Ep 301: Nova Chat with Jared Blank – University of Texas Chief of Staff

This episode features a Nova Chat session hosted by Nova founder and CEO Maggie Olson.

Maggie chats with the Chief of Staff for the University of Texas football program, Jared Blank. They discuss the role of chiefs of staff in college sports and how Jared navigates complex stakeholder relationships and multimillion-dollar budgets.

ABOUT JARED

​Jared Blank is a results-oriented leader with an analytical sports marketing, sports operations mindset who brings extensive knowledge in managing large scale projects, multimillion-dollar program budgets, and directing sports operations at elite college sports programs.

Program director with nearly two decades of experience successfully working with a wide range of people from all walks of life including students, parents, corporate executives, athletes, non-profit organizations, and high-net-worth individuals.

Currently, he is serving as Chief of Staff for the University of Texas Football team. Also, Jared is working to raise a half scholarship, $12,000, for Park Academy. His Running the Distance Scholarship will provide the opportunity to a student who otherwise would not be able to attend our school structured specifically to help students with dyslexia.

ABOUT MAGGIE

Maggie Olson is the Founder of Nova Chief of Staff, the premier destination for Chief of Staff education and development. As the first Chief of Staff to a president at a Fortune 40 company — who led a multibillion-dollar business with 5,000+ employees — Maggie built the president’s Chief of Staff model from the ground up. Maggie has 20 years’ experience leading large teams and has spent her career focused on both customer and employee experience at companies including T-Mobile, Nordstrom, and Starbucks. In addition to operating the Nova Chief of Staff Certification course, Maggie is a fractional Chief of Staff focused on helping mission-driven, for-profit startup founders scale their businesses quickly. In her spare time, Maggie loves spending time outside with her husband, their animals, and their 1-year-old, Max!

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Visit leaderassistant.com/nova to learn more and secure your spot!

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If you’re enjoying the podcast, please take 2 minutes to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts here. Each review helps me stay motivated to keep the show going!

THE LEADER ASSISTANT BOOK

Download the first 3 chapters of The Leader Assistant: Four Pillars of Game-Changing Assistant for FREE here or buy it on Amazon and listen to the audiobook on Audible. Also, check out the companion study guide, The Leader Assistant Workbook, to dig deeper.

LEADER ASSISTANT LIVE EVENTS

Check out our constantly updated schedule of events for admins and assistants at LeaderAssistantLive.com.

JOIN THE FREE COMMUNITY

Join the Leader Assistant Global Community for bonus content, job opportunities, and to network with other assistants who are committed to becoming leaders!

SUBSCRIBE

Subscribe to The Leader Assistant Podcast so you don’t miss new episodes!

You can find the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Pandora, and Stitcher.

Join my email list here if you want to get an email when a new episode goes live.

LEAVE A REVIEW

If you’re enjoying the podcast, please take 2 minutes to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts here. Each review helps me stay motivated to keep the show going!

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

00:00:00.080 –> 00:00:04.660
JEREMY: Hey, friends, welcome to episode 301 of The Leader Assistant Podcast.

00:00:04.660 –> 00:00:26.500
JEREMY: It’s your host, Jeremy Burrows, and I’m excited to begin a limited series of the show where I’m going to share five or six highlighted bonus, whatever you want to call it, episodes where I share recordings from my friend Maggie Olson’s Nova Chats.

00:00:27.140 –> 00:00:34.000
JEREMY: So Maggie Olson is the founder of Nova Chief of Staff, as you likely know and have heard her on the show several times.

00:00:34.000 –> 00:00:41.000
JEREMY: But she hosts these awesome webinar chats with some different people in the industry or related to our industry.

00:00:41.000 –> 00:00:44.340
JEREMY: And so I’m really excited to share these with you.

00:00:44.340 –> 00:00:49.100
JEREMY: We picked a few to kind of repost on this show here.

00:00:49.100 –> 00:00:59.780
JEREMY: So I’m excited to share the first one in this episode, and it’s with Jared Blank, who is the current Chief of Staff for the University of Texas Football Program.

00:00:59.780 –> 00:01:11.740
JEREMY: And in this conversation, Maggie and Jared discuss the role of Chief of Staff in college sports and how Jared navigates complex stakeholder relationships and multimillion dollar budgets.

00:01:11.740 –> 00:01:15.660
JEREMY: And so it’s going to be a really fun conversation for me to share with you.

00:01:15.660 –> 00:01:18.100
JEREMY: So Maggie does a great job with these Nova Chats.

00:01:18.100 –> 00:01:26.060
JEREMY: And again, this is the first one I’m going to share over the next five or six episodes, several other conversations that she has had in her Nova Chat.

00:01:26.060 –> 00:01:27.320
JEREMY: So enjoy this Nova Chat.

00:01:27.320 –> 00:01:36.980
JEREMY: You can check out the show notes and the links for everything in Jared’s bio in the show notes at leaderassistant.com/301, leaderassistant.com/301.

00:01:39.620 –> 00:01:40.320
JEREMY: I hope you enjoy it.

00:01:46.169 –> 00:01:53.769
<v SPEAKER_3>The Leader Assistant Podcast exists to encourage and challenge assistants to become confident, game-changing leader assistants.

00:02:04.400 –> 00:02:11.640
JEREMY: Hey, Leader Assistants, have you heard the Nova Chief of Staff Certification course is about to see a price increase?

00:02:11.640 –> 00:02:18.540
JEREMY: But don’t worry, you can enroll now, lock in the current rate, and start whenever you’re ready with lifetime access.

00:02:18.540 –> 00:02:22.580
JEREMY: Nova’s mission is to give you the ultimate student experience.

00:02:22.580 –> 00:02:36.000
JEREMY: They’ve packed the course with dozens of templates, self-paced learning, hands-on practice, multiple instructor touchpoints, peer engagement, and even guest authored assignments.

00:02:36.000 –> 00:02:43.220
JEREMY: With over 500 students across 22 countries, Nova is the top spot for Chief of Staff Learning and Development.

00:02:43.220 –> 00:02:47.400
JEREMY: Don’t wait, enroll today and join the community at leaderassistant.com/nova.

00:02:50.560 –> 00:02:51.960
MAGGIE: Welcome, welcome.

00:02:51.960 –> 00:02:57.140
MAGGIE: If you’re just joining us, welcome to our Nova Chat with Jared Blank.

00:02:57.820 –> 00:02:59.700
MAGGIE: Feel free to come on into the virtual room.

00:02:59.700 –> 00:03:03.280
MAGGIE: We’ll get going in just a couple of minutes.

00:03:03.280 –> 00:03:05.140
MAGGIE: This is so exciting.

00:03:05.140 –> 00:03:09.200
MAGGIE: If you’ve been on a Nova Chat with us before, we’ll do introductions here in a minute.

00:03:09.200 –> 00:03:15.160
MAGGIE: You know that I like the icebreaker questions to have something to do with food.

00:03:16.640 –> 00:03:28.780
MAGGIE: I was thinking what would be really fun is if everybody comments with their location, hi, Brandon from Houston and their favorite restaurant in their city.

00:03:28.780 –> 00:03:31.380
MAGGIE: You have to list where you live because this is going to help other people.

00:03:31.380 –> 00:03:38.460
MAGGIE: Your favorite restaurant in your city, maybe you say like casual or fancy or a fish or whatever you want.

00:03:38.460 –> 00:03:43.080
MAGGIE: But I’m going to take notes because I like to travel and find really good restaurants.

00:03:43.080 –> 00:03:45.780
MAGGIE: Favorite restaurant, where you’re located.

00:03:46.840 –> 00:03:48.460
MAGGIE: Wow, it’s already coming through.

00:03:48.460 –> 00:03:49.420
MAGGIE: This is amazing.

00:03:49.660 –> 00:03:53.380
MAGGIE: Jared, what’s your favorite restaurant in Austin, Texas?

00:03:53.380 –> 00:03:56.360
JARED: Oh my gosh, there’s so many great places out here.

00:03:56.360 –> 00:04:02.240
JARED: Well, one place that our staff loves to do, we do our weekly meetings sometimes.

00:04:02.240 –> 00:04:03.400
JARED: We just get off site.

00:04:03.400 –> 00:04:08.640
JARED: We go to the Chiba Hut, which is a sandwich spot, which seems to be a crowd favorite out here.

00:04:08.640 –> 00:04:09.500
MAGGIE: Chiba Hut.

00:04:09.500 –> 00:04:11.500
MAGGIE: OK, well, we’ll have that.

00:04:11.500 –> 00:04:14.500
JARED: That and Cabobabs is probably the big two.

00:04:14.500 –> 00:04:15.820
MAGGIE: What’s the other one?

00:04:15.820 –> 00:04:17.140
JARED: Cabobabs.

00:04:17.140 –> 00:04:17.640
MAGGIE: What is that?

00:04:18.180 –> 00:04:24.540
JARED: It’s like it’s kind of like a Chipotle style restaurant.

00:04:24.540 –> 00:04:25.840
MAGGIE: OK, amazing.

00:04:25.840 –> 00:04:26.820
MAGGIE: Look at all these.

00:04:26.820 –> 00:04:27.520
MAGGIE: Look at all this.

00:04:27.520 –> 00:04:32.620
MAGGIE: I feel like all of our attendees are just going to be taking notes from the chat this whole hour.

00:04:32.620 –> 00:04:33.240
JARED: What about you?

00:04:33.460 –> 00:04:35.980
JARED: What’s your favorite spot?

00:04:35.980 –> 00:04:40.800
MAGGIE: Well, I recently moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, recently as in two years ago.

00:04:40.800 –> 00:04:43.280
MAGGIE: Lincoln, Nebraska, from Seattle, Washington.

00:04:43.280 –> 00:04:47.000
MAGGIE: So the food here leaves a lot to be desired, unfortunately.

00:04:48.360 –> 00:04:58.340
MAGGIE: So my favorite is, it’s called The Hub and it’s kind of like a farm-to-table, casual breakfast lunch place, but really good ingredients, super yummy.

00:04:58.340 –> 00:04:59.740
MAGGIE: So it’s called The Hub.

00:04:59.740 –> 00:05:01.820
MAGGIE: If you ever find yourself in Lincoln, Nebraska.

00:05:03.980 –> 00:05:04.580
MAGGIE: All right.

00:05:04.580 –> 00:05:05.540
MAGGIE: Well, welcome, welcome.

00:05:05.540 –> 00:05:07.200
MAGGIE: It looks like people are still trickling in.

00:05:07.200 –> 00:05:08.800
MAGGIE: We’ll get going here in just a minute.

00:05:08.800 –> 00:05:15.680
MAGGIE: If you’ve just joined, pop in your location and your favorite restaurant in your city or where you like to go.

00:05:15.680 –> 00:05:16.520
MAGGIE: What kind of food is it?

00:05:17.360 –> 00:05:21.460
MAGGIE: If you’ve been on these before with me, you know that we like to talk about food.

