and the support of the black community -- this really, really bothers me. But I don’t know what to do about it. Any ideas how I can speak up respectfully, and not lose my job?”William - this is an intense question and I want to give it the respect it deserves. First I’d like to start with a story about voice. Last year in January interviewed Vincent Pierson who at the time was the Director of Diversity and Inclusion for Minor League Baseball. It is one of my favorite podcasts to date, and Vincent and I have remained in touch afterward. He’s incredible. The FIELD program was an initiative that Vincent was highly involved in, and showed great progress toward diversity and inclusion for Minor League Baseball. I’ll read directly from their site to explain what the FIELD program is: Minor League Baseball's 'Fostering Inclusion through Education and Leadership Development' (FIELD) Program was created under...

Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning for WorkInSports.com and this is the Work In Sports podcast.Recovery starts with innovation. I read this the other day and thought, this sounds a lot like what my grandmother used to tell me when she’d cobble some new fandangled way of plowing her garden fields with a series of hoes tied on to the back of her 1940’s era tractor. Never short for an analogy or cliche she’d look at me and repeat “necessity is the mother of all invention”That saying has always stuck in my mind, when there is need there are creative solutions. Never before have we faced more need, and never before have innovative minds been more in demand. As teams and leagues and organizations look to pivot and change their revenue models and adapt to our new world -- the innovative people in every organization are the ones leading the way to the future. That is not hyperbolic or overly dramatic. We need innovation. We need a new way to look at our games, our stadiums, our fans, our revenue streams, our products our marketing -- everything needs a fresh set of eyes. I booked today's guest, Josh Walker, President of Sports Innovation Lab because multiple people in my sphere of influence pinged me in April and said “did you read this article on how the sports industry will recover, it’s fascinating”The article was pushed at me from multiple angles from people I respect with excitement and fervor I couldn’t deny, so I read it and immediately thought -- who wrote this! I need them for this show!The crazy thing is… Josh, the scribe responsible for the forward-thinking piece, developed the concept of recovery before there was a need for recovery. See Josh is the kind of futurist we need more of in sports, the ones who can utilize data and research and intuition to see what the industry needs to be, rather than what it is. Josh is the President of Sports innovation Lab who, along with his co-founders, former NFL linebacker Isaiah Kacyvenski and former olympian and 4-time gold medal winner Angela Ruggiero developed a fluid fan concept that sees sports in a way that earns the fans loyalty rather than expects it. You’ll see what I mean.. Here’s Josh -- get ready for some incredible, in your face, honest...and some exciting ideas on how to mold our future of sports.Here’s Josh…Questions for Josh Walker, President, Sports Innovation Lab1: There is so much I want to get into regarding your background and sports innovation lab, but let’s start with some of the big stuff. You wrote an article on LinkedIn back in April about what recovery may look like for the sports industry – and it is fascinating.There is a lot to unpack so let’s take it slow.You state early in the article that “This crisis will fundamentally reshape how the sports industry operates and generates revenue.” In a broad way I think we can all see that things will change – but specifically, how do you see this current situation reshaping the way the sports industry operates?2: We often think of sports as having two main experiential avenues: in person at the event in a stadium, or at home through the broadcast media. This runs relatively parallel to the revenue streams… you’ve got your media deals and you’ve got your tickets, sponsorships etc.But you and your team are embracing a new concept of the “fluid fan” – can you explain what that is?3: Did you have this fluid fan concept hypothesized and researched prior to COVID, or was this an example of where the situation met opportunity?Follow: So in a way, you saw the changing landscape of the sports industry prior to this current pandemic – why was this shift to a fluid fan necessary with or without COVID?4: You’ve established what the fluid fan is and why they represent the future –but how does an organization begin to understand their fluid fan behavior, because, by its very definition, everyone is different, and needs to be approached differently, right?

Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning for WorkInSports.com and this is the Work in Sports podcast. After a few decades of living in cities, I now live out in the country a bit. I have 4 acres of land, the grass is green, I have woods and a stream for my kids to play in. It can be a bubble. We can tune out the world - the hate, the racism, the unrest, the divisiveness - should we choose. But we can’t. I can’t. We all play a role, and we can’t just opt-out. Silence is being complicit. I know you didn’t come here for this discussion, there are other reasons you are here. But I want all of the people in our audience, our return listeners, our subscribers, who have gotten to know me over time - to know that I support and love them.I have cried over and over again watching the videos that have become all too common in our society. It isn’t just George Floyd or Eric Garner or Philado Castile, it’s the multitude of other horrific examples of police brutality against Black Americans that have happened without cameras rolling. There are systemic issues that allow for heavily armed white men to enter a state building in Michigan, protesting the fact they have to wear a mask while carrying automatic weapons - and being treated civilly and with calm respect, while an unarmed, handcuffed black man gets murdered on the street over an alleged counterfeit $20 bill. How does this happen? This is a problem. We can’t ignore it, and as a middle-aged white man I can’t sit here in my bubble pretending this environment is fair and just. It is not. I have many friends who are honorable, respectful, caring police officers, who got into police work to make a positive difference. We can’t make sweeping generalizations against all police, that does not help. That is the exact same problem that got us here -- racial profiling is generalizing a group of people… doing the same to all police isn’t the proper response. But we can be angry. We should be angry. And the best thing we can, from this perspective, is to listen, love, and vote. That’s how we change things. Vote. I hope everyone out there with anger and disgust and fear and dismay -- will take this energy to the polls in November. Everyone needs to vote. That is your power. And everyone needs to love and listen.JusticeForGeorge hell yes justiceforgeorge … but in concert with that -- let’s change the system to be more equitable and fair. It’s past the time for those of us on the outside to just empathize - we need to understand, we need to help the change become reality. One last thing -- as someone who has worked in the media for a long time, you will see the worst worst worst images, because they get eyeballs. I guarantee you 90% of the protests across the country are peaceful, but all you’ll see is burning buildings OR on the flip side people hugging police officers. Those are the edges of the story -- look for the middle. There is no easy transition here so I’ll just make it. Coming up on Wednesday is a conversation I am very excited about, I interviewed Josh Walker president of sports innovation lab, a market research company, about how we recover as a sports industry from our global pandemic -- oh right, amongst all of this chaos we are also still in a global pandemic. Yeah for 2020!Anyway, the interview with Josh is so insightful -- he and his team at sports innovation lab are changing the way we see, feel and experience sports. And teams are catching on to this new way of understanding fan needs. You are going to be way into this conversation, I know I was.As for today’s topic -- here is James from Nevada“He Brian, when coronavirus first became a thing you talked about revenue-generating roles being super important in the near future -- is that still the case? Is that what you see being the leader in the sports industry over the short-term, or the longer this goes have things changed in your mind?”I’m glad you brought this up James because we have to...

Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning at WorkInSports.com and this is the Work In Sports podcast…With the NFL draft in the rearview mirror I’ve been spending an inordinate amount of time researching and understanding the fit of the players my team, the New England Patriots, selected.And before you get all bandwagoney on me -- I’m from Boston and been a Patriots fan long before the annual trips to the Super Bowl.But back on track, I’m researching these players, even down to the undrafted free agents and how much guaranteed money they signed for, yes I am a dork, and I’m realizing a theme. I think a lot of prospects get bad info. Here’s what I mean -- I hear a lot of this “well, my agent told me he thought I’d go in the 3-4th round, so I was a little disappointed going in the 6th and now i have a chip on my shoulder to prove everyone wrong.”Now this isn’t limited to the Patriots, and it isn’t limited to this year. I’ve been listening to these same quotes for the 25 years I’ve worked in the sports industry. Every year it’s the same routine, a lot of overpromising to hype their player, and then underdelivering and blaming it on the process. It’s maddening to be honest. And kind of a theme for our world right now, over-promise and pat yourself on the back, stretch the truth or flat out lie to get someone to like you, and