Investing in people, not ideas.

I’ve only been in the role under 12 months so it has been more of a “listen and learn” process for me but luckily I’m surrounded by a great group of experts and people that are passionate about helping Port Adelaide. Most of the directors that I’m working with have been on the board for a number of years and have done a remarkable job in transforming the business department and allowing the club to commit to a fully funded soft cap giving the team its best chance to perform. Hopefully in the next few years we will see that hard work come to fruition. My role is to help the connection between the football department and the board, and to be available for any of the players or coaches for an outside set of eyes or opinion. Even within a team, every player individually has to take responsibility for the things that they can control and do them with 100% belief and commitment. Only then when you have full buy-in by everyone do you have a team capable of going all the way.

Great question. I can’t see TV networks including ESPN moving totally moving away from the linear broadcast just yet. But you are right, the broadcast landscape has been changing rapidly and the young generation is accessing a lot of their content via mobile devices. It is part of the reason that ESPN3 and ESPN+ exist and the numbers have been growing enormously in the last few years. At a tournament like Wimbledon you are able to access all 18 match courts via the internet which is a massive improvement over the old style of broadcasting but the numbers in recent years have also been improving for traditional viewership in your living room. I think all TV networks in the US are keeping a close eye on the trends and in the end it’ll be the viewers that are the winners as access to sport is becoming easier, albeit more expensive with the “pay as you go” mindset that is taking over.

Yes I am. I’ve been doing a variety of things this year which has included some consulting with coaches, tennis workshops for Tennis Australia and corporate guest speaking. It’s been a nice year to diversify into some different areas after traveling the tour playing and coaching for the last 35 years. Talking to different businesses and sporting teams about my experiences in tennis and communicating what has worked well along with some of my failures that I’ve learned from has been a fun experience. My role on the Port Adelaide board had me doing a couple of courses for governance and leadership and there are many similarities in culture and leadership while running a company as there are in sporting teams and professional athletes.

Yes I will. More than likely I will head across to Shenzhen later this month to spend some time with the team and set the plan for the pre-season and 2020. Simona has a back issue at the moment that she’s dealing with so we will see how she responds to treatment back home in Bucharest and hopefully she will ready to play in the WTA Finals. I’m looking forward to next year as Simo is a great young player and person.