00:05:23.220 –> 00:05:24.040
MAGGIE: Hi, Sean.

00:05:24.040 –> 00:05:24.400
MAGGIE: Awesome.

00:05:24.400 –> 00:05:29.000
MAGGIE: Miami, Keio Taco, Gourmet Italia, Temecula.

00:05:29.000 –> 00:05:33.240
MAGGIE: I’m waiting for our Brazil attendees to say.

00:05:33.240 –> 00:05:34.940
JARED: Oh, here.

00:05:36.180 –> 00:05:36.800
MAGGIE: Awesome.

00:05:36.800 –> 00:05:40.300
MAGGIE: Do you guys go out to eat a lot as a staff?

00:05:40.300 –> 00:05:43.720
JARED: Not a ton, but just our internal group.

00:05:43.920 –> 00:05:55.200
JARED: We were doing a weekly meeting where we would just get off-site and just a chance to debrief what’s going on away from the office.

00:05:55.200 –> 00:05:59.820
JARED: So we find the 30, 45 minutes to do that.

00:05:59.820 –> 00:06:02.060
JARED: We found it really meaningful.

00:06:02.060 –> 00:06:02.800
MAGGIE: I love that.

00:06:02.800 –> 00:06:04.360
MAGGIE: I love that.

00:06:04.360 –> 00:06:05.180
MAGGIE: Well, we’re going to get going.

00:06:05.180 –> 00:06:06.440
MAGGIE: People are still trickling in.

00:06:06.440 –> 00:06:12.080
MAGGIE: If you’re just joining us, pop in your location, your favorite restaurant in your area.

00:06:13.480 –> 00:06:15.540
MAGGIE: And we will dive in here.

00:06:15.540 –> 00:06:17.100
MAGGIE: So thank you all for being here.

00:06:17.100 –> 00:06:18.380
MAGGIE: I’m so excited about this.

00:06:18.380 –> 00:06:25.100
MAGGIE: If you follow me anywhere, you know that I am just thrilled to be able to share Jared with you.

00:06:25.100 –> 00:06:26.900
MAGGIE: I write all my own content on LinkedIn.

00:06:26.900 –> 00:06:31.560
MAGGIE: So everything that comes out from me is just straight from my myself.

00:06:31.560 –> 00:06:33.020
MAGGIE: So the excitement’s real.

00:06:33.020 –> 00:06:34.680
MAGGIE: You can tell Jared’s awesome.

00:06:34.680 –> 00:06:41.820
MAGGIE: We’ve had one conversation previously and we’ve tried not to talk since so that we can leave it for you guys for our second conversation.

00:06:43.160 –> 00:06:44.620
MAGGIE: So my name’s Maggie Olson.

00:06:44.620 –> 00:06:50.060
MAGGIE: I’m the Founder of Nova Chief of Staff, Premier Destination for Chief of Staff Education Development.

00:06:50.060 –> 00:06:53.420
MAGGIE: You can check out our information, novachiefofstaff.com.

00:06:53.420 –> 00:06:58.100
MAGGIE: We have a Chief of Staff Certification course, but enough about us.

00:06:58.100 –> 00:07:01.160
MAGGIE: We’re going to dive into this Nova Chat with Jared Blank.

00:07:01.160 –> 00:07:06.480
MAGGIE: So the goal of these Nova Chats is to bring people on from different industries.

00:07:06.480 –> 00:07:13.300
MAGGIE: Maybe they’re industry experts, maybe they’re Chiefs of Staff in industries that we aren’t as familiar in, but we want to go deeper.

00:07:13.300 –> 00:07:24.380
MAGGIE: We want to chat about job transitions and vulnerable moments, do’s and don’ts, career alignment, when to move on, and really whatever comes up.

00:07:24.380 –> 00:07:27.840
MAGGIE: Let me tell you a little bit about Jared and then we will dive in.

00:07:27.840 –> 00:07:45.500
MAGGIE: Jared is a results-oriented leader with an analytical sports marketing and sports operations, background and mindset, and brings extensive knowledge in managing large-scale projects, multimillion-dollar program budgets, and directing sports operations at elite college sports programs.

00:07:45.500 –> 00:08:00.840
MAGGIE: Jared’s experience as a program director spans nearly two decades, working with a wide range of people from all walks of life, including students, parents, corporate execs, athletes, nonprofit organizations, and high-net-worth individuals.

00:08:01.720 –> 00:08:15.460
MAGGIE: Currently, he’s serving as Chief of Staff for the University of Texas football team’s head coach, Steve Sarkeesian, and Jared is also working to raise half a scholarship, $12,000, for Park Academy.

00:08:15.460 –> 00:08:26.200
MAGGIE: So his Running the Distance Scholarship will provide the opportunity to students who otherwise would not be able to attend our school, which is structured specifically to help students with dyslexia.

00:08:26.820 –> 00:08:33.820
MAGGIE: So I love that Jared is running for a cause that is actively out there promoting and fundraising.

00:08:33.820 –> 00:08:46.060
MAGGIE: And Christina from my team under Nova Chief of Staff, you’ll see her in the chat today, she’s going to post a link where we can donate to Jared’s partial scholarship to the Park Academy.

00:08:46.060 –> 00:08:53.900
MAGGIE: And I haven’t told Jared this yet, but what they raised today from this Nova Chat, Nova Chief of Staff is going to match.

00:08:53.900 –> 00:09:01.280
MAGGIE: So pop in there, find the link, donate what you can, and we will match it on behalf of Jared.

00:09:01.280 –> 00:09:02.340
MAGGIE: So thank you guys.

00:09:02.560 –> 00:09:04.860
MAGGIE: We’re excited to have Jared here and we know it’s a free event.

00:09:04.860 –> 00:09:09.300
MAGGIE: So if you have anything you can donate, a few bucks will totally match.

00:09:09.300 –> 00:09:12.800
MAGGIE: Okay, so we’re going to get into it here.

00:09:12.800 –> 00:09:23.680
MAGGIE: Now, as you guys can imagine, Jared working for an elite sports program, he can probably talk about a lot of things and he also has to be a little bit careful around other topics.

00:09:23.680 –> 00:09:25.700
MAGGIE: So I’m just going to dive into all the things.

00:09:25.700 –> 00:09:33.220
MAGGIE: And if Jared answers just a little bit more generally or generically, maybe we talk sports versus the specifics of a team.

00:09:33.680 –> 00:09:37.780
MAGGIE: Just know that he’s kind of protecting the NDA of the team a little bit.

00:09:37.780 –> 00:09:41.680
MAGGIE: So we’re happy that you’re here, Jared, and welcome.

00:09:41.680 –> 00:09:43.880
JARED: Well, thanks so much for having me.

00:09:43.880 –> 00:09:55.760
JARED: Obviously, very grateful for the opportunity to be here and then the very generous donation that Nova is making on behalf of the Park Academy Scholarship.

00:09:55.760 –> 00:09:57.940
JARED: That means more than you know.

00:09:57.940 –> 00:09:59.220
JARED: So thank you very much for that.

00:09:59.220 –> 00:10:01.540
MAGGIE: Yeah, absolutely.

00:10:01.540 –> 00:10:13.260
MAGGIE: Okay, so we’re going to start out by, I want to just kind of dive into your background and hear about the pivotal moments in your career, kind of that dotted line led you to where you are now.

00:10:13.260 –> 00:10:15.280
MAGGIE: And there’s a lot of sports back there.

00:10:15.280 –> 00:10:18.320
MAGGIE: There’s a little bit of corporate merchandising, right?

00:10:18.400 –> 00:10:19.740
MAGGIE: And then back to sports.

00:10:19.740 –> 00:10:21.480
MAGGIE: So kind of paint the picture for us.

00:10:21.820 –> 00:10:24.340
MAGGIE: I’ll let you take it over from here.

00:10:24.340 –> 00:10:28.000
JARED: Yeah, well, I think it first starts when I was growing up.

00:10:28.000 –> 00:10:32.620
JARED: I grew up in Portland, Oregon, and at the time we had one professional sports team.

00:10:32.620 –> 00:10:35.020
JARED: I think the Portland Trail Blazers.

00:10:35.020 –> 00:10:38.060
JARED: Now there’s the Timbers and the Thorns.

00:10:38.060 –> 00:10:40.140
JARED: So it’s definitely a growing market.

00:10:40.140 –> 00:10:53.080
JARED: But I always had a passion for wanting to be in a sports environment and wanting to work in a sports environment because I saw what that did to the community and what a sports team can do for the community.

00:10:53.080 –> 00:10:56.220
JARED: So I think that’s where it really got started.

00:10:56.220 –> 00:11:02.240
JARED: And then I was fortunate to do an internship with our sports medicine department.

00:11:02.240 –> 00:11:06.960
JARED: When I was going to school at USC, I was a student athletic trainer.

00:11:06.960 –> 00:11:16.160
JARED: And then from there, got an internship working in the football office with our director of football ops at the time, Mark Jackson, who is now the AD of Villanova.

00:11:17.240 –> 00:11:27.680
JARED: And then basically two days after I graduated, a job opened up as a recruiting operations role with USC.

00:11:27.680 –> 00:11:34.480
JARED: So that’s where it really all got started and being able to kind of see what that sports environment was like.

00:11:34.480 –> 00:11:35.100
MAGGIE: Yeah.

00:11:35.100 –> 00:11:35.560
MAGGIE: Oh, my gosh.

00:11:35.560 –> 00:11:41.260
MAGGIE: Did you just feel so lucky that, like, you graduate and there’s this job in sports waiting for you right there?

00:11:41.260 –> 00:11:42.620
JARED: Yeah, it was.

00:11:42.620 –> 00:11:44.840
JARED: I was super grateful for that.

00:11:45.740 –> 00:11:54.740
JARED: They’re, you know, you do internships, you do all these things, and then to actually land a role, I was super lucky.

00:11:54.740 –> 00:11:57.740
JARED: And the timing just worked out really well.

00:11:57.740 –> 00:12:01.420
MAGGIE: Were you an were you an athlete growing up?

00:12:01.420 –> 00:12:11.020
JARED: I so I did soccer and track growing up in high school and then always kind of used running to deal, you know, being dyslexic myself.

00:12:11.420 –> 00:12:17.460
JARED: Running was kind of an outlet for me to deal with the frustrations of learning life and all that came with it.

00:12:17.460 –> 00:12:20.980
JARED: So movement was always a big piece to everything I did.

00:12:20.980 –> 00:12:23.360
JARED: And then that plus sports.

00:12:23.360 –> 00:12:29.140
JARED: So I don’t know if I would say athlete, but definitely I was always moving around for sure.

00:12:29.140 –> 00:12:33.540
MAGGIE: You’re like, well, I’m around athletes all the time and I just can’t put myself in the same bucket.

00:12:33.540 –> 00:12:34.960
MAGGIE: I’m sure you’re an athlete.

00:12:35.000 –> 00:12:36.800
JARED: Yeah, but you played, right?