when it doesn’t go as you predicted -- look to blame someone else and avoid responsibility.Sound like anyone you know? We all know people like this. But let’s relate this to player agency -- there should be power in honesty. There should be situations where the most honest, researched, competent, and thorough agents get the clients. Maybe that happens, but I fear more often than not, the agents that over-promised and over-hype land the deals.In a sad way it makes sense -- picture yourself as a 20-year-old headed to the NFL draft deciding who should represent you. One agent hypes you up big time, you are a 2nd round draft pick, teams love you and I’m going to help you get sponsorships and fast cars!Then the next agent says - based on my research, teams will start showing interest in you in the 5th round, but the 6th-7th round is likely. Here are the teams you fit best with, here’s what your contract could look like in those rounds, here’s what these teams fear about you, and here’s what you need to tell them, let’s get prepped for the combine with my team and see if we can’t get you in that 5th round or higher.”You, the prospect, may think -- person B doesn’t believe in me...and therefore pick the human hype machine.This is frustrating, but an understandable cycle. Telling people what they want to hear, is more effective than telling them the truth. Every once in awhile, athletes see through the facade. I’m sure there are hundreds of these examples, but one that comes to mind is Baker Mayfield. Leading up to the 2018 draft Mayfield had a decision to make on an agent.His family was approached by every major agency in the country and many of those agents promising that they could get him drafted No. 1 overall. And according to published reports at the time, this puffery didn’t go over well with the Mayfields.I like this. Their BS meer was on high, knowing what agents can and can’t accomplish. Don’t over commit on things you can’t control, tell me what you really can do for me. Mayfield ended up choosing today’s guest - Jack Mills - an OG of the agency game. Over 50 years in the business, Jack Mills doesn’t have to pump up anyone. He’s represented #1 draft picks before -- Irving Fryar in 1984 and George Rogers in 1981. Heck in 1984 he represented the #1 and #2 pick ...and in 1983 he represented the #2 pick in the draft, a guy you may have heard of Eric Dickerson. The best thing Jack and his son Tom were able to do for Baker, was to be honest...and help him with an overall strategy to the process. As former Dallas Cowboys personnel executive and Hall of Famer Gil Brandt said about...

Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp, VP of Content and Engaged Learning at WorkInSports.com and this is the Work In Sports podcast…Prepping for this week’s interview was unlike many of my other weeks. Most of the time I have a pretty good vibe for the person I am going to speak with, their role, their struggles, their big goals - and can lean into that in my question development. But sometimes when you reach outside your comfort zone, it can be quite exhilarating. I’ve made it clear on this show multiple times prior that I am not a gamer. I don’t know the lingo, the leagues, the competitors -- but I am fascinated by the eSports ecosystem and subculture. Not in a - I want to give that a go way - more of a, this thing is huge, fans are dedicated, brands are flocking to it...I want to know why and better understand it. I’ll admit, and my wife will concede, that sometimes I avoid doing things I am afraid to fail at. The challenge of rebuilding our staircase I put off for quite some time because I was afraid to put tons of time and effort into it, and have it look like crap in the end.The challenge of researching and understanding eSports, and booking more guests connected to it, is something I’ve put off because what if at the end of it all, despite all the research and attempts, I come off sounding like an out of touch moron.Our internal monologues protect us from failure, but also sometimes prevent us from trying. Well, thanks to our awesome graphic designer Chris Culp who designs all of the podcast episode artwork for us, he broke me out of my shell without me even knowing it. He basically booked today’s guest and said - “hey I think you should do this” -- panic panic panic. Truth is, I went through my normal routine -- reading articles on the person, videos, background, social profiles and become quickly inspired to ask the questions you’ll hear shortly. What I found stupefying through my research, was the patronizing manner most people of my generation and older, speak to the youthful gaming audience. It’s like this stunned question repeated over and over again “so you can make money playing video games… ha!” or “Did you ever think wasting your youth on video games could work out for you like this?”The implied nature of the questions is that even though you are my guest and I am interviewing you because you are important, I want you to know, i think you are not important. Kind of made me mad. Offended. Ashamed. Funny thing is, I asked today’s guest about it and he couldn’t have been more mature and gracious. Jake Lyon is a 23-year-old retired gamer who played for the Houston Outlaws of the Overwatch League, and is now part of the Overwatch