This entry will seem a bit different from other entries I’ve written thus far, drifting away from the strategic communications and emerging media themes, instead focusing inward to reflect upon experiences I've had over the past year or two, also describing future pictures of an exciting time to come.
You see…much like the picture depicted above, I am crossing an exciting threshold.
With this very post, I will complete the entirety of my coursework for my Ph.D. It is an odd feeling, for certain. After two years of diligent effort, too many 1:00 am mornings to keep track of, many papers and presentations later, I am now finished with my classwork. Milestone achieved.
I am charging through the next doorway of opportunity, where I will soon complete my comprehensive exam and drill down into the nuts and bolts of my dissertation research on organizational capacity…exploring a framework which I created to explain and better understand how companies use their systems to leverage resources, processes and outcomes to achieve goals and sustain competitive advantage.
Chella, my adviser, has been an amazing man to learn from over the past two years and I am now looking forward to working more closely with him and learning more from this world-known sport management scholar. I aspire to travel the world just as he does, helping sport organizations of all kinds with the research I will do.
Through these classes, I’ve learned to scrutinize ideas and have learned how to learn, in terms of consuming academic research, and I now look forward to generating original contributions of my own, as a contributing scholar for academe and also as a consultant, to help those sport managers with boots on the ground, working in a practitioner role.
I have learned how to sustain my learning and knowledge acquisition, and I am refining my ability to conduct strategic research. I thank each and every one of my professors at Troy University for that. Especially through this last strategic communications and emerging media course, I’ve learned to see a bigger, global picture…to see doors and windows of opportunity all around me.
Now…which one to choose…
Much like the picture above, I have a vague idea of what's outside, and it looks just wonderful. Now to push open that door.
I have always enjoyed writing, and through this blog I have enjoyed talking about strategic communication and emerging media. Over the coming months the frequency might lessen for the time being as I transition, however over the next year I will enjoy the chance to return to share what I discover with those who are curious to engage in dialogue and offer feedback and ideas.
Immense change is happening everywhere, to most all organizations as a result of Web 2.0, and the sport industry is not exempt from such transition. Social media and the capacity to process and learn from big data is causing transformational changes across all dimensions of business.
As technology advances, changes are also happening in the financial model of sport. Sport fans are cutting their cable - the primary source of funding for the sport industry. Leagues and organizations who cannot migrate and monetize their content from traditional media to a digital platform will cease to exist. Many organizations are seeking help navigating the change process, seeking assistance in understanding the new organizational systems and management strategies that are needed - new types of decision making required and critical tools they need to successfully bring their organizations forward.
NFL, NASCAR, NBA, USOC, FIFA, F1, and the NCAA (to name a few) are undergoing immense pressure to change their organizational structure, decision making, values, and more. Internal and external stakeholders of each of these organizations are demanding a greater voice, greater transparency, greater authenticity, and an ability to collaborate in ways that at times overwhelm an old-school practitioner. All these leagues and organizations are attempting to transition to a new world order on Web 2.0, utilizing big data to help develop sustained support of communities of fans and stakeholders in a digital, mobile world.
The entirety of these organizations' structure, systems, tools, resources, processes, intellectual assets, all of it…is changing. Sport management leaders who attempt to cling to an analog way of thinking and a former way of doing business, who insist on tall org charts and power structures, choosing silos of operation will unfortunately find they are grasping at sand through their fingers. Those organizations which embrace change and press forward to modify their thinking will hopefully be able to re-craft their organizations such that they can capitalize upon the requirements of this new digital ecosystem and survive.
The past nine weeks have been eye opening for me, in terms of the nature of opportunity that theoretically exists for all of us with an internet connection and a device to connect. It has reinforced to me the importance of transparency, authenticity, trust and collaboration. These are all values inherent in the internet, and they are required for sustained success of any kind.
I look forward to walking through the doors of opportunity which lie ahead. They will enable me to generate both academic and proprietary research to help organizations craft solutions to the issues they face. I am curious to explore how I can conduct research in such an internet ecosystem, and how I can use my access to reach out and learn from great minds across the globe.
Windows of opportunity are the ideas we have and the connections we make with others. It is when we have the courage to step forward when we initiate change.
Signing off for now…but stay tuned for more updates in the coming months. If you have found these thoughts to be helpful or would like to connect, please find me on LinkedIn.
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About the Author: Mary Beth is graduating this spring with a Ph.D. at Troy University in Sport Management, where her research interests involve organizational capacity in sport. She is the Sport Management Department Chair at Pfeiffer University, a liberal arts institution near Charlotte, NC. She has 15 years experience as a Marketing Director for an LPGA tourney, Marketing Director for a US Olympic National Governing Body, sponsorship sales executive for an NBA sports and entertainment property, VP of Marketing and Ticket Sales for a hockey team, and she aided press operations during the 1996 Olympic Games as an Interview Room Manager. Mary Beth enjoys thinking about new ideas and solving business problems. Follow her on Twitter @mb_chambers or LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/marybethchambersphd