00:12:36.800 –> 00:12:38.400
JARED: You played volleyball in college.

00:12:38.400 –> 00:12:40.580
MAGGIE: Yeah, yeah, I played volleyball in college.

00:12:40.580 –> 00:12:46.340
MAGGIE: It was my it was I was on a super competitive team in high school.

00:12:46.340 –> 00:12:49.860
MAGGIE: My club team, we finished ninth in the country at the Junior Olympics.

00:12:49.860 –> 00:12:56.300
MAGGIE: And most of my teammates went on to play at the University of Washington and they won the national championship that year.

00:12:56.300 –> 00:12:58.780
MAGGIE: Courtney Thompson was the center.

00:12:58.780 –> 00:12:59.500
MAGGIE: Yeah, yeah.

00:12:59.500 –> 00:13:01.380
MAGGIE: And so I went to a different school.

00:13:01.380 –> 00:13:02.880
MAGGIE: I was like, I’m not going to walk on.

00:13:03.620 –> 00:13:11.840
MAGGIE: I mean, I had some moments of regret, but it all works out because I this my studying that I went into in my in my different school was was really relevant.

00:13:11.840 –> 00:13:20.540
MAGGIE: But but yeah, I feel like you just learn so much as an athlete, too, that comes out through in, you know, professional environments.

00:13:20.540 –> 00:13:22.260
MAGGIE: And we should talk about that a little bit.

00:13:22.260 –> 00:13:36.060
MAGGIE: Like, do you feel do you feel like you’re who you are from being around athletes and training athletes and growing up running that you just handle things completely different than you would otherwise, having not had that athletic background?

00:13:36.060 –> 00:13:37.060
JARED: Yeah, totally.

00:13:37.060 –> 00:13:48.920
JARED: I think, you know, I got into endurance sports post college and doing long runs and being out in environments for hours on hours.

00:13:49.120 –> 00:13:53.820
JARED: I feel like you really do dial into who you are as a person.

00:13:53.820 –> 00:14:03.200
JARED: And then I think that definitely goes into especially working in the sports environment, you develop that sports mindset of like what an athlete goes through.

00:14:03.200 –> 00:14:12.680
JARED: And so having that combination of things was, I think, super valuable for me, especially coming back and working in athletics now.

00:14:12.680 –> 00:14:13.540
MAGGIE: Yeah.

00:14:13.540 –> 00:14:17.960
MAGGIE: OK, I want to get back to your to kind of your pathway to where you are now.

00:14:17.960 –> 00:14:21.900
MAGGIE: So tell us tell us what happened after you graduated and found that found that role.

00:14:21.900 –> 00:14:23.300
MAGGIE: Then then where did you go?

00:14:23.300 –> 00:14:24.740
MAGGIE: What was your story after that?

00:14:25.480 –> 00:14:28.160
JARED: Yeah, so I was working on various recruiting projects.

00:14:28.160 –> 00:14:38.900
JARED: And at the time, you know, you weren’t allowed to evaluate talent being in the recruiting office, but you could edit film or you could take the direction of a coach.

00:14:38.900 –> 00:14:42.620
JARED: A coach might say, hey, I want to see all the clips of this quarterback.

00:14:42.620 –> 00:14:46.080
JARED: So at the time, it was VHS to VHS.

00:14:46.080 –> 00:15:00.400
JARED: So you’re like in there for long periods of time doing these edits and really kind of started to learn the recruiting landscape as well as, you know, do some projects from an operation standpoint.

00:15:00.400 –> 00:15:03.920
JARED: So there was there was really that combination of things.

00:15:03.920 –> 00:15:08.340
JARED: And then I got the opportunity to go to the University of Washington.

00:15:08.340 –> 00:15:11.080
JARED: So we have that Seattle connection.

00:15:11.160 –> 00:15:16.880
JARED: Yeah, Steve Sarkisian, when he took the head job there, was there for five years.

00:15:16.880 –> 00:15:44.260
JARED: So I started as Director of Player Personnel, doing again, kind of taking what we’d been doing at USC at the time and then transitioning that to more of a director role up at Washington and then became Director of Football Operations in 2012, when we were still there and worked two years there before coming back to my alma mater at USC as Director of Football Operations.

00:15:44.260 –> 00:15:51.880
MAGGIE: Okay, so did you kind of follow, were brought with Sarkisian through a few of his moves?

00:15:51.880 –> 00:15:55.600
MAGGIE: And that’s how many of your transitions like came about?

00:15:55.600 –> 00:15:56.860
JARED: Yeah, that was, yeah.

00:15:56.860 –> 00:16:01.100
JARED: So it was USC to UW, UW back to USC.

00:16:01.100 –> 00:16:03.660
JARED: So I followed him through there.

00:16:03.760 –> 00:16:04.640
MAGGIE: Okay, okay.

00:16:04.640 –> 00:16:10.000
MAGGIE: And then there was a moment where you left the sports industry.

00:16:10.000 –> 00:16:13.020
JARED: So yes, I left the sports kind of.

00:16:13.020 –> 00:16:14.860
JARED: Kind of, kind of.

00:16:14.860 –> 00:16:16.080
JARED: So here’s what happened.

00:16:16.080 –> 00:16:22.520
JARED: And I’ve been following this race that I saw on TV called the World Marathon Challenge.

00:16:22.520 –> 00:16:28.340
JARED: I saw it on the couches where one person runs seven marathons and seven days on seven continents.

00:16:28.340 –> 00:16:30.920
JARED: And I just thought it was like the coolest thing ever.

00:16:30.920 –> 00:16:35.340
JARED: And I told my family I’m going to do this one day and they all thought I was nuts.

00:16:35.340 –> 00:16:53.160
JARED: And it got to a point in my career where I had really had felt like I’d done everything from an athletic standpoint, working in the sports environment, and decided in 2017 to leave USC and go train for the World Marathon Challenge.

00:16:54.720 –> 00:16:55.280
MAGGIE: Incredible.

00:16:55.280 –> 00:16:59.640
MAGGIE: And you did this fundraising for Dyslexia.

00:16:59.640 –> 00:17:00.000
JARED: Yeah.

00:17:00.000 –> 00:17:02.140
JARED: And I didn’t know how this was going to work at the time.

00:17:02.480 –> 00:17:03.100
MAGGIE: How did it work?

00:17:03.100 –> 00:17:05.360
MAGGIE: How do you do this in seven days on seven continents?

00:17:05.360 –> 00:17:06.860
MAGGIE: Like, how do you even get there?

00:17:06.860 –> 00:17:09.680
JARED: Well, it’s all part of one race.

00:17:09.680 –> 00:17:14.860
JARED: So that part I actually knew, but I didn’t know how it was going to connect to Dyslexia.

00:17:14.860 –> 00:17:18.820
JARED: I always wanted to do something for the Dyslexia community.

00:17:18.820 –> 00:17:24.700
JARED: I felt I never knew that many people dyslexic growing up.

00:17:24.700 –> 00:17:28.420
JARED: And really a lot of the time you’re feeling alone in that space.

00:17:28.760 –> 00:17:45.960
JARED: And so, as I was going along in this training, I was learning more and more about Dyslexia and how many people were impacted, and how it is a systemic problem, especially in our country, and how it leads to poverty, and how it leads to the prison population.

00:17:45.960 –> 00:17:48.440
JARED: And I was like, I need to do something here.

00:17:48.440 –> 00:18:02.640
JARED: And I just, I was able to, you know, fortunate, didn’t I didn’t know them at the time, but I reached out to the International Dyslexia Association, connected with my local Oregon branch, and told them that I wanted to help raise awareness and funds.

00:18:02.640 –> 00:18:13.380
JARED: And we created a project, we created this as part of the World Marathon Challenge, and we’re able to raise $50,000 for the International Dyslexia Association as going through this training.

00:18:19.010 –> 00:18:19.950
MAGGIE: Have you heard?

00:18:19.950 –> 00:18:25.510
MAGGIE: The Nova Chief of Staff Certification Course price is going up in January of 2025.

00:18:25.510 –> 00:18:29.290
MAGGIE: Enroll now and with lifetime access, start whenever you please.

00:18:29.290 –> 00:18:33.990
MAGGIE: Here at Nova, it’s our mission to provide the very best student experience possible.

00:18:33.990 –> 00:18:38.750
MAGGIE: Our course is chocked full of features and resources designed just for you.

00:18:38.750 –> 00:18:49.690
MAGGIE: Dozens of templates, self-paced online learning, hands-on practice, multiple instructor touch points, peer engagement opportunities, guest-authored assignments, the list goes on.

00:18:49.690 –> 00:18:56.870
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00:18:56.870 –> 00:18:59.190
MAGGIE: Enroll today and join us.

00:19:02.790 –> 00:19:03.910
MAGGIE: That’s incredible.

00:19:03.910 –> 00:19:08.450
MAGGIE: I’m just also laughing because you’re like, I don’t know if I’m an athlete or not.

00:19:08.450 –> 00:19:12.430
MAGGIE: I’m pretty sure everybody on this webinar is like, absolutely.

00:19:12.430 –> 00:19:13.610
MAGGIE: Are you kidding me?

00:19:13.610 –> 00:19:14.590
MAGGIE: That’s so crazy.

00:19:15.090 –> 00:19:15.930
MAGGIE: How did it make you feel?

00:19:16.150 –> 00:19:22.470
MAGGIE: When you finished, what were the main emotions that you had coming out of that?

00:19:23.710 –> 00:19:26.870
JARED: The last half mile, I remember it so clearly.

00:19:26.870 –> 00:19:38.770
JARED: It was almost like a sad thing that it was over because you get into this routine of waking up every day, running a marathon, and then you realize in a half a mile, all of that is going to be over.

00:19:40.870 –> 00:19:42.170
JARED: There’s that part of it.

00:19:43.730 –> 00:19:57.890
JARED: It was a super proud moment in terms of the physical feat being done, and then still recognizing that I had a fundraising goal that I wanted to continue to meet, so signed up for 100 Mylar that I did that summer and just kept talking about dyslexia.

00:19:59.790 –> 00:20:04.270
JARED: I think we reached the goal in the spring right before I did that race.

00:20:04.270 –> 00:20:05.350
MAGGIE: Incredible.

00:20:05.350 –> 00:20:07.970
MAGGIE: You reached the $50,000 goal.

00:20:08.810 –> 00:20:11.270
MAGGIE: Now you’re continuing to raise money.

00:20:11.270 –> 00:20:12.370
JARED: Yeah.

00:20:12.370 –> 00:20:17.730
JARED: Transitioned over to this Running the Distance Scholarship for Park Academy.

00:20:18.650 –> 00:20:35.070
JARED: Why I think this is really important is we’ve identified that if we can help these students earlier on in their education, then a lot of the challenges that they would face would be lessened to a degree.

00:20:35.470 –> 00:20:41.650
JARED: And so, you know, they’re working with third grade through middle school.

