It’s the middle of the summer and the Olympics are here obviously…so three different listens worth your time…on a unique hoops pipeline…the change from a car to a mobility company…and what its like to be an athlete from Guam…You can hear all of our episodes here as well.
The Road to The NBA Front Office Starts in…Amherst? Did you know that over half of the teams in the NBA have a head coach or general manager who played basketball at the Division 3 level? An anomaly or a trend? You will learn a more listening to Ben Kaplan, the Co-Author of a great read, Pipeline to the Pros. Ben dives into the success former Division 3 basketball players and coaches now have in the NBA, specifically Brad Stevens, Jeff Van Gundy, and Sam Presti among many others, and how that grittiness led to career paths many might not have seen coming. He also talks about the value of playing Division 3 basketball and the success of retired Amherst Coach David Hixon as well as looking into the future for women’s basketball among many other topics. Listen here
Toyota Talks Commitment. We caught up with Dedra DeLilli, Group Manager of Sponsorships for Toyota-North America just before she headed to Paris. You may notice more now how Toyota is transforming from a traditional auto company to a mobility company, and is using the Olympics as a key driver…no pun intended…for that path. Dedra dives into her career journey and the lessons learned from stops at brands like TD Ameritrade helped her at Toyota. Dedra goes into Toyota’s partnership with the NFL, Flag Football, and what goes into these specific partnerships. She also dives into the critical importance of the Paralympics to her and the team at Toyota, and the careful value of choosing the right athletes for storytelling. Dedra also examines the characteristics and values of Toyota that she wants to display in all of their partnerships and how she has evolved in her sponsorship strategies. A worthwhile Olympic listening companion heard here.
The unusual path from Guam to Manhattan. We love hearing about the path another gritty group takes, college team managers, something we have written about not too long ago. Latest case in point, we welcomed current Columbia student RJ Kranz to the podcast . We discussed RJ’s experience growing up in Guam, the state of Guam sports, and his passion for basketball. RJ discusses being a member of the national men’s basketball team and how it led to Yale, where he was the lead student manager for coach James Jones’ highly successful program. He dives more into the skills he picked up at Yale, and how he wants to use sports to give back to Guam while he forges his own career path. A fun and informative listen.
