Tony Smith Presents: |
Thursday, November 12 at 1:00 PM EST |
Survive, Grow, Win: Leadership
and Business Lessons from ESPN
Today, ESPN so thoroughly dominates two industries – cable television and sports entertainment – that it’s easy to overlook how far it has come. Launched in 1979 as a start-up with little hope of survival, ESPN seized the opportunities of a radical new technology (cable television), survived the challenges of hostile competitors and indifferent partners, flipped the cable industry’s entire revenue model to create a new way of doing business, innovated its way into closed markets, groomed talented leadership from within, and established a brand that has become synonymous with its product.
 or call 800.775.7654 |
Lessons every manager, HR professional and executive should know about
innovation, operations, brand and leadership
Join author and executive coach, Tony Smith, for the incredible story and insightful lessons behind the success of ESPN, the most fanatical brand in sports. Through 18 years working closely with the leadership team at ESPN, Tony has observed, analyzed, and carefully distilled the strategies and approaches ESPN used to achieve and sustain its remarkable success.
Now, more than ever, leaders need fresh ideas for surviving difficult business challenges, a balance between operational discipline and risk-reward innovation, a workforce committed to the product, the customer and the enterprise, and the freedom to make “good mistakes” while constantly expanding the brand. ESPN shows us how it can be done — not with easy platitudes but through hard-fought victories, diligent execution, and by seizing game-changing opportunities.
In this 90-minute interactive session, Tony will discuss:
- Why ESPN hired fanatics of its product and business and how that helped build a close relationship with customers
- How the “insecure-overachiever” complex dominated the ESPN culture and enabled it to challenge the status quo and produce top quality product
- How its leadership model differed from standard organizations, and how that enabled ESPN to succeed in changing circumstances while staying true to its vision
- How ESPN overcame markets dominated by established giants by creating new products and programs no one had ever seen before, and fans loved
- How ESPN capitalized on its success, expanded its brand without sacrificing, and achieved its own market dominance
- The skills ESPN employed to establish relationships with partners and ownership groups to always advance its interests
- How ESPN encouraged high-risk / high-reward decisions and innovative ideas by never punishing mistakes and encouraging its workforce to have fun
Thirty years ago, ESPN was the biggest sports story not to make the front page. Today, the important story is how ESPN managed to survive, grow, innovate, brand itself, and secure those accomplishments in a highly competitive and rapidly evolving marketplace.
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Dr. Anthony (Tony) Smith is the co-founder and a managing director of Leadership Research Institute, recognized as one of the leading management consulting firms specializing in leadership development. A lifelong student of leadership, an organizational consultant, and a top executive coach, Tony is an expert in executive development, leadership training and design, organizational change and assessment, and executive team building. His research, writings, and reviews on leadership have appeared in such publications as the Harvard Business Review, Investors Business Daily, The Economist, and Journal of Leadership Studies. Dr. Smith was also a senior contributor to best-selling books The Leader of the Future and The Organization of the Future (published by the Drucker Foundation). He has served global clients, including McKinsey & Company, American Express, The National Football League, Siemens AG, Deutsche Bank, The Walt Disney Company, ESPN, and Goldman, Sachs, and Company. He also serves on corporate boards, including the V Foundation for Cancer Research (honoring basketball coaching great Jim Valvano). |