00:20:41.650 –> 00:20:57.390
JARED: And so this is the only school in Oregon that’s specifically working with, you know, dyslexics and so hoping that we can provide these services to somebody that’s coming from a more marginalized community that might not either have these resources.

00:20:57.390 –> 00:20:58.050
MAGGIE: Incredible.

00:20:58.050 –> 00:20:58.370
MAGGIE: Okay.

00:20:58.370 –> 00:21:08.590
MAGGIE: Well, as a reminder, Nova Chief of Staff is matching any donation made today from this group of people on our Nova Chat, we’re matching the donation.

00:21:08.590 –> 00:21:09.970
MAGGIE: So please feel free.

00:21:09.970 –> 00:21:17.730
MAGGIE: We’re going to post the link in the comments here in just a second to pop in there, donate later, you know, open it up on your screen and come back to it.

00:21:17.730 –> 00:21:21.250
MAGGIE: Whatever you want to do, we can track that and we’re going to match.

00:21:21.250 –> 00:21:24.390
MAGGIE: So Jared, thanks for everything you’re doing for the dyslexic community.

00:21:24.390 –> 00:21:26.390
MAGGIE: It’s clearly highly necessary.

00:21:26.390 –> 00:21:40.770
MAGGIE: And, you know, we have this desire and passion to share resources and talk about neurodiversity and talk about coming to work as your full person and providing resources.

00:21:40.770 –> 00:21:41.930
MAGGIE: And we aren’t going to stop.

00:21:41.930 –> 00:21:45.710
MAGGIE: We have a neurodiversity Nova Chat coming up in a couple months.

00:21:45.710 –> 00:21:47.190
MAGGIE: So that’s coming.

00:21:47.190 –> 00:21:51.130
MAGGIE: We’re going to have a panel with a bunch of people around neurodiversity in the C-suite and how it shows up.

00:21:51.130 –> 00:22:03.290
MAGGIE: So if you’re, you know, interested in staying tuned, continue to follow us and we’ll continue to provide resources and a platform to highlight just like the normal people in the world and the things that we’re all going through.

00:22:03.510 –> 00:22:06.170
MAGGIE: So Jared, thanks for thanks for everything you’re doing there.

00:22:06.170 –> 00:22:08.110
JARED: I appreciate everything you’re doing and the match.

00:22:08.110 –> 00:22:09.190
JARED: That’s amazing.

00:22:09.190 –> 00:22:11.290
MAGGIE: Yeah, absolutely.

00:22:11.290 –> 00:22:16.570
MAGGIE: Okay, so let’s get to your current role, Chief of Staff, Texas football.

00:22:16.570 –> 00:22:18.090
MAGGIE: How did that come about?

00:22:18.090 –> 00:22:21.170
MAGGIE: Clearly, like Steve Sarkeesian is like, I love Jared.

00:22:21.170 –> 00:22:22.690
MAGGIE: He’s coming with me.

00:22:22.690 –> 00:22:23.570
MAGGIE: Where do I put him?

00:22:23.570 –> 00:22:24.710
MAGGIE: Like, how did this work?

00:22:24.710 –> 00:22:25.770
MAGGIE: What does he love about you?

00:22:25.770 –> 00:22:27.490
MAGGIE: What did he have in mind for you?

00:22:27.490 –> 00:22:29.030
MAGGIE: And how did this all come together?

00:22:29.670 –> 00:22:33.250
JARED: Yeah, that would be a great question for him to answer.

00:22:33.290 –> 00:22:35.510
MAGGIE: Yeah, it’s our follow up with him.

00:22:35.510 –> 00:22:36.430
JARED: Yeah, exactly.

00:22:36.430 –> 00:22:37.970
JARED: You need to do a follow up with him.

00:22:37.970 –> 00:22:55.270
JARED: No, the job opened up last year and so was able to reconnect with coach and, you know, fortunate again to get an opportunity to come back to athletics, which is clearly a passion of mine.

00:22:56.530 –> 00:23:11.050
JARED: And, you know, I think what’s cool about the role that I stepped into is the group that I had been, you know, that I came in to work with had been there for three years, you know, or really, you know, going on three years.

00:23:11.050 –> 00:23:25.210
JARED: And it was such an awesome time to really be on a listening tour as I stepped into this Chief of Staff role.

00:23:25.310 –> 00:23:28.390
JARED: Because they had all the experience in the room.

00:23:28.390 –> 00:23:48.730
JARED: And I’m coming in as the new person and really tried to listen and gain an understanding of what was needed out of that role and how I could figure out a way to support what was already being done.

00:23:48.730 –> 00:23:50.470
JARED: Yeah.

00:23:50.470 –> 00:24:05.110
JARED: And I think that’s super, you know, it’s just a different way to come into a role, because, you know, normally everyone in a football staff is all joining in, especially with those operations and chief of staff roles.

00:24:05.110 –> 00:24:07.350
JARED: Usually they’re there quite a while.

00:24:07.350 –> 00:24:14.950
JARED: So to come in at a place where everyone had already been here, had been established was a unique challenge.

00:24:14.950 –> 00:24:17.270
MAGGIE: Did they have a chief of staff already?

00:24:17.270 –> 00:24:19.150
JARED: They had one in place previously.

00:24:20.030 –> 00:24:24.270
JARED: Yeah, they got another opportunity and that’s where it opened up.

00:24:24.270 –> 00:24:24.590
MAGGIE: Yeah.

00:24:24.590 –> 00:24:35.890
MAGGIE: You know, what’s interesting when you say that is it’s pretty common in the chief of staff world because the role is massively on the rise and founders are telling their friends about it, like you need a chief of staff.

00:24:35.890 –> 00:24:41.590
MAGGIE: It’s pretty common for a chief of staff to enter into an environment that’s never really had a chief of staff before.

00:24:41.590 –> 00:24:49.550
MAGGIE: And so just like you’re saying, it’s like the listening tour, the observing, absorbing, figuring out everything that’s going on.

00:24:49.550 –> 00:24:56.310
MAGGIE: We talk a lot about like documenting current state, figuring out like what are all the things, the meetings, the cadences.

00:24:56.310 –> 00:25:06.050
MAGGIE: And then after that point, being able to make some recommendations for ways things could improve or figure out yourself how to step in and where to fit in.

00:25:06.050 –> 00:25:13.950
MAGGIE: Did you feel like you went through that part of the process to like, okay, I got to figure it all out and then I got to see what needs to be changed or fixed or what I can add value to and where do I fit?

00:25:14.770 –> 00:25:22.690
JARED: Yeah, I think it’s totally, I mean, I think, right, listening to what, people usually generally know what they need.

00:25:22.690 –> 00:25:31.930
JARED: And I think just being, taking the time to kind of listen to, they, I always think that the people in the room have the answers.

00:25:31.930 –> 00:25:37.150
JARED: And so it’s usually asking the questions that allow those answers to come about.

00:25:37.150 –> 00:25:46.370
JARED: And so I think to your point, like figuring it out in terms of listening, paying attention, observing, asking questions.

00:25:46.370 –> 00:25:53.150
JARED: And then the next question I always ask is, how can I support, how can I be of service to the people in the room?

00:25:53.150 –> 00:25:56.130
JARED: And how can I help?

00:25:56.130 –> 00:26:03.790
JARED: Because if you’re doing, I feel like as a chief of staff, if you’re doing your job right, you’re elevating and helping other people shine in their own roles.

00:26:03.790 –> 00:26:05.690
JARED: Like that’s how I’ve looked at this.

00:26:05.690 –> 00:26:09.990
MAGGIE: So say that one more time, because I know this is what you believe the purpose of the chief of staff role is.

00:26:09.990 –> 00:26:12.990
MAGGIE: So what do you believe the purpose of the chief of staff role is?

00:26:13.770 –> 00:26:20.710
JARED: I believe it’s to support other people, help elevate them and have them shine in their own roles.

00:26:20.710 –> 00:26:21.770
MAGGIE: That’s incredible.

00:26:21.770 –> 00:26:22.870
MAGGIE: And how do you do that?

00:26:22.870 –> 00:26:27.330
MAGGIE: By listening and figuring out what they’re best at?

00:26:27.330 –> 00:26:34.390
JARED: Asking them what they need, how what’s, you know, like it’s funny because you’ll ask up.

00:26:34.390 –> 00:26:42.930
JARED: We talk about questions that you would ask players or athletes all the time of like, you know, how, you know, how, how can your experience be better?

00:26:42.930 –> 00:26:47.830
JARED: Like, what could we, what can we do to enhance your time here?

00:26:47.830 –> 00:26:49.590
JARED: You know, all those things are ours.

00:26:49.590 –> 00:26:53.890
JARED: And they’re similar to, I think, employees or, you know, the people we work with.

00:26:53.890 –> 00:26:56.210
MAGGIE: So, yeah, yeah.

00:26:56.250 –> 00:27:04.970
JARED: But what, what have you found, like, in your, in all your knowledge, like, how, how have you found that to be for the role?

00:27:04.970 –> 00:27:10.430
MAGGIE: In terms of kind of the purpose of the role or how do you maximize your impact?

00:27:10.430 –> 00:27:13.830
JARED: Actually, both now that you’re doing that.

00:27:13.830 –> 00:27:15.650
MAGGIE: Both would be great.

00:27:15.650 –> 00:27:20.590
MAGGIE: Well, I think one thing that you’re talking about right now is just kind of the stakeholders.

00:27:20.590 –> 00:27:25.030
MAGGIE: Like, although the team members, the athletes are, they’re in a different subgroup.

00:27:25.090 –> 00:27:27.430
MAGGIE: They’re the athletes, they’re the talent, they’re the people.

00:27:27.610 –> 00:27:35.410
MAGGIE: It feels to me, just like a corporate environment, that they are your stakeholders, just like your customer and the customer experience.

00:27:35.410 –> 00:27:38.710
MAGGIE: For us at Nova, student experience, for you guys, athlete experience.

00:27:38.710 –> 00:27:53.130
MAGGIE: If you care ultimately the very, very, very most about people and their experience, regardless of what they’re doing, athlete, student, customer, I think that you have a winning combination.

00:27:53.130 –> 00:28:01.870
MAGGIE: If you keep that at the forefront, my background comes from companies like Nordstrom and T-Mobile that puts the customer at the forefront of everything they do and they care about their employees a lot.

00:28:01.870 –> 00:28:03.790
MAGGIE: And so that’s just deep in my veins.

00:28:03.790 –> 00:28:05.010
MAGGIE: Like it’s how we built Nova.

00:28:05.010 –> 00:28:07.450
MAGGIE: That’s kind of how I approach things.

00:28:07.450 –> 00:28:09.350
MAGGIE: And it sounds like it’s the same question.

00:28:09.350 –> 00:28:12.130
MAGGIE: I mean, the first thing you said is, how can we make your experience better?

00:28:12.130 –> 00:28:13.870
MAGGIE: And to me, that’s it.

