What I Learned this Summer, Part II

This was probably the area where it is most difficult to evaluate my progress. Largely because I have not had any specific feedback from students about my lesson plans. I enrolled in a OISE/UT Additional Qualifications course and was able to communicate and exchange ideas with a plethora of business teachers facing similar concerns.

Consequently, I have a much better idea of what I teach, why I teach, who I teach, and how I should teach. Even if I forget the entire Business Studies component of this course, I will remember to ask myself those questions.

Throughout the course, we discussed how to best put ourselves in the shoes of the students who are enrolled in the course. While completing a technology based assignment, we talked about how challenging it can be to try a new task with no prior experience. Sometimes it seems that as teachers and coaches, we have done the same thing so many times we forgot what it was like to do it the first time. I will be sure to help students adapt to their new environment as they enter Grade 9 and comprehend new technologies which may be unfamiliar.

I don’t want to be in class talking about the politics of marketing or on the court talking about the triangle offence if the teenagers to whom I am speaking don’t understand the concept. As a leader, it is my job to break these ideas down into smaller specific instructions. I really want to incorporate more scaffolding in the classroom and in my practice plans. I can’t tell an M.D.P. team that the timing of the camp offence is off without explaining why this is important and how it scoring opportunities for everyone can be increased if we tighten up the execution. As Lao-Tzu said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

Even Mike Krzyzewski spoke about how the Redeem Team had an attention-span of fifteen minutes and that he needed to mix things up with different speakers, different media, and rhetorical techniques, especially humour. In the The Gold Standard, Coach K writes about how instructing major concepts at the beginning of practice seemed to sap everyone’s energy. The articles and books that I read - along with my assignments for OISE/UT and the National Coaching Institute - demonstrated how much my first two goals for the summer are very interconnected.

What I Hope to Learn this Summer, Part II

Teaching ex tempore, incorporating current events, finding stories of local interest, and attempting to follow student trends in order to make them part of the course enhance my teaching style but I feel that I can do better. I really want to create lessons that are significant for the class and meet their needs, hopefully engendering the same enthusiasm for marketing and finance that I have. I want to discuss major issues and make students stop to think.

During the spring, I read No Logo by Naomi Klein. I think that it can be a good resource for both high school and post-secondary marketing instructors. To me, the book is meaningful because it advances issues initially raised by legends of the field like Theodore Levitt but illustrates the argument with examples that students can relate to. The publication date on some articles sometimes causes students to tune out so for that reason alone, excerpts from Klein’s exposé are more accessible.

(Obviously, globalization is one of a litany of pertinent issues in the field of marketing.)

In 1972, Al Ries and Jack Trout authored a paper entitled “The Positioning Era Cometh”; in 2000 Klein published her book. Both works - and countless others - describe brand dominance, beginning with the advent of the television age and continuing until today’s age of increased communication and information, and its effects on consumers. Ries and Trout look forward several decades whereas Klein recounts recent marketing history and analyzes what consumers should do next. Levitt’s prescient article about Globalization discusses how global companies will overtake the neighbourhood store and what will happen to local economy, although he is not as austere as Klein.

Once brands overtake products - from shoes and clothes to phones and communication to schools and politicians - and image supersedes quality, modern life bursts at the seams with noise. The public space is imbued with logos, conversation littered with slogans. Sometimes I feel that we don

I don’t think that we ask enough questions. What is the point of education aside from providing a critical framework to analyze the reasoning behind actions? The actual fundamentals of globalization - importing, manufacturing, transporting, storing products - are soon forgotten but the trend affects the lives of students on a daily basis. I want to imbue the marketing course with significance, inspiring inquisitiveness.

It’s like asking a student why they bought a gold-coloured Cavaliers baseball hat: did they buy it because New Era makes the most durable and comfortable hats on the market or because they think LeBron James is cool? Or it may be merely because Chris Brown wore it in a photo posted on TMZ. I don’t care either way but I hope they understand why they made the decision.

If it’s possible to delve that deeply into an subject these days...

I have far fewer answers to my problem than I would like and I hope to gain some insight by reading, studying, and learning from others at an OISE/UT Additional Qualifications course during the month of July.

ESPN: The Uncensored Story

Michael Freeman’s book about the birth of ESPN offers many lessons about entrepreneurship and marketing, largely focused on persistence and the benefits of competition. Many people turned down the concept of a 24/7 sports network yet the founder Bill Rasmussen kept pushing because he believed that he had a good idea. The networks at the time were extremely myopic in their vision for the future of television which permitted cable networks like ESPN, CNN, and HBO to steal countless viewers, talent, and advertising revenue.

