ISS '13: Why The Cornell Experience Matters

The 8th Annual Ivy Sports Symposium will take place at Harvard Law School on Friday, November 22, 2013.  The Cornell Sports Business Society will be providing regular coverage before, during, and after the event. 

The 8th annual Ivy Sports Symposium held this year at Harvard University on November 22 showcases some of the most successful leaders of the industry. The eleven Cornell alumni speaking at the event reflect on what aspects of the Cornell experience was most helpful or best prepared them for their career paths.

CHARLES BAKER, JD ‘85
The analytic framework for studying business and commercial cases, identifying issues and solving for them, was invaluable training for my career as an M+A and Corporate Finance lawyer. The transactions I worked on early in my career built upon this foundation and enabled me to refine it. Today, not a day goes by when I’m not identifying issues for key clients with respect to proposed M+A and finance transactions and trying to propose creative solutions for dealing with counter-parties, like buyers/sellers, investors, banks and leagues.  Cornell Law School’s case methodology was critical to my development as a sports M+A and finance lawyer. In addition, I enjoy my career because I’m surrounded everyday by smart, creative thinkers. I found the same to be true of my experience at Cornell.

ANDREW DAINES ‘10 
Studying philosophy may seem like an unusual path to tech entrepreneurship, but studying Plato under Professors Tad Brennan and Gail Fine prepared me well. People - partners, competitors, investors, clients, whoever - appreciate appeals to reason. They are motivated by simple, sound arguments that rest on basic principles. Constructing a water-tight argument as to how and why my company will win and will help its clients and partners win is my job as CEO. Thanks, Plato, and thanks Professors Brennan and Fine. 

TRACY DOLGIN ‘81

There are only two assets in the media business:  content and people.  And, ultimately, you’re only as good as the people who make and market the content.  Human capital is really our only capital here at YES.  People are what have made YES what it is today. 

As a result of my ILR experience, I have a unique perspective of the media business…
There are only two assets in the media business:  content and people.  And, ultimately, you’re only as good as the people who make and market the content.  Human capital is really our only capital here at YES.  People are what have made YES what it is today.

The ILR school is all about maximizing that human capital.  Studying at ILR really gives you a leg up in that it trains you to use that part of the brain that most people in media don’t have a classical education in.  ILR alums not only deal with the analytical aspect of a situation, but with the people aspect of it, too.
When I am faced with a situation at work, the road to a solution begins with my human capital.   How do I get the most out of my people?   That’s how I was taught to think.  That’s what has differentiated me from people who do not have the ILR background.  Most others don’t even think about the human element.  

TOM GRILK ‘69
 Learning clarity of thought (philosophy) and economy of language (ROTC)

MATTHEW HILTZIK ‘94
I was first impacted by Cornell even before I was born, as my father’s experience at the ILR school set an example for my eventual career path of studying industrial labor relations, attending law school and eventually working in media in NYC - even though I ended up in a different (non-legal) profession.

While I don’t have many colleagues who cite specific lessons from courses they took in college, thanks to my Cornell education, I regularly still reference concepts from organizational behavior, labor economics, negotiations, and risk management. The relatively small student-to-professor ratio and diversity of my classes reflected the realities of the workplace, the courses helped me think strategically, and my experience as a supervisor refereeing intramural basketball was invaluable in learning to have a thick skin, which are all useful skills when dealing with crisis and other communication issues across a wide range of industries.

TODD JACOBSON 
Being a student athlete at Cornell was a big part of my experience and taught me many things on and off the field - - hard work, time management, preparation, teamwork, leadership - - that helped shape me in to the person I am today and prepared me well for my career.  Most importantly, the experience grew my love of sport and the power it has two inspire and unite people together for a common goal. 

BARRY KAHN ‘03
As an entrepreneur, there are no set answers or formulaic approaches. It’s not about knowing the right answer or recalling what to do, but to take what you know and apply it to a brand new situation with completely unique circumstances. That is a skill set that was fostered going through the very challenging Cornell Engineering Physics program. In running an analytics company, I’ve actually shocked myself by occasionally covering the white board with Fourier series and differential equations that remind me of my days in school. 

When I look back, the true value of what I gained was the ability to learn, to not be intimidated by new challenges, and to apply what I do know in ways that were never contemplated in the text book or classroom where they were taught to me in the first place.Coupled with my experiences running 100+ miles a week as a member of the Cross Country and Track & Field teams at Cornell, where I pushed past boundaries that I may have though existed and truly realized my ability to work hard, and I would say that my Cornell education, in the broadest sense of the word, gave me the tools to start a business. Perhaps the irony is that the focus of that business could have been anything.

JENNIFER KEENE ‘05 
The most applicable lesson I learned at Cornell was not to be discouraged. That there would be ups and downs along the way but that I have the ability to navigate them.

BO MOON ‘99
 The best part of my Cornell experience was the development of problem solving skills and a strong work ethic.  The first, problem solving, comes into practice every single day in my career, and the person that can come up with solutions to various problems quickly can become the thought leader for a business.  And it’s not that cliche “thinking outside the box” that I’ve seen succeed, it’s thinking inside the box but finding the optimal path.  

Secondly, it’s work ethic.  Cornell does not have grade inflation, and the school attracts incredibly intelligent students from all walks of life, so there is a real drive for success that necessitates a strong work ethic.  That will pay dividends when you graduate, because it’s that work ethic that will sustain you when you go a start your own business or climb the corporate ladder.  And trust me, other people don’t have it.
Finally—my advice is to be social, interact with classmates, and take classes with team-oriented projects.  Ultimately, people hire people they want to work with—and those people get promoted faster than others.

JOHN SERGI
In the Fall of 1987 my graduate work began at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration.  My purpose for enrolling was to dedicate two full years to create a Strategic Hospitality Design firm for Sports.  By applying the principles of design thinking to food and hospitality, the mission of this consultancy was to shift sport’s perspective on food from tactical, a simple revenue source, to strategic meaning to see food as a way to communicate brand, place and fan connection.

The Cornell experience shaped my business in that my academic advisor Professor Leo Reneghan served as advisor, mentor, and in truth consultant to the design of the business.  In my view this alone was worth the tuition, and would often remind Leo of this.  To have one of the country’s great hospitality marketing minds at my side in the design of a business was an incredible, and invaluable experience.  This qualifies as preparing me for my career path, in spades.

In a broader sense, the interdisciplinary nature of the curriculum was exactly what was needed to help me build the tools to manage the business.  Design as we practice it is a very collaborative process involving specialists in operations, facilities, marketing and finance.  We subscribe to the belief that to solve complex problems requires multiple points of view.  Creating strategic hospitality in a 70,000 seat venue is complex.  Familiarity with multiple disciplines via the Cornell curriculum has been critical to the project management process.

Finally, four years ago we effectively shuttered the business John Sergi Associates, to join the new CEO and primary stakeholder, Des Hague, in his reinvention of Centerplate, from sports concessionaire to event hospitality provider, i.e. from tactical player to strategic partner…sound familiar?  Now is the time to really broaden the audience for the conversation of a new way to look at food and sports, and Des has provided a multi-national, yet focused stage. Though not obvious until recently, Cornell laid the foundation to transition from entrepreneur and business owner to corporate executive. 

LOWELL TAUB ‘96TBA