00:28:13.870 –> 00:28:15.190
MAGGIE: That’s the answer.

00:28:16.890 –> 00:28:18.610
JARED: That’s really cool.

00:28:18.610 –> 00:28:21.710
MAGGIE: So let’s level set a little bit.

00:28:22.030 –> 00:28:36.370
MAGGIE: What I found really fascinating in our first conversation is just hearing about the structure of sports teams, of your team, of the coaching staff, of the CEO, the leader, the people in the room in your staff meetings.

00:28:36.370 –> 00:28:40.930
MAGGIE: So tell us about, you are the chief of staff to the head coach.

00:28:40.930 –> 00:28:48.790
MAGGIE: Tell us about the structure of the team, the staff, like who are the people that you interact with on a day-to-day basis?

00:28:48.790 –> 00:28:49.510
JARED: Yeah, for sure.

00:28:50.190 –> 00:28:58.950
JARED: So, and I think, I think to your, I love what you talked about, Nordstroms, and being about customer-centric, because I think it starts with our student athletes, right?

00:28:58.950 –> 00:29:00.730
JARED: They need to be the first and foremost.

00:29:00.730 –> 00:29:03.110
JARED: They are the major stakeholders in the room.

00:29:03.110 –> 00:29:11.210
JARED: And then, but from there, we have, you know, our head coach who you can think of like a CEO of the organization.

00:29:11.210 –> 00:29:11.550
JARED: Yep.

00:29:11.550 –> 00:29:13.730
JARED: And then we have assistant coaches.

00:29:13.730 –> 00:29:22.050
JARED: We have player development, who’s really on hand for the day-to-day experiences of the student athletes.

00:29:22.050 –> 00:29:30.210
JARED: And then we have a full recruiting department, a general manager, which it’s just become such a big operation.

00:29:30.210 –> 00:29:35.670
JARED: So to have that piece in place has been super helpful to our organization.

00:29:35.670 –> 00:29:38.990
JARED: And then obviously you have medical and equipment.

00:29:38.990 –> 00:29:41.370
JARED: And so there is so many touch points.

00:29:41.570 –> 00:29:45.990
JARED: And then athletic administration and marketing.

00:29:45.990 –> 00:29:49.350
JARED: So like more of the external pieces.

00:29:50.610 –> 00:29:55.110
JARED: So there’s a lot of people you interact with on a day-to-day basis.

00:29:55.110 –> 00:30:00.610
JARED: But it’s definitely a network of, in terms of a structure, how it expands out.

00:30:00.610 –> 00:30:02.470
MAGGIE: Yeah, that makes a ton of sense.

00:30:02.470 –> 00:30:07.950
MAGGIE: And to take it a little bit further, let’s talk about kind of staff meeting.

00:30:07.950 –> 00:30:21.490
MAGGIE: So chiefs of staff are one of the key people responsible for, like, often preparing the staff meeting, making sure everybody’s bringing the material that they should be, follow-ups, facilitation, who’s in the room.

00:30:21.490 –> 00:30:23.030
MAGGIE: Just the list goes on and on.

00:30:23.030 –> 00:30:25.610
MAGGIE: Effectiveness, like cadence, right?

00:30:25.610 –> 00:30:27.850
MAGGIE: And that’s the same for you, right?

00:30:27.850 –> 00:30:30.030
MAGGIE: And who are kind of the key staff?

00:30:30.030 –> 00:30:33.890
MAGGIE: It’s like, it’s the head coach, their coaching staff, right?

00:30:33.930 –> 00:30:36.930
MAGGIE: And then athletic director, a few others.

00:30:36.930 –> 00:30:38.790
JARED: Yeah, there’s definitely those pieces.

00:30:38.790 –> 00:30:45.830
JARED: And I would say like, so sports, and it totally makes sense in a business world where the chief of staff would have that role.

00:30:45.830 –> 00:30:51.310
JARED: And I think within an athletic team, it expands out a little bit because you have so many variants.

00:30:51.350 –> 00:30:59.030
JARED: Like you might have, our general manager might be running the meeting with the recruiting director of recruiting.

00:30:59.030 –> 00:31:08.870
JARED: You know, like they’ll be bringing some of those supplies or providing the meeting materials for those at certain points, depending on what we’re meeting on.

00:31:08.870 –> 00:31:26.250
JARED: It’s going to look a little bit different if we’re getting ready to prepare for a game where the operations team might be providing those materials versus, you know, if staff’s breaking out and they’re talking football, then it’s going to be the offensive coordinator or the defensive coordinator.

00:31:26.250 –> 00:31:40.730
JARED: So you’re always going to have different people in the, just from my experience working in football, you’re going to have different people leading those charges, depending on what, you know, what the topic of the day might be.

00:31:40.730 –> 00:31:44.030
JARED: And we also have compliance and academic meetings.

00:31:44.030 –> 00:31:51.890
JARED: So everyone’s kind of, and that’s what I love about being in an athletic environment, is you’re seeing all these people shine in their own ways.

00:31:51.890 –> 00:31:54.850
JARED: Like they’re getting to be at the forefront of these meetings.

00:31:54.850 –> 00:32:03.210
JARED: They’re leading them, providing the information, necessary data points that, you know, direct how our organization is going to move.

00:32:03.210 –> 00:32:12.110
MAGGIE: And what is your part as Chief of Staff in all of that, specifically meeting management and getting people there and other people are presenting.

00:32:12.110 –> 00:32:13.930
MAGGIE: But what’s your part?

00:32:13.930 –> 00:32:15.050
JARED: I mean, it could vary.

00:32:15.650 –> 00:32:17.830
JARED: I would say it varies on a day-to-day.

00:32:17.830 –> 00:32:22.770
JARED: Like it might be making sure everyone is in the room and helping.

00:32:22.770 –> 00:32:24.430
JARED: We have a great program director here.

00:32:24.430 –> 00:32:41.030
JARED: So working hand-in-hand with her to make sure that, you know, we’re on top of things and working hand-in-hand side-by-side and making sure that we’ve communicated everything to all the necessary parties and that a coach has everything he needs.

00:32:41.130 –> 00:32:57.370
JARED: So I think it’s definitely a collective work of just again, supporting all these outlets that are leading charges and making sure that we’re all pulling in the same direction because we’re all here to accomplish really the same goal.

00:32:57.370 –> 00:33:00.750
JARED: Which that to me is the fun part.

00:33:00.750 –> 00:33:01.230
MAGGIE: Yeah.

00:33:01.230 –> 00:33:01.490
MAGGIE: OK.

00:33:01.490 –> 00:33:02.210
MAGGIE: So I want to go.

00:33:02.210 –> 00:33:03.930
MAGGIE: I want to get a little more like tactical.

00:33:03.930 –> 00:33:06.470
MAGGIE: Like what is a day in the life look like for you?

00:33:06.470 –> 00:33:07.490
MAGGIE: What are you working on?

00:33:07.490 –> 00:33:08.550
MAGGIE: What are you preparing?

00:33:08.550 –> 00:33:09.590
MAGGIE: What are you part of?

00:33:09.590 –> 00:33:10.470
MAGGIE: What are you leading?

00:33:12.950 –> 00:33:18.850
JARED: Yeah, it can be totally random, which is what I love.

00:33:18.850 –> 00:33:22.450
JARED: There was one day, and I was thinking, because I knew this question was going to come up.

00:33:22.450 –> 00:33:28.150
JARED: There was one day where we were helping somebody find a belt, where we were, you know, like, and it didn’t fit.

00:33:28.150 –> 00:33:47.310
JARED: So we were like, OK, well, as the ops team, like, can we poke another hole in that belt and get the equipment set to then go into a budget meeting, to then sitting in on a staff meeting that’s going over practice, you know, so it can be completely random.

00:33:47.310 –> 00:34:07.410
JARED: But typical day, like during the season, we start, we’ll start with a staff meeting, making sure everyone is here, accounted for, and then going through medical, going through personnel, making sure that what players are available to practice, that sort of thing.

00:34:07.410 –> 00:34:14.090
JARED: So we were kind of constantly, you know, we’re constantly doing due diligence, working with those different departments.

00:34:14.090 –> 00:34:17.870
JARED: And then we’ll practice and then get off the field.

00:34:17.870 –> 00:34:19.850
JARED: Coaches will go watch film.

00:34:19.850 –> 00:34:25.250
JARED: And usually we’re preparing to whether we’re at have a home game or whether we’re going away.

00:34:25.250 –> 00:34:28.030
JARED: We’re working on that for like a game week.

00:34:28.030 –> 00:34:31.370
JARED: That would be kind of your typical, typical day.

00:34:31.990 –> 00:34:32.430
MAGGIE: Okay.

00:34:32.430 –> 00:34:39.690
MAGGIE: And maybe another example from the off season, because I know it’s your job is completely different on season and off season.

00:34:39.690 –> 00:34:44.650
MAGGIE: So what could what could be different in the off season for you in a day to day?

00:34:44.650 –> 00:34:44.970
JARED: Yeah.

00:34:44.970 –> 00:34:49.510
JARED: So off season, that’s usually when we’re doing our coaches clinics.

00:34:49.510 –> 00:34:51.150
JARED: We’re doing camps.

00:34:51.150 –> 00:34:55.910
JARED: So a lot of logistical work around those.

00:34:55.910 –> 00:34:59.090
JARED: We’re also going on site visits, checking out.

00:35:00.370 –> 00:35:02.870
JARED: Like if we’re playing again, we’re playing Michigan this year.

00:35:03.270 –> 00:35:04.310
JARED: We haven’t stayed in Michigan.

00:35:04.310 –> 00:35:17.050
JARED: So we’re doing a complete site visit of there, checking out the hotel, checking out the timing of going from the hotel to the stadium, what it’s going to look like at the airport, meeting with the bus company out there.

00:35:17.050 –> 00:35:27.450
JARED: So you’re building relationships with all of these counterparts that are really helping you carry the project of getting to game day and back home safely.

00:35:27.670 –> 00:35:32.210
JARED: So we’re doing that work as well as during the off season.

00:35:32.210 –> 00:35:33.930
MAGGIE: Okay, yeah, that’s super helpful.

00:35:33.930 –> 00:35:49.930
MAGGIE: I remember when we first chatted, you talked a little bit about just anytime you travel, you have to get on the phone with a ton of people in the city that you’re going to, from police to shuttles to airplane.

00:35:49.930 –> 00:35:51.850
MAGGIE: I mean, there’s like so much that goes into that.

00:35:51.850 –> 00:35:54.550
MAGGIE: And that is overseen by you and your team, right?

00:35:54.550 –> 00:35:56.350
MAGGIE: You have a few people on your Chief of Staff team.

00:35:56.390 –> 00:35:59.210
JARED: Yeah, we have an amazing operations team.

00:35:59.210 –> 00:36:12.670
JARED: So we have our Director of Ops and an Ops Coordinator, and they do a tremendous job in that work, as well as we have an amazing administration that is setting up the ability for us to do this work.