Whilst the new blue-chip brand’s humble beginnings were fascinating, the amount of alcoholism, sexual harassment, gambling, and drug abuse were quite dismaying. It goes to show, I suppose, that workplace stress can really take a toll and that it is important to support employees. According to one anecdote, employees who had been drinking in the studio and were forced to continue the habit outside by the satellite dishes only stopped because a rumour spread that drinking near the dishes could cause infertility.

ESPN Senior V.P. and Executive Editor changed a great deal in the company to keep it relevant and innovative and make it more professional. The company is hardly perfect but it identified a target market and catered to it to become a worldwide success. The book was entertaining at times but boring during other chapters. ESPN: The Uncensored Story would have benefited from a more concise writing style, but it was worth the $5.99 at BMV Books.

Talent Myopia

In 1960, Theodore Levitt published Marketing Myopia, a seminal article for the Harvard Business Review that highlighted how a narrow understanding and a refusal to accept change doomed a number of business empires. Companies ranging from electric street car manufacturers that didn't understand the effect of the automotive industry to dry cleaners who did not cope with the development of new synthetic fabrics were criticized. The same problems also manifest themselves away from the business world, on the basketball court, where players get caught up with their own abilities and misunderstand their role in the sport.

Self-Deceiving Cycle: There is a certain groupthink among today’s ballers, ideas and opinions taken as given, facts ignored, despite all common sense. They follow the hoop culture vicariously via NBA.com but don’t follow the example of their role models. They watch an And1 mix tape and assume that they have the all the skills they need. E.O. Wilson once said that “Blind faith, no matter how passionately expressed, will not suffice. Science for its part will test relentlessly every assumption about the human condition.”

The Cycle develops as players forget how their heroes made the Association, ignoring examples like Steve Nash shooting free throws in the rain on Vancouver Island and disregarding the countless others who wanted to be him but failed in a blaze of glory. From where they are now, focusing only on their narrow range of skills and not the entire game, it might serve them well to read the signposts.

Production Pressure: It can’t be denied that young players are pressured by countless others. There’s pressure to keep the baskets coming at the Bantam level, rather than shoot correctly (irrespective of the outcome). There’s pressure to win by any means necessary rather than do it the right way (you don’t get paid for winning club games). There’s pressure to talk about Brandon Roy’s three-point buzzer beater against Houston, rather than the player who allowed him to get open (Travis Outlaw set the screen). There’s pressure achieve the coach’s definition of success, rather than John Wooden’s (As Coach Wooden would say, you can’t shoot if you can’t move and get open). Coaches should pressure players to improve, not just perform.

Population Myth: Some excellent student-athletes have always been recruited because they standout at their level. There are countless youth teams but very few professional leagues, and very few professional leagues that pay well. It’s hard to make a living playing ball. Agents serve dozens of clients and most of them are not Scott Boras.

Sooner or later, the number of buyers will shrink and the number of sellers will remain the same. Coaches will not only assess players on their physical abilities but their mental and social abilities as well. Some players will reach a certain point based on talent alone but others will be held back. Some players will less talent will surpass them because they play the game well.

Student-athletes must accept that they are basketball players, not ball handlers or scorers and learn the about the entire game: accept advice, rebound, set screens, give help, take leadership, move the ball, pass and cut, etc… Even Trajan Langdon is getting paid to play basketball these days.

New Coke

I finished a coaching journal in four months. Usually, the journals take a little longer to fill out. It seems like I really have a lot of ideas at the moment. All dressed up and nowhere to go, so to speak.

You can fall into a bit of a trap when you’re constrained to a wholly theoretical framework. I have confidence in these ideas, but I would like to see them on the court. Reality checks can be swift and harsh. For all I know, what I’ve been creating the last three months is the basketball equivalent of New Coke. Basketball isn’t a chess match between coaches; players have to go out and execute. What they execute plays a relatively small role in the outcome compared to how they execute it.

I made a presentation at the National Coaching Institute regarding positive changes I have made to my coaching style. The presentation was well-received and I appreciated everyone’s feedback. Making these changes - and knowing there are more changes I can’t wait to make when I coach again - has really reinvigorated my enthusiasm for coaching. Yet here I am.