broadcast team as a caster. Financial Review called him "the perfect poster-boy for the sport as it tries to dispel the prejudice that computer-gaming is a lonely pursuit of wastrels and slobs" and in July 2018, Lyons was selected as one of two Overwatch League players to attend a summit between the International Olympic Committee and the esports community. He is an ambassador for eSports, a charismatic, mature, well-spoken passionate young man -- who is also our guest this week. Here’s Jake …Questions for Jake Lyon, Overwatch League Caster1: There is so much I want to get into regarding your background and how you got where you are – but before we jump into your story, I’d like to start out by discussing eSports in the current landscape.We keep sharing the quote around our office that “there is opportunity in chaos” – and when I say this out loud, I think this exemplifies eSports.Is esports ‘having a moment’ because it is perfectly suited to thrive in this current environment?2: I saw that the annual competition for the game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. – I won’t even try to pronounce the name for fear of showing my age – set a new viewership record in March making it the most-watched non-major esports tournament of all time.Live crowds are a part of the esports experience,

Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp VP of Content and Engaged Learning for WorkInSports.com and this is the Work in Sports podcastOver the last few weeks I’ve been part of a handful of great webinars sponsored by various schools -- Northwestern, Neumann, IE just to name a few - thanks to all of them for having me and thanks for a great discussion.One pattern that kept coming up was this -- My summer internship has been canceled, and that was a major part of my plan to gain experience, what should I do?This is a really great question and I want to dig into it with some ideas. In these webinar settings, I have to be pretty quick with my points, but in this setting, which I control, I can expand. First, let’s get specific about an Internship and what it represents. Internships provide a lot of value -- you learn some things, you meet some people, you get exposed to company culture, you start to learn what you like and don’t like career-wise - all important stuff. So first off, let’s see what we can replicate from what you are missing in the internship.1: What experience were you expecting to get? We can’t recreate what it’s like to be working in the box office on game day, but we can recreate sales techniques, we can learn graphic design, we can learn specific skills.Reach out to your intern contact, tell them you are disappointed but understand and ask f there are specific software or tools, or techniques they use at the organization that you may continue to learn even if not on site. It’s not a 1:1 replacement, but in these times you need to adjust. 2: Meeting people -- well, you don’t get to meet the people face to face at the organization, but you have an in to network with them via social -- we always talk about how you need an angle to network, a reason that connects you to them -- well, it’s pretty clear what this would be. Reach out to people in the organization you were going to intern with via LinkedIn, add a note -- hey I’m Brian I’m a college junior and was going to be interning with your org this summer -- that’s not happening but I still want to get to know and learn from people like you. Once you connect, ask for an informational interview. Employers and sports workers are sympathetic to what you are going through right now and will help you. -- So we can replicate some of the experience, and the networking. Replicating culture or learning more about what you like and don’t like -- we’ll we can’t really replicate that, but information interviews with people you would have been working with can help. Ask some questions in those areas -- how did you figure out this is what you wanted to do? What is the culture like at the organization, and how does that differ from other places you’ve worked. You can learn a lot from asking questions of the right people. Now let’s talk about preparing in the now and some other strategies you can utilize1: If your college has a career center -- lean into it, see if you can set up a virtual meeting with a counselor, and talk through some ways you can make up for the internship experience. They have tools and research available to you!2: Be ready to act quickly -- Usually setting up a summer internship happens in late winter, early spring -- well, things may start to happen fast and opportunities may come up quickly, looking to fill roles. No guarantees here, but if we start to see more sports come back in some ways, and socially distanced workplaces come back to life… they may very well be a quick supply and demand issue for interns. Be ready to move on opportunities quickly. On WorkinSports.com we keep all the sports internship data and opportunities up to date - it’s a great resource for you to stay in the loop on opportunities. You must stay flexible and adapt to these times -- if you see something pop that interests you, go for it, even if it wasn't your original long term plan.3: Consider shorter-term experiences -- I’ve been reading more about micro-internships through a company...