00:36:12.670 –> 00:36:16.790
JARED: So it’s not just one person.

00:36:17.350 –> 00:36:22.830
JARED: It is totally a team effort, because otherwise it just wouldn’t work.

00:36:22.830 –> 00:36:24.030
JARED: There’s no way.

00:36:24.930 –> 00:36:37.290
JARED: And then our Program Director is great with these road trips, because Coach will have obligations in doing media and certain things, and they take an active role in making sure all that stuff is getting done.

00:36:37.290 –> 00:36:39.150
JARED: So there’s just a lot of parts to it.

00:36:39.150 –> 00:36:45.110
JARED: And so when we’re doing these site visits, we’re trying to figure out, okay, where is this event?

00:36:45.570 –> 00:36:47.770
JARED: Where is this media event going to happen?

00:36:49.630 –> 00:36:51.290
JARED: Where is the team meal going to be?

00:36:52.030 –> 00:36:53.450
JARED: Where is the training room set up?

00:36:53.590 –> 00:36:59.650
JARED: So all that is to be planned out because, again, we’re trying to put people in position for success.

00:36:59.650 –> 00:37:13.570
JARED: So if our medical staff doesn’t have what they need or is in a room that doesn’t work for them, that’s going to be a critical piece to us having a successful road trip.

00:37:13.570 –> 00:37:15.050
MAGGIE: Yeah, yeah, that makes sense.

00:37:15.050 –> 00:37:22.290
MAGGIE: So what I’d be curious about, I’m going to share kind of my general thoughts and definition around the Chief of Staff role.

00:37:22.410 –> 00:37:27.230
MAGGIE: And I would love for you to weigh in on, but is this true in sports?

00:37:27.330 –> 00:37:31.310
MAGGIE: Are these the things you’re doing as a Chief of Staff in sports though?

00:37:31.310 –> 00:37:32.330
JARED: Yeah, for sure.

00:37:32.330 –> 00:37:33.570
MAGGIE: Maybe this is a good point too.

00:37:33.570 –> 00:37:39.710
MAGGIE: We have a few people on, I believe, who are in business operations roles across sports teams around the country.

00:37:39.710 –> 00:37:45.890
MAGGIE: And Chief of Staff work can operate under so many different titles.

00:37:45.890 –> 00:37:48.310
MAGGIE: I think I have a list of 20 to 25.

00:37:48.570 –> 00:37:51.790
MAGGIE: You can find this list on our novachiefofstaff.com/blogsite.

00:37:54.190 –> 00:37:57.070
MAGGIE: Sometimes it’s helpful to realize the work that you’re actually doing.

00:37:57.070 –> 00:38:00.030
MAGGIE: And then you find resources and you’re like, oh, that makes sense.

00:38:00.030 –> 00:38:02.630
MAGGIE: That might be my role charter.

00:38:02.630 –> 00:38:12.910
MAGGIE: So if you’re in a biz ops role and your role sounds similar to what I’m going to talk about, you likely are operating in a Chief of Staff style role.

00:38:13.870 –> 00:38:21.390
MAGGIE: There’s often people either don’t adopt the title, companies may just not know about it, may not love it, just may not use it.

00:38:21.390 –> 00:38:23.250
MAGGIE: All of that’s outside of our control.

00:38:23.250 –> 00:38:27.730
MAGGIE: But what we can do is consider what our role is or what role we want to move into.

00:38:27.730 –> 00:38:33.670
MAGGIE: And if it’s Chief of Staff work, it can add some clarity and help us kind of align to what that could look like.

00:38:33.670 –> 00:39:02.850
MAGGIE: So when we think about the Chief of Staff role, the role truly exists in, you know, from my point of view, to maximize the business leader, you know, CEO, coach, president, keep, we can keep going, to maximize their time, to drive alignment and essentially, like, potentially manage, lead, prioritize their key business initiatives for their leadership team or for their staff so that their team is pointed in the same direction.

00:39:02.850 –> 00:39:23.330
MAGGIE: We kind of all know what those initiatives and ideas are that the leader has and to truly, you know, be able to think strategically, be able to pick up strategic initiatives and also be able to execute real well on what the leader needs, filling gaps across a million different things, you know, very much a breadth focused role versus depth.

00:39:23.330 –> 00:39:27.210
MAGGIE: But sometimes we got to dig in and we’ve got to be able to dive right in there.

00:39:27.210 –> 00:39:28.510
MAGGIE: So you’re smiling, you’re laughing.

00:39:28.510 –> 00:39:31.330
MAGGIE: Does that sound like your role to you, Jared?

00:39:31.330 –> 00:39:38.330
JARED: I think, I mean, there’s definitely aspects of it that definitely, you know, are, I’m familiar with for sure.

00:39:38.330 –> 00:39:38.530
MAGGIE: Yeah.

00:39:38.530 –> 00:39:41.390
MAGGIE: So tell us what resonates with you.

00:39:42.730 –> 00:39:49.590
JARED: I think, you know, the part that you’re, you are trying to maximize the coach’s time, right?

00:39:49.590 –> 00:39:53.190
JARED: Coach’s time is just so limited with everything that they need to do.

00:39:53.190 –> 00:39:56.470
JARED: So the more efficient we can operate.

00:39:56.470 –> 00:40:03.370
JARED: And it’s funny that you, I read your post about, you know, being a mom and being in work.

00:40:04.010 –> 00:40:05.950
JARED: And it’s a great LinkedIn post.

00:40:05.950 –> 00:40:15.370
JARED: Like, I hope people go and read it because it just, it made me think of a runner who I ran back in Portland with, who’s a mom and also a businesswoman.

00:40:15.370 –> 00:40:20.190
JARED: And it just resonated so well because she would tell her stories as we’re running.

00:40:20.190 –> 00:40:25.110
JARED: And it’s just so cool to hear because, yeah, the time is so critical.

00:40:25.170 –> 00:40:32.790
JARED: And so any time that we can save minutes, save half an hour off someone’s schedule, it matters.

00:40:32.930 –> 00:40:39.750
JARED: It makes a difference to, especially in sports, where you only get 20 hours a week with your athletes.

00:40:39.750 –> 00:40:48.410
JARED: And so you’re really trying to maximize time in our business, so organization, I guess I would say.

00:40:48.410 –> 00:40:51.770
JARED: And so definitely that resonates.

00:40:51.890 –> 00:40:52.570
MAGGIE: Yeah.

00:40:52.570 –> 00:40:58.590
MAGGIE: One of the things that you were talking about earlier made me think of another core pillar of the chief of staff role.

00:40:58.590 –> 00:41:02.310
MAGGIE: Often I talk about the low-hanging fruit, like, OK, where do you want to add impact?

00:41:02.510 –> 00:41:08.570
MAGGIE: What kinds of things do you think you can do to level up your organization or level up your leader?

00:41:08.570 –> 00:41:14.490
MAGGIE: And one of those is ensuring that they’re prepared all the time for everything they walk into.

00:41:14.490 –> 00:41:33.130
MAGGIE: And when you’re talking about going on a site visit before your team gets there, working with 10, 20, 30 different people before you travel, making sure that coach walks in and knows what’s going on, doesn’t have to probably ask a ton of questions, it feels like that is a key pillar to your role.

00:41:33.130 –> 00:41:34.350
JARED: Yeah, I mean, I think so.

00:41:35.570 –> 00:41:40.750
JARED: I think it’s working hand in hand with our program director as well to make sure that happens.

00:41:40.750 –> 00:41:44.890
JARED: And then again, we have an amazing head coach who’s totally self-efficient.

00:41:44.890 –> 00:41:47.670
JARED: So it makes the whole thing pretty seamless.

00:41:48.450 –> 00:41:55.010
JARED: But any time you can provide that information, and I think that’s what resonates, right?

00:41:55.010 –> 00:42:14.910
JARED: Whether it’s the head coach or whether it’s an assistant coach that’s going to speak at an event or whether it’s our GM, anytime you can give somebody a nugget here or there that makes their job easier going into a room meeting with other stakeholders, I mean, it’s really invaluable.

00:42:15.030 –> 00:42:20.670
JARED: Like, where they don’t have to ask a question or they feel fully prepared, I think, I mean, that’s what we try to do.

00:42:20.670 –> 00:42:26.350
JARED: And I think as an ops team in general, that’s what we’re trying to do for the entire organization.

00:42:26.350 –> 00:42:32.010
JARED: And when we do our job, well, it’s, you know, we shouldn’t be seen.

00:42:33.430 –> 00:42:36.470
JARED: And that’s what’s and that’s, I think, what’s fun about it.

00:42:36.470 –> 00:42:36.790
MAGGIE: Yeah.

00:42:36.790 –> 00:42:39.810
MAGGIE: And to clarify, Jared, you run the ops team, right?

00:42:39.810 –> 00:42:41.970
MAGGIE: The ops team reports to you.

00:42:41.970 –> 00:42:42.430
JARED: Yeah.

00:42:42.430 –> 00:42:44.190
JARED: So I oversee our operations team.

00:42:44.630 –> 00:42:45.070
JARED: Yeah.

00:42:45.070 –> 00:42:45.630
MAGGIE: Yeah.

00:42:45.630 –> 00:42:46.330
MAGGIE: Okay.

00:42:46.330 –> 00:42:48.030
MAGGIE: Cool.

00:42:48.030 –> 00:43:05.530
MAGGIE: So do you guys, I mean, what’s in what’s some of the differences, I think, between like a sports program like you’re in and maybe a corporate chief of staff role is you have incredible marketing and incredible events that you may not really need to be a part of a ton.

00:43:05.530 –> 00:43:12.290
MAGGIE: But one of the kind of foundational purposes and I think parts of being a chief of staff is that you’re in the know on everything.

00:43:12.570 –> 00:43:23.650
MAGGIE: So even if like maybe you’re even more removed from marketing or events than let’s say another chief of staff in a business, do you feel like you have to still kind of like know everything and anything going on at all times?

00:43:23.650 –> 00:43:25.750
JARED: Yeah, I try to.

00:43:25.750 –> 00:43:26.110
MAGGIE: Yeah.

00:43:26.110 –> 00:43:30.330
JARED: You try to stay fully engaged because at some point the question is going to come to you.

00:43:30.330 –> 00:43:31.310
MAGGIE: Right.

00:43:31.310 –> 00:43:33.990
JARED: Or at some point somebody is going to have a question.

00:43:33.990 –> 00:43:42.270
JARED: So the more you can know, the more you can understand how events got put together, or who is doing what at what events.

00:43:42.270 –> 00:43:55.570
JARED: I think that’s whether you have to talk to somebody who is working in the food or working in the timing of the event or whether you are talking to somebody who is promoting the event.

00:43:55.570 –> 00:44:06.910
JARED: Knowing all those facets and how they get done, I think is super important as a Chief of Staff role, probably across multiple businesses, but within sports, for sure.

