From the category archives:

Sports

Roger Clemens Has Nothing on This Guy

by Daria Steigman on August 31, 2010

Influence, Popularity, and Community | Independent Thinking | Steigman Communications, llcSo I go out of town for a few days and miss the big sports story. No, not that story. This one.

What’s interesting about the Jay Mariotti story isn’t the facts. Or even the arrest. It’s the glee with which just about everyone has greeted the news.

Apparently this guy has no friends. Not among the community of athletes, coaches, and managers that he’s made his living writing and talking about. Not among his colleagues in the media. Even his co-commentators on ESPN‘s Around the Horn said they weren’t surprised by the sports world’s response to his arrest. One even said that Mariotti will “have to start rethinking how he goes about his business.”

It’s fitting to talk about this on a day that I participated in a tweetchat on the topic of “popularity versus influence.” See, Mariotti was influential (how else could he engender this much vitriol?). But he certainly wasn’t popular.

Business can be competitive. But it shouldn’t be mean. We always talk about the importance of community. That being helpful and giving back matter.

Here’s what you risk when you treat people as disposable. Or even just when they think you have.

Photo by Meddy Garnet (Flickr).

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4 Reasons LeBron James’ Decision Makes Business Sense

by Daria Steigman on July 9, 2010

Lebron James | Business not Marketing/PR or Branding | Independent Thinking | Steigman Communications, lccMike Greenberg said on ESPN Radio this morning that “you need to separate the decision from how it was done.” (He was talking, of course, about LeBron James.)

He’s absolutely right.

My friend Justin Goldsborough has a terrific post on James, Joe Mauer, and brand legacies in sports. His key point:

If he was still hoping to be the biggest brand in the world or the biggest brand ever, that chance is gone. In fact, he won’t even be the biggest brand in Miami. That’s Dwayne Wade’s team.

I agree, but I think–disappointment in Cleveland aside–we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that James made a business decision. And it was a fascinating one.

1. We’ve known for several years that James, Wade, and several top NBA players took shorter deals in the past in order to time their arrivals on the free agency market. It was a (then) subtle way to level the playing field a bit in a sports world dominated by team owners.

2. One man cannot be responsible for the economic well-being of an entire city. I’m very sympathetic to the people of Cleveland, especially the small business owners who have benefited from great pre-game crowds. But let’s step back and recognize that a business model dependent on one person, one client, or one product being an unending success is a bad business model.

3. One player cannot be responsible for an entire franchise. Plus Dan Gilbert’s classless response on losing his star player tells me he’s the last person I’d want to work for.

4. James is taking less money to work with people he likes and admires. (While we don’t know yet what he’ll earn in Miami, there’s no question it will be far less than the max contract he’d have had in Cleveland.) Isn’t this the type of decision we’d typically be applauding?

What do you think?

Photo by David Shankbone (Flickr).

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Opening Day 2010

by Daria Steigman on April 5, 2010

Taking a day away from the office. It’s Opening Day 2010, and I’m off today to worship at the altar of baseball. Me, President Obama, and 44,000 other sports fans at Nationals Park. Have a good Monday, and I’ll see you tomorrow.

Photo by sigckgc (Flickr).

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Community, Baltimore Style

by Daria Steigman on October 16, 2009

Our relay team, Guinness at the Finish, after the finish.

Our relay team poses for a quick, post-race picture.

The Baltimore Running Festival turned 9 this year, and I’ve run either the half-marathon or the relay five times and signed up and been unable to run a couple more. In other words, I love this race–and it isn’t for the unrelenting hills.

Here are a few of the highlights:

  • Corrigan Sports, which is a race organization nonpareil. They do a great job, ask for and incorporate feedback from runners every year, and are quick to apologize when something goes wrong. Plus they send me a “happy birthday” email every year; how cool is that?
  • The Gummy Bear Man, who I know has a real name (but I don’t remember it). He’s moved away, but he comes back to Baltimore every race day to hand out hundreds of pounds of gummy bears to thrilled runners around mile 23.
  • The wacky crowds, who come out in every neighborhood and cheer for the elites and stay until the last, slowest runner has gone by. My fav this year: “Eye of the Tiger” man–tiger suit, standing on the hood of a car pointing at runners as we went by, with the Survivor single playing on an endless loop.
  • The volunteers, including police, water station attendants, and the guy who handed me that silver crinkle blanket to keep me warm at the finish line.

And, of course, the runners — who somehow in Baltimore get that we’re all in this together. One year heat and ferocious head winds took their toll: I was hurting, everyone around me was hurting, and just about everyone was walking. A stranger looked at me and said, “We’re going to finish this race together.” And we did.

We spend a lot of time talking about online communities, and how to create and nurture them. I wonder if we sometimes forget the examples offline that are happening all around us. In Baltimore, there’s a race day community that I’m proud to be a part of each year.

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Are You Inspiring Your Team Today?

by Daria Steigman on August 4, 2009

Juan MarichalBeing a baseball booster can be fraught with disappointment. Just ask Cubs fans: 101 years and counting. My team, the Washington Nationals, is on its way to getting the first overall pick in the draft for the second year in a row. This isn’t a good thing.

Last month, the Washington Nationals fired their manager after the team won only 23 games through June (losing 64 or so). While by all accounts Manny Acta is a good guy, he isn’t a leader. As the team floundered, he:

  • Rarely held a team meeting. His successor holds a short meeting every day, win or lose.
  • Didn’t talk much. While some players were fine with that, others reportedly needed a more high-touch approach.
  • He rarely, if ever, talked about accountability.

Acta’s worst offense: he kept doing the same thing over and over again even when it wasn’t working. That’s bad management. It’s terrible leadership.

What are you doing to inspire your team today?

P.S. The team’s still got issues, but they’re definitely playing better and with more spark under interim manager Jim Riggleman.

Photo by cliff1066. Flickr Creative Commons license.

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