Hey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp VP of Content and Engaged Learning at WorkInSports.com and this is the Work in Sports podcast…Popularity is a slippery beast.As a podcast host, I am always looking for interesting guests, with recognizable names, fancy job titles and experience to share. My goal is always to provide actionable advice for all of you, and share it through either my voice and experience or by my guests. But I get back to the original premise - popularity, virality, shareability - totally unpredictable. You hear people in marketing always saying - I want viral content! As if it is that easy. That’s not a strategy, it’s a dream. My belief has always been you make a lot of quality content, and try to learn from each piece that resonates with your audience. You constantly refine and adjust - not always in a major way, not always a complete shift, just subtle movements in your approach, tone, and content. Now let’s be clear, going viral, or having something spike in popularity, doesn’t always connect to your business. The concept of just going viral is flawed. I wrote an article years back when I had my own site - it was a funny article comparing injuries in hockey to injuries in baseball. It went nuts. Hundreds of thousands of views, hundreds of thousands of Facebook likes, thousands of shares -- the thing went crazy. It did zero for my bottom line. Literally zero. Sure we can talk about brand exposure, and the potential to grab new audiences, but for all the virality it made little impact on my business. So viral in and of itself doesn’t always change the calculus of your business. It has to all be connected - content to business strategy. Now let’s get this back to this here podcast. I don’t reach for popularity anymore. I try to let it happen naturally by delivering the information the audience can grow from.I book guests based on the impact I believe they can have, and then sit back and watch to see what happens with downloads. Sometimes I have a vibe, like when I book big names like Leigh Steinberg, or Dan Duquette, that they will be popular. But what has been truly eye-opening is that guests like Colleen Scoles, Mailynh Vu and Mark Coscarello, talent acquisition managers with the Philadelphia Eagles, Cleveland Indians and USGA respectively have doubled up Leigh Steinberg in downloads. It comes down to knowing your audience and what they want. Chelsea Zahn was a guest I booked last year, a young woman on the rise in the sports industry working in Partnership Activation for the Pittsburgh Steelers -- to me, she met the criteria for a great gust, charismatic, interesting career, not many people know about Partnership Activation, and willing to share great advice. I interviewed her, was proud of the content...and then was completely amazed when her episode became the second most downloaded of 2019 behind only Mailynh Vu who, I mean come on was the rockstar of 2019 and if you haven’t listened to that episode you are crazy. I’m guessing many of you new to the show also haven’t listened to Chelsea, so today is your day -- here is Chelsea Zahn, partnership activation manager for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Tips and Advice to Help you Master the Remote Hiring ProcessHey everybody, I’m Brian Clapp VP of content and engaged learning at WorkinSports.com and this is the Work in Sports podcast…Hiring will remain virtual for the near future, and quite possibly beyond, so let's get you prepared: Virtual interviewsPhone interviewsVideo interviewsWe are missing the in-person interaction -- which stinks, but it’s justa problem wer all have to deal with. If you are someone who relied on your charisma in the moment to get you through -- make sure your skills are on point, and you figure out how to translate your charisma to the small screen and the phone.Again - your skills become more of the focus if you can’t get by being just the smoothest operator.Tone: Right now there are a lot of deparate people out there, I don’t mean this to be discouraging or a dig on those who are suffering, I just mean from the ermployers viewpoint, there are a lot of people applying for their jobs that may not have in normal times.“Be ready to talk about why you want to work for the company you’re interviewing with and why you feel like the job makes sense as your next career move.” You need to be able to make sure the employer knows you are interested, you want this gig, and why you feel like this job makes s4ense for you in your career.You don’t want them thinking you are just looking for work -- you want them to know this is a logical career move for you and something that excites you.Normally… I tell you to make sure there are no distractions. No dogs barking, no roomates barging in. The good news is, everyone is a little more quarantine supportive and knows the world isn’t perfect right now. Try to keep distractions low, but don’t lose your groove if something happens.Acknowledge it, and get back on track. Or plow through without letting iot affect you at all, that shows a lot of focus.2: Expect more rounds of interviewsEmployers love the final face to face phase because that’s where they make sure they know the person and feel they are a cultural fit. Without that, they are extending the process in other ways. More rounds of phone or video interviews, with more people in the building. They are trying to get multiple viewpoints to be sure that they have the right match.Don’t get discouraged if the process takes longer than normal, or expected. There is no normal anymore, throw out everything you used to know. 3: What skills are more important now that ever?Establishing trustCommunicationCollaborationAdaptablity4: Expect more questions on how you handle challengesHave a story related to how you handled an unexpected challenge in your repertoire. 5: You can still be selectiveYou are learning here too, about their culture their workforce etc. Don’t rush to choose the wrong job, try try try to be patient and listen to your instinct.