00:44:06.910 –> 00:44:22.210
JARED: I think that’s super important because at some point, somebody is going to need something and they’re either coming to Chief of Staff or the Ops team and I use this, I talk as a team because we all bound together in this deal.

00:44:22.210 –> 00:44:28.770
JARED: But yeah, it’s definitely super important to be in the know.

00:44:28.770 –> 00:44:38.370
MAGGIE: I think with that, in my experience, the Chief of Staff also has to, yes, you’re going to field a lot of questions, but there’s also this portion of providing the visibility into all the things.

00:44:38.370 –> 00:44:39.690
MAGGIE: So yes, it’s happening in marketing.

00:44:39.690 –> 00:44:40.710
MAGGIE: Yes, it’s happening in events.

00:44:40.710 –> 00:44:41.850
MAGGIE: You know what’s going on.

00:44:41.850 –> 00:44:49.130
MAGGIE: But are you responsible for providing visibility to people who might be even less connected than you to some of these areas?

00:44:49.310 –> 00:44:52.630
MAGGIE: Are you giving one sheets or emails?

00:44:52.630 –> 00:44:55.450
MAGGIE: How do you make sure everyone’s in the loop?

00:44:55.450 –> 00:45:09.010
JARED: Yeah, I think through email or text is just because of how quick our industry is, is generally like how it’s done.

00:45:09.010 –> 00:45:10.850
JARED: I do make reports.

00:45:10.850 –> 00:45:16.430
JARED: I think you talked about a segment where Chief of Staffs make a lot of reports that may not even get used.

00:45:17.010 –> 00:45:19.370
MAGGIE: Yeah, kind of PowerPoint officer.

00:45:19.370 –> 00:45:21.290
JARED: Yeah.

00:45:21.290 –> 00:45:26.050
JARED: So there are those that exist in a file somewhere, so maybe they’ll be useful down the road.

00:45:26.050 –> 00:45:31.430
JARED: But yeah, how’s your experience been in that part of things?

00:45:32.950 –> 00:45:42.850
MAGGIE: You know, I think it’s like reflecting a bit on what are the most asked questions and what, so who’s the core group that you exist to provide visibility to?

00:45:42.850 –> 00:45:46.750
MAGGIE: And my guess is it’s your core staff kind of meeting group, maybe.

00:45:46.750 –> 00:45:47.630
JARED: For sure.

00:45:47.630 –> 00:45:50.990
MAGGIE: What are the main questions or things they need to know?

00:45:50.990 –> 00:45:55.170
MAGGIE: And how can I give them the information before they ask?

00:45:55.170 –> 00:46:05.290
MAGGIE: So I think part of the role of the Chief of Staff is getting your leader and their team information without them ever having to ask or maybe even knowing that they need it until they would actually essentially need it.

00:46:05.290 –> 00:46:12.530
MAGGIE: So what I would do usually in a situation like that is like, what are the questions and then what’s a template I can use every week to just update the same information?

00:46:12.530 –> 00:46:14.650
MAGGIE: And then I screenshot it, send it around.

00:46:14.650 –> 00:46:23.570
MAGGIE: If text is easier, you take a picture like the mode is flexible, but it’s some form of like a repeatable template process that you just share.

00:46:23.730 –> 00:46:24.990
MAGGIE: How’s that sound to you?

00:46:24.990 –> 00:46:27.390
JARED: Yeah, it sounds very relatable.

00:46:27.390 –> 00:46:28.830
MAGGIE: Yeah, yeah.

00:46:28.830 –> 00:46:29.730
MAGGIE: Awesome.

00:46:29.730 –> 00:46:32.630
MAGGIE: So how long have you been in your Chief of Staff role now?

00:46:32.630 –> 00:46:35.850
JARED: So I’m just about a year in.

00:46:35.850 –> 00:46:40.130
JARED: So I got here last May at the end of May.

00:46:40.130 –> 00:46:41.970
JARED: It finally landed.

00:46:41.970 –> 00:46:45.190
JARED: And then the next day we were onboarding our new student athletes.

00:46:45.190 –> 00:46:48.210
JARED: So it literally hit the ground running.

00:46:48.210 –> 00:46:49.190
MAGGIE: That’s incredible.

00:46:49.710 –> 00:46:57.010
MAGGIE: And I want to know what you’re most proud of in the last year as the Chief of Staff at Texas Football.

00:46:57.630 –> 00:46:59.830
MAGGIE: What you’re most proud of yourself for?

00:46:59.830 –> 00:47:01.430
JARED: Oh, most proud of myself.

00:47:01.430 –> 00:47:07.170
JARED: I was going to say most proud of the team for their accomplishments during the season.

00:47:09.270 –> 00:47:17.470
JARED: Yeah, I think something that’s really cool is I got to be at Columbia for four years before I came to the University of Texas.

00:47:17.470 –> 00:47:27.310
JARED: And I got to work with some amazing people and some people that really took an interest in developing me and giving me insights.

00:47:27.310 –> 00:47:35.550
JARED: We had a leader at the time who was also giving me nuggets of information on what it meant to lead and what it meant to be a good leader.

00:47:35.650 –> 00:47:40.950
JARED: And it really helped my whole organization.

00:47:40.950 –> 00:47:48.010
JARED: So to be able to take those concepts and then be at a place where I had a chance to maybe apply some of those things.

00:47:48.010 –> 00:47:51.130
JARED: And I’m still learning, by no means finished.

00:47:51.130 –> 00:47:58.450
JARED: But to be able to start incorporating those things and seeing how they connected together, I think that’s what I’m probably most proud of.

00:47:58.450 –> 00:47:59.590
MAGGIE: That’s amazing.

00:47:59.670 –> 00:48:00.890
MAGGIE: I feel similar.

00:48:00.890 –> 00:48:04.650
MAGGIE: Leadership is such a hard journey and it’s a long journey.

00:48:04.650 –> 00:48:08.250
MAGGIE: And there’s difficulties throughout, right?

00:48:08.250 –> 00:48:11.850
MAGGIE: People issues are the ones that always keep us up at night.

00:48:11.850 –> 00:48:14.470
MAGGIE: They’re the hardest because we care.

00:48:14.470 –> 00:48:15.890
MAGGIE: And I feel the same.

00:48:15.890 –> 00:48:18.390
MAGGIE: After years and years, there’s still so much further to go.

00:48:18.390 –> 00:48:22.850
MAGGIE: But I’m just happy with the progress and being able to see it and hear feedback.

00:48:22.850 –> 00:48:25.710
MAGGIE: And yeah, I’m proud of you, too, for that.

00:48:25.710 –> 00:48:27.430
MAGGIE: That’s really, really cool to be able to see that.

00:48:27.730 –> 00:48:29.370
MAGGIE: What has been most challenging?

00:48:31.270 –> 00:48:47.090
JARED: I think coming in just with everyone already kind of going through the, you know, there was a few hard seasons before I got here and, and not necessarily knowing all the context around those.

00:48:47.090 –> 00:48:51.610
JARED: So learning those, I think that was probably the most challenging.

00:48:52.730 –> 00:49:09.750
JARED: But it was also kind of the most fun at the same time because you’re, you’re coming in with this curiosity and energy to really understand and, and want to help and, and, you know, provide support in, in a way that will help hopefully move things forward.

00:49:09.750 –> 00:49:10.390
MAGGIE: Absolutely.

00:49:10.390 –> 00:49:10.710
MAGGIE: Okay.

00:49:10.710 –> 00:49:12.670
MAGGIE: Well, we are going to get to the Q&A portion here.

00:49:12.670 –> 00:49:17.430
MAGGIE: Last question for me is what’s your favorite thing about your job right now?

00:49:18.690 –> 00:49:20.050
JARED: I think it’s the people.

00:49:20.050 –> 00:49:25.310
JARED: I think it always comes down to the people and just the people that you get to be around.

00:49:25.730 –> 00:49:35.310
JARED: On a day-to-day basis and then you walk into this facility and, you know, caring about the people because it’s, it’s what makes the whole thing go.

00:49:35.310 –> 00:49:37.050
MAGGIE: Yeah, I totally agree.

00:49:37.050 –> 00:49:37.530
MAGGIE: I love that.

00:49:37.530 –> 00:49:37.870
MAGGIE: Okay.

00:49:37.870 –> 00:49:45.430
MAGGIE: Well, our first question, so as a reminder to folks who are on, feel free to pop your questions into the Q&A box of the, of this webinar.

00:49:45.430 –> 00:49:49.230
MAGGIE: The chat, I’m not able to monitor it easily, but I have Q&A open right now.

00:49:49.230 –> 00:49:51.090
MAGGIE: So first question is from Tara.

00:49:52.990 –> 00:50:07.270
MAGGIE: In your experience, and I guess it’d be interesting to hear, like who you work with on other teams, but is the Chief of Staff role or maybe operated under a similar title common in college sports and across lots of, you know, sports teams in general?

00:50:08.290 –> 00:50:10.370
JARED: I think it’s more newer.

00:50:10.370 –> 00:50:12.250
JARED: It’s a more newer role.

00:50:12.250 –> 00:50:19.970
JARED: I think it started popping up probably 10 years ago as people taking that role, especially at the college level.

00:50:20.630 –> 00:50:23.730
JARED: And now starting to see it kind of in the NFL level.

00:50:24.250 –> 00:50:42.310
JARED: And I’ve had conversations with people in other sports leagues where it’s kind of, and you were talking, you alluded to it earlier, but it’s kind of more needed, you know, to have that role where someone isn’t really trying to be a coach or they’re not trying to be a general manager, but they’re are trying to get those rooms together.

00:50:42.310 –> 00:50:48.570
JARED: And they’re trying to get those rooms synchronized together so that everyone is speaking to one another and they’re getting on the same page.

00:50:49.110 –> 00:50:57.510
JARED: So it is kind of, I think, becoming more common, definitely, and needed for sure.

00:50:57.510 –> 00:50:59.410
MAGGIE: Yeah, I mean, it’s funny, right?

00:50:59.410 –> 00:51:01.470
MAGGIE: I mean, like I talk a lot about this.

00:51:01.470 –> 00:51:15.890
MAGGIE: The Chief of Staff role is so incredibly like industry and like specifics agnostic because you’re there for the same core purpose anywhere, which is to really support that leader in strategic ways, maximize their time, all the things we talked about.

00:51:16.730 –> 00:51:26.510
MAGGIE: So it doesn’t surprise me at all that as we’ve seen an increase in the Chief of Staff role from a business perspective and across industries that you’ve seen the same thing in sports.

00:51:26.510 –> 00:51:28.030
JARED: Yeah, for sure.

00:51:28.030 –> 00:51:38.170
MAGGIE: So as someone who loves sports but has never worked in sports, how would you recommend somebody learn a little bit more about the industry and possible opportunities to get into it?

00:51:38.170 –> 00:51:40.790
JARED: Well, that’s a good question.

00:51:40.830 –> 00:51:44.450
JARED: I think it starts like, well, what is your interest, Lyle?

