Jon Schwartz

Starting a new job at a sports team or club can be daunting. The learning curve can be steep. A few tips at onboarding tips: 1) Endear yourself to the groups of people who are responsible for the product on the pitch, field, ice or court. 2) Familiarize yourself with the ebbs and flows of the sport calendar and be sure to be plugged in to some of the nuances of it. 3) The closer you get to the sun, the hotter it gets. Be prepared for high pressure situations and think of ways you can add value in the heat of the moment - without interfering with the operating principles. 4) Be observant. Watch for non-verbal cues. Be aware of how other leaders/departments engage and the style they use doing so. 5) Pick your spots. Timing is everything.

Some things I learned working in and with highly complex ecosystems: --Beyond identifying stakeholders, SPEAK with them. Ask about their objectives. --Learn more about their pain points. Inquire if there is a need you can uniquely fill. --Pressure test your plan by giving stakeholders an early glimpse of your approach. --Be flexible. Don't be afraid to start over. --Follow up. Your stakeholders want to know that they were heard. They also like closure. --Manage up, down and across. Communicate your findings and progress along the way. --Make the time to walk your stakeholders through the final product. --You can't please everyone, but that doesn't mean you can't strive to do so. Set the expectations up front.

I get this Q from my NYU students. Want to build your sports network? 1. Start with building your network. Friends, family, neighbors, peers, colleagues: they're all fair game. Fish where the fish are. 2. Conduct informational interviews. Listen intently for clues on who might be in their network. Ask for introductions. 3. Share your intent to grow your network. You'll be surprised how much help you receive. 4. Create content. Post about your life and networking experience on LinkedIn in a way that adds value and/or offers a unique perspective. 5. Follow up. Don't waste opportunities to nurture relationships. Comment on their posts. Ask for a first or second meeting. 6. Make networking a habit that you feed it every day. 7. Be you.

While I have seen some employer-sanctioned mentoring programs work, many are not as effective as the organic approach. Why? Because mentoring is an inexact science. There is no playbook. So, assigning mentors and mentees can be a tricky balance. A few suggestions I have found helpful when mentoring others. 1) Keep the conversation open-ended. 2) Encourage the mentee to lead the conversation and outline their desired outcomes. 3) Push for follow ups/to dos before your next session. 4) Be brutally honest. 5) Cherish the fact that you can and will learn from your mentee(s).

It's time to take a good hard look at what it means to network. It's called "netWORKing" for a reason. Don't fall victim to collecting connections. Make yourself available for people who are seeking an authentic connection with you, no matter where you are in your career. As a professor at NYU, I hold "office hours" for my students and for literally anyone interested in chatting about life and careers. I usually designate Fridays to chat with people who reach out to me. When we speak, people have two choices: 1) connect for the sake of connecting (where I never hear from them again) or 2) buy into the fact that networking takes WORK and put forth the effort to stay in touch about the important things - even if I cannot be of immediate help.

It is a leader's job to set the vision and facilitate a discussion about how to achieve it. However, in great organizations, true consensus is a misnomer. Collaborative leadership is about collective authorship and giving everyone a platform to provide input before a decision is made.