The Driehaus College of Business recently launched a series highlighting the consulting and project management experiences of students at the college. Read on to learn about the lessons learned from a sports business consulting project with the Premier League that alumna Maggie Specht (BUS ’21) worked on while she was a student.
Maggie Specht (BUS ’21)
Driehaus College of Business
About my consulting project:
During my spring break this past year, I had the amazing opportunity to take part in a consulting project with the Premier League (the top English football league) as part of (Sports Business Program Director) Andy Clark’s ICS 395: Business of Sports in London virtual study abroad program. Even though the program was in a remote format with the continued travel restrictions due to the pandemic, this was still an extremely valuable experience.
The Premier League asked us to research companies that are making strides in the areas of diversity and inclusion efforts and to outline actionable steps that the league could implement to achieve these goals. The Premier League has recently made a push for their executive employees to reflect the same diverse backgrounds that their players represent. Each group in our class researched anywhere from four to six companies that have established plans for integrating more diverse employees at an executive level. My group researched JP Morgan Chase, Target, the NFL, the NHL, and the Chicago Blackhawks. Our group found that anti-racism training, top-down integration initiatives, and education opportunities were the most beneficial in creating diverse workforces.
What I learned from my project experience:
This project was extremely relevant and timely because of the continued dialogue in the U.S. about diversity and inclusion in our workforce as well. It also meant a lot to me personally as I look to enter the sports sector which is a typically male-dominated field. It is important to me to find a team or sports organization that is committed to including both women and minorities like the Premier League is.
To become a better project manager, you need to have a clear understanding of what your client needs; that you offer them a detailed plan to get to their end goal; and that you spend extra time going in-depth in the necessary research for the project. In my consulting projects for Professor Clark’s class, all of my various teams spent a lot of time making sure that we understood what our client was looking for from us. Whether that was research on other brands, information on what comparable companies were doing to solve a specific problem, or well-thought-out action plans, our team always made sure that we were meeting the needs that our client had set forth. Once we understood where our client wanted to go with the project, it was important to us that we offered a detailed plan of how to get to their end goal.
By writing out the steps on how to get to the goal, the client has a better idea of how to implement the research or ideas that we are providing for them. This helps the client see how they are going to achieve their goal and it puts their ideas into actionable steps.
Why project management skills matter:
Project management/consulting skills are extremely important for my field of sports management. This is a field where you are going to be working with various clients, customers and coworkers, and it is important to gain experience being in situations where you are working for someone else and trying to help them achieve their goal. If you are going into the field of sports, all of these experiences are crucial to understanding how various sports organizations work and what issues that they are currently trying to manage or change about their current landscape. I had the opportunity to help various teams with brand awareness, diversity and inclusion efforts, and marketing ideas for future events.
These experiences gave me a great idea of what to expect when working in the sports sector. As a graduating college student, I feel like I have some real-world experience that stands out on my résumé and that gives me a leg up on other applicants. These experiences give me the confidence to walk into an interview with the knowledge that I have gotten a taste of the areas that sports teams are trying to stay competitive in.
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