Just back from our time in Utah and Idaho gave me a bit of time to go back and listen to some of our more recent pods, three of which are very timely (especially since one is about a book coming out this week). Thanks to our summer intern Wynne Kenna for doing some of the summaries. You can find all our pods here as well. Listen, learn a bit, and share away.
Leadership Lessons from BJK to Today. First we welcome award-winning journalist and author Liz Robbins to discuss her new book, See It to Be It: 11 Champions Leading Women’s Sports Today, written in collaboration with Billie Jean King and Ilana Kloss. Robbins shares the origin story of the project, which began with a 50th anniversary piece she wrote for the International New York Times on the US Open’s milestone of achieving equal pay, and how a chance email to Kloss sparked a creative partnership that ultimately became the book. The conversation explores how Robbins and King selected the book’s eleven athletes, including Caitlin Clark, Naomi Osaka, Chelsea Gray, Mackenzie Coan, and flag football pioneer Diana Flores, balancing household names with emerging stars across a diverse range of sports, backgrounds, and identities. Robbins explains the philosophy behind the selections, emphasizing champions who are not only elite competitors but advocates driving change within and beyond their sports, and shares the stories behind some of the book’s most memorable moments, including two athletes who broke down in tears upon learning Billie Jean King wanted them involved. Robbins also reflects on her own career path from Cornell lacrosse player to New York Times reporter covering the NBA, the US Open, and immigration, and what she would tell young journalists today about storytelling, persistence, and the enduring power of knowing your subject deeply.
Take a listen here, and buy the book here!
Next : Talking Flag and Engagement in KC: Sheila Sikau is the Head of Football Development for the Kansas City Chiefs. Looking back, Sheila had a unique career journey. Before working in the NFL and discovering tackle football, Sheila was a special education teacher and a high school coach for soccer, basketball, and track. Sheila decided to go back to school to get her masters in sports administration. With that, she landed a $12 an hour seasonal job in ticket sales with the Kansas City Chiefs, and now a full time role. Adding on, Sheila is the president of the Kansas City Glory, the women’s tackle football team. While on the team, she helped start the Ottawa University flag football program during COVID. Since being with the chiefs, she has three super bowl rings. Sheila took her time to maximize growth and learning from her jobs, stayed patient, and continued to grow a passion for football, which has led her to success. A question is asked about the reason behind the growth of female fan growth for the Chiefs. Sheila highlights that the chiefs have been trying to market towards females for a while now. The chiefs created a Hallmark Channel Movie that was first made for a playoff campaign, but sky rocketted and became a new trend. The goal was to reach an audience that wasn’t into football. They wanted women to feel like they belong in the sport.
Other key lessons…
Similarities/Differences of Flag Football and Tackle:
Because of Sheila’s job, she gets to see both flag football and tackle football. She is running flag football development for the chiefs and is the president of the Kansas City Glory women’s tackle team.
Working with both has really shown her that these two sports are not trying to compete with one another, but they are working with each other.
Her female athletes who grew up playing flag football were able to learn the game from a young age then have helped them grow into great tackle football players.
Flag football has really helped strengthen the foundation of the sport for all
Women in NFL
Sheila remembers seeing the first female NFL coaches arrive ( Jen Welter, Katie Sowers). Sheila felt really proud and excited for what was to come. Opportunities were opening up and the league was changing for the better.
Today, Sheila said she knows about 6 women on just the football staff. Most in scouting and training room
Shelia talks about the Norma Hunts Program and how important it is for the league. Norma Hunt’s Program: Each year, a woman is brought into training camp to learn the different parts of the business whether it be plays, statistics, athletes, etc.
Coaching and Teaching
Sheila is able to use knowledge from her teaching days and apply them to her career today. Many people think women cannot coach because they didn’t play football, but Sheila argues that coaching is teaching. You don’t have to have played to understand how the sport works.
Sheila said that she notices differences between men and women athletes when being coached. She said that women always ask why. Why do we have to run 3 miles because we made a bad play? They want to fully understand the reasoning behind each decision to know how to improve.
Sheila believes that this approach creates smarter players
Click here to hear the full episode.
“I don’t do deals, I do relationships” Inside ESPN’s Innovation Engine with Kevin Lopes. Kevin Lopes, the Vice President of Business Development and Innovation at ESPN, discussed his path and learnings that got him where he is today. In 2006, Kevin started working at the Big East Conference to gain knowledge about how the TV business ran. Kevin covered lots of bases from booking travel, fixing schedules, announcing events, etc., all revolving around college sports. After his time at Big East, Kevin joined ESPN’s ESPNU channel. His work consisted of assisting college sports schedules, which led him to help create ESPN’s streaming section.
Today, he runs the ESPN Edge Innovation Center. This is a program that takes companies like Microsoft and Meta and brings them to ESPN to collaborate and create new technology. Kevin made huge strides through his career and never let outside influences affect his decision making. He went from coordinating a schedule on a DOS program to supervising partnerships with well known technology companies. His career journey shows what happens when you stay curious, create and maintain connection, and say yes to new things.
What to Listen For:
- Challenges
- ESPN’s streaming days in the past were much different then today.
- The technology was not nearly as advanced resulting in Kevin having to send schedule changes to hundreds of people one at a time
- Had to mail physical equipment to campuses
- Bought rights to sport events
- Kevin had to convince the public to trust the new streaming of ESPN. He tackled this challenge in a smart way. He took his past connections and relationships with ESPN and ESPNU and explained to them that they had trusted them with these launches and they worked out great, but it was essential to trust one more time.
- Mentality: With the expansion and growth of technology throughout his career, Kevin’s mentality has changed, that technology will always be powerful and growing. Kevin prioritizes the strength of the next ESPN launch, and not which app or sport will be the most popular. He’s constantly brainstorming ways to make sure ESPN is prepared.
- Kevin discusses how he knows that he’s not the most creative person in the office, which is why he gives this type of work to others while still helping. This way, the overall product is better, when several minds come together to create something successful
- ESPN’s streaming days in the past were much different then today.
- The ESPN Edge Innovation Center
- Kevin was asked to help build the innovation center after ESPN realized they needed a better approach to creation
- Kevin had no funds to start this so he used his skills to the best of his ability. He contacted the Walt Disney Company and asked for their approach to innovation. He used his resources and learned different ways of strategy.
- During his research, Kevin found a structure at the Disney Studio Lab, where outside companies work with the studio, providing support and assistance in exchange for opportunities to connect.
- Kevin found this to be intriguing and used the idea as a way to create the Edge Innovation Center at ESPN
- AI and its Surprises
- Kevin was able to see the industry change with the invention of AI, and he was surprised with how fast the growth has been.
- He explained how 2 years ago AI photos had mistakes and were easy to detect, but today they are everywhere without us even realizing.
- Decision Making within His Career
- Kevin chats with over 120 companies throughout the year. Each of them thinks they have the best ideas for the future of sports.
- After learning about these creations, Kevin’s job is to narrow the list to about 5 companies he sees indie ESPN
- Kevin shares his ideas with other producers and programmers who have a better understanding of good content to confidently know if the company is in good shape for ESPN.
- He shares his idea that success comes from innovative technology and those who know how to use it rather than the sport itself.
- Catch the full episode here.
More to come. stay cool!
The Value of AI And “Carpe Omnia”
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