Time to re-evaluate

The NFLs boys club made a mess of the draft, but its nothing a woman cant fix

THERE WAS ONLY one woman in attendance at JaMarcus Russell’s 2007 predraft workout — and she was smitten. She had a good excuse: Macy Grace Miles, daughter of LSU coach Les Miles, was all of 3 years old at the time and had simply tagged along with Dad to cheer on her favorite Tiger. There was no excusing, however, the 100 or so scouts, GMs and coaches who packed the Tigers’ indoor practice facility and swooned in unison every time Russell flashed the now-ironic The Chosen One tattoo on his left arm.

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Wow!

He tracked me down, dragged me over to his booth to show me his company’s tennis dress line and proclaimed that he was sick of being the sales manager for a large conglomerate and was ready to make a move. Carl bragged about how much money he had made and boldly proclaimed that he wanted to buy into my company.

Papillon, my tennis dress manufacturing company, was annually generating about two million dollars in sales, making a small profit and my customers were some of the best known department stores in the country.

When Carl offered to purchase fifty percent of my company for $500,000 he certainly got my attention. On the surface, this looked like a great opportunity. His offer was not chicken feed—an equity infusion of half a million dollars would enable me to double my sales and grow the company at a much faster pace.

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It wasn’t luck that landed the New York Giants and New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI. Rather, it was the result of months — if not years — of hard work, team-building and constant preparation. When they take the field this Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, it is those qualities that will once again be on display when one team is named Super Bowl champion.

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Build your team

“The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.” – Babe Ruth

Simply having the right people, however, is not enough to ensure future success. You have to build your team. Just ask Susan Tose Spencer, who knows what it takes to build a team both in sports and business.  After serving as the legal counsel for the Philadelphia Eagles for five years, Spencer was promoted to general manager of the team, a position she filled from 1983 to 1985.

“During that period of time, I was running the business, which included managing a budget, trying to collect proceeds and all the other things you would do when trying to run a business,” said Spencer, who is the author of “Briefcase Essentials: Discover Your 12 Natural Talents for Achieving Success in a Male-Dominated Workplace” (Greenleaf Book Group, 2011). “In addition to that, I was also responsible for signing players to contracts. I also worked with the coaching and scouting staff to try to work out the numbers for players that would have to fit that into their scheme without hitting the salary cap.”

Having the experience of crafting a sports team taught Spencer what it took to  be successful in the sports world, but her career after leaving the Eagles taught her what it took to be successful in the business world as well. After moving on from the NFL, Spencer ran two successful businesses, one in food distribution and another in meat processing that dealt with sales worth tens of millions of dollars a year, but her time as the first female general manager in NFL history taught her about a quality, present in the sports world that was lacking in the business world.

“Team-building is a quality that I find isn’t really prevalent in most large companies,” said Spencer, who is in the process of writing a second book. “When I use the word team-building, obviously in a sports team, if you don’t build a team and you don’t have the team buy in, you won’t win. In my companies, some of which had over 100 people working there, teamwork and team spirit was everything.”

Adding another layer to simply putting the right people in place, both businesses and sports teams must have the leadership to guide either their employees or athletes. Even if a team has the most talented players or employees, the end result will not end in a success if there is not a strong team spirit and clear leadership in place.

“All of the coaches I have spoken to told me there is one ingredient that is unmistakable if you are going to get buy-in from your players or employees,” said Spencer. “You have to be authentic and you need to know your stuff.  If you are neither of the two you will get no buy-in. If you get no buy-in, you won’t have team work and you can’t build a team, which means you won’t be successful.”

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Why does it take a catastrophic occurrence for women to get national attention for competing in death-defying extreme sports, performing the same feats and taking the same risks as men?

On January 10, 2012, injury struck top freestyle skier Sarah Burke, a favorite contender for an Olympic medal. She was doing what she loved, practicing for an upcoming freestyle half-pipe competition. The injury proved fatal as she died nine days later. She was 29.

Sarah was a fierce competitor whose knees and shoulder were as torn up as an NFL linebacker’s and whose eye-catching natural beauty and welcoming personality belied the fact that she was a skiing “superstar.”

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Article written by Susan T Spencer:  FEMALE LEADERSHIP GREAT ASSET

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Article written by Susan T Spencer : Going to Bat for Your People When the Doors Close

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Briefcase Essentials nominated for the CEO Read Business Book Awards

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Business networking has been described as the process of developing and growing informal relations for the purpose of gaining business opportunities or employment. As a successful entrepreneur who has started several companies from scratch—without knowing anyone in the industry—I can tell you firsthand that there is only one strategy that works.

I call it quid pro quo while other authors have described it as “the art of reciprocity.”(Joanna Barsh and Susie Cranston, How Remarkable Women Lead, New York: Crown Business, 2005).  Regardless of how you describe it the concept is the same—first identify the business person’s hot button and then offer something of value to complement that target. The “quid” can be sending a link to an important article or sharing research that you have done on a subject that you know this businessperson would find useful, an outreach to help an associate solve a problem, facilitating an introduction that helps someone else, or even an offer to be a good listener.

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By Susan T. Spencer on December 11, 2011

It was predictable that a series of bad decisions and an already abysmal Eagles season have brought fans to the conclusion that Reid Must Go. As a former GM of the Philadelphia Eagles, I have seen coaches come and go and know firsthand what it’s like to be on the receiving end of vocal Philly fans.

Yes—Andy Reid’s moves this season look more like those of a rookie coach. In his thirteenth year as head coach, he has won sixty percent of regular season games including seven division championships and one conference championship. http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/ReidAn0.htm

Yes—this was touted to be the Eagles’ “dream team,”—a breakout year that would result in winning the Superbowl.

Based on all the free agent signings, management obviously went along with this fantasy and committed sixty million dollars to sign Nnamdi Asomugha, one hundred million to extend Michael Vick’s contract and millions more for other free agents.

In spite of good intentions, the coach’s new strategy has failed to deliver wins.

Yes—appointing offensive line coach Juan Castillo as the new Defensive Coordinator is at best unconventional and at worst ludicrous. Finding a replacement for former defensive coordinator—Jim Johnson—was no easy assignment.

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In business you are judged by your successes—to be successful you must be a good problem solver. Being able to improvise, by coming up with unique solutions to difficult situations involves some risk in putting yourself out there—but the rewards are well worth the risk. The example that follows describes a risky improvisation that I cooked up when I was the General Manager of a professional football team. After you read my story, see if you think my solution was original, unconventional, and effective—in other words—did it solve the problem?

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