00:51:44.750 –> 00:51:47.810
JARED: What do you want to be doing with your time?

00:51:47.810 –> 00:51:50.770
JARED: Because there are so many things within a sports role.

00:51:50.950 –> 00:51:59.750
JARED: We talked about it, there’s administration, there’s marketing, there’s definitely different places to exist within the ecosystem of sports.

00:51:59.750 –> 00:52:03.730
JARED: So I think maybe figuring that part out first.

00:52:03.730 –> 00:52:07.590
JARED: But then with sports teams, there’s so many opportunities to volunteer.

00:52:08.090 –> 00:52:12.530
JARED: You know, like constantly needing people to run championship events.

00:52:13.130 –> 00:52:20.050
JARED: Or like, I even look at marathons, like they’re constantly looking for people to volunteer and work stations.

00:52:20.050 –> 00:52:38.150
JARED: So even just getting an experience that way because you volunteer at those events and you start to meet people and start to connect, I think that’s a good way to build the relationships that could hopefully land a job down the road, maybe.

00:52:38.370 –> 00:52:43.310
JARED: Or see if it’s even something that a person wants to be spending their time doing.

00:52:43.310 –> 00:52:44.350
MAGGIE: Do I really want to do it?

00:52:44.350 –> 00:52:46.870
MAGGIE: Do I know enough about it yet to know the answer to that?

00:52:46.870 –> 00:52:52.490
MAGGIE: And then like anything else, like networking into it, informational interviews, draw your network bubble map.

00:52:52.490 –> 00:52:54.450
MAGGIE: Who do I know in the sports industry?

00:52:54.450 –> 00:52:56.830
JARED: You sound like a chief of staff.

00:52:56.830 –> 00:52:59.550
MAGGIE: I know, this is straight from our course.

00:52:59.550 –> 00:53:04.010
MAGGIE: It’s like, which people might know a sports person, make the list and start networking?

00:53:07.490 –> 00:53:09.610
MAGGIE: So I love this question.

00:53:09.610 –> 00:53:11.490
MAGGIE: This is from Anum.

00:53:11.490 –> 00:53:14.850
MAGGIE: Jared, do you review a lot of analytics or baseline?

00:53:14.850 –> 00:53:20.470
MAGGIE: And then second part of that question is, can you share any of the strategic initiatives that are on your plate right now?

00:53:21.630 –> 00:53:21.850
JARED: Yeah.

00:53:21.850 –> 00:53:24.070
JARED: So that’s a good question with analytics.

00:53:25.550 –> 00:53:39.510
JARED: And I guess I can take it a few different ways, but just looking at it from a sports standpoint, we get reports on strategies that work from a game standpoint.

00:53:39.510 –> 00:53:49.290
JARED: And so you get to see the breakdown of the number of plays that people ran on fourth and one in the fourth quarter of a game and that sort of thing.

00:53:49.290 –> 00:53:57.830
JARED: So now that won’t really pertain to what I would do on a day-to-day basis, but I’m still getting that information.

00:53:59.210 –> 00:54:04.030
JARED: And I think that’s what I love about being in sport is there’s strategy around it.

00:54:04.030 –> 00:54:13.830
JARED: And then as we’re constantly like, well, how can we figure out what stats would apply to the ops team, you know, in our success?

00:54:13.830 –> 00:54:19.250
JARED: And I think we’re still kind of figuring out those questions because that would let us see it from a business perspective.

00:54:19.290 –> 00:54:35.430
JARED: But so there’s there is a little bit of analytics involved in definitely our area as it pertains to like our day to day function, not necessarily so much.

00:54:35.430 –> 00:54:35.910
MAGGIE: Okay.

00:54:35.910 –> 00:54:36.230
MAGGIE: Yeah.

00:54:36.230 –> 00:54:40.510
MAGGIE: And what about majors initiatives on your plate right now?

00:54:40.510 –> 00:54:42.530
JARED: I’m working on a few projects.

00:54:42.530 –> 00:54:46.710
JARED: Probably can’t get into the details of them, but super excited about them.

00:54:47.990 –> 00:54:52.610
MAGGIE: The Chief of Staff working on major initiatives makes sense.

00:54:52.610 –> 00:54:52.890
MAGGIE: Okay.

00:54:52.890 –> 00:54:59.670
MAGGIE: So from our friend Sarah, what essentially she’s talking about, there’s some major shifts happening in college athletics.

00:54:59.670 –> 00:55:08.110
MAGGIE: How can the Chief of Staff position help team staff athletes like weather the storm in terms of the shifts happening in athletics?

00:55:08.110 –> 00:55:12.210
JARED: I think first being on top of them, understanding we’re constantly-

00:55:12.510 –> 00:55:19.610
MAGGIE: Maybe you can share, sorry, Jared, maybe you can share a little bit about the shifts happening and about the environment right now that Sarah is referring to.

00:55:19.610 –> 00:55:20.110
JARED: Yeah.

00:55:20.110 –> 00:55:31.170
JARED: So there’s a number of things going on, but you’ll see rural changes with regard to rosters.

00:55:31.170 –> 00:55:38.770
JARED: You’ll see changes into how many people can travel to training camp and that sort of thing.

00:55:38.970 –> 00:55:44.790
JARED: So and I don’t know what she’s specifically talking about, but those are the types of things that you would see.

00:55:44.790 –> 00:56:08.950
JARED: So like being able to understand what those changes might be and how they might impact the budget, how they might impact, you know, we’re constantly forecasting and, you know, seeing how, you know, if they changed from 100 players going to camp to 120, that’s 20 more meals per day, that’s, you know, 20 more rooms.

00:56:08.950 –> 00:56:15.730
JARED: So you’re constantly looking at like how that might affect the budget, how that might affect what resources we need to plan for.

00:56:15.730 –> 00:56:17.310
JARED: So there’s that part of it.

00:56:17.310 –> 00:56:24.970
JARED: So I mean, I think again, it goes back to what are those changes happening?

00:56:24.970 –> 00:56:29.530
JARED: And then kind of brainstorming, okay, how is this going to impact us?

00:56:29.530 –> 00:56:36.850
JARED: You know, and then hopefully you’re creating a place where we’re thriving and not necessarily trying to survive.

00:56:36.850 –> 00:56:37.430
MAGGIE: Yeah, yeah.

00:56:37.430 –> 00:56:39.270
JARED: What are the changes?

00:56:39.270 –> 00:56:46.590
MAGGIE: Yeah, I imagine too that it’s just a constant dialogue with your with your staff and your team and it’s like an agenda item, like what’s new?

00:56:46.590 –> 00:56:49.050
MAGGIE: Like, do we all understand it?

00:56:49.050 –> 00:56:55.010
JARED: Yeah, and luckily, you know, we have a really good administration compliance department that’s that’s on these things.

00:56:55.010 –> 00:57:03.270
JARED: You know, that’s that that is part of, you know, that is one of the meetings that we have in terms of being updated.

00:57:03.270 –> 00:57:05.630
MAGGIE: Yeah, that makes a ton of sense.

00:57:05.630 –> 00:57:11.230
MAGGIE: Jared, if you weren’t working in sports, what would you be doing from Connor?

00:57:11.230 –> 00:57:12.930
JARED: That’s a great question.

00:57:14.590 –> 00:57:16.750
MAGGIE: Clearly running, but besides running.

00:57:16.750 –> 00:57:23.830
JARED: Yeah, besides running, I would if if probably owning a smoothie shop somewhere, a smoothie shop.

00:57:25.210 –> 00:57:26.650
MAGGIE: I love that.

00:57:27.930 –> 00:57:33.990
JARED: That would probably be what I would would be planning on.

00:57:33.990 –> 00:57:37.150
JARED: Yeah, a smoothie coffee shop somewhere.

00:57:37.150 –> 00:57:37.650
MAGGIE: Amazing.

00:57:37.650 –> 00:57:39.590
MAGGIE: OK, well, we’re going to we’re going to ask a fun one.

00:57:39.590 –> 00:57:43.330
MAGGIE: And if you don’t have an answer, that’s OK, because I’m really, really bad on the spot with this kind of thing.

00:57:43.330 –> 00:57:44.250
MAGGIE: So no judgment.

00:57:44.250 –> 00:57:46.310
MAGGIE: But what’s your best dad joke?

00:57:47.670 –> 00:57:51.530
JARED: Oh, my best dad joke.

00:57:51.530 –> 00:57:54.290
JARED: OK, why is the desert never hungry?

00:57:54.290 –> 00:57:58.410
JARED: I don’t know, because of all the sandwiches there.

00:57:58.410 –> 00:58:01.570
MAGGIE: OK, you know, you asked it was answered.

00:58:01.570 –> 00:58:04.510
MAGGIE: Jared, that’s all I have to say about that one.

00:58:04.510 –> 00:58:06.090
JARED: What’s your best dad joke?

00:58:06.090 –> 00:58:12.070
MAGGIE: Oh, no, like I said, I like, why do you have to tiptoe past the medicine cabinet?

00:58:12.070 –> 00:58:13.090
JARED: How come?

00:58:13.090 –> 00:58:14.590
MAGGIE: So you don’t wake up the sleeping pills.

00:58:16.310 –> 00:58:17.750
MAGGIE: All right, that’s enough of that.

00:58:17.750 –> 00:58:19.390
MAGGIE: They’re so bad, so bad.

00:58:19.390 –> 00:58:22.550
MAGGIE: OK, we have a few more questions to get to.

00:58:22.550 –> 00:58:24.390
MAGGIE: I know they’re so bad, you guys.

00:58:24.390 –> 00:58:30.090
MAGGIE: How would you go about convincing or advising a leader that they need a chief of staff?

00:58:30.090 –> 00:58:39.910
MAGGIE: So this is part of my work is awareness, education, trying to help business leaders understand more about the chief of staff role.

00:58:39.910 –> 00:58:52.090
MAGGIE: Everybody knows that you need an accountant, you need finance, you need a coach for offense, a coach for defense, but you don’t know you need a chief of staff until you learn about the value of the role.

00:58:52.090 –> 00:58:56.890
MAGGIE: So how would you go about convincing a leader that they need a chief of staff?

00:58:56.890 –> 00:59:04.270
JARED: And actually, it kind of leads to something we talked about or that I talked about a little bit earlier, but I’ve thought about this question a ton.

00:59:04.270 –> 00:59:48.350
JARED: Like, and more like if you were talking to a pro team, let’s just say a pro team, with a general manager and a head coach and an owner, you’d want to sit down with them and say, look, you have these people that are essentially driving your organization and they are creating strategy and really, what are the key initiatives to have someone who is in a role to help carry those out, work with the other touch points, the other departments that are going to be carrying out these initiatives that these strategies that are being derived from these groups, will be super helpful.

00:59:48.350 –> 00:59:55.090
JARED: It will make the process more seamless because you’re getting, I mean, it’s essentially a game of telephone, right?

00:59:55.090 –> 01:00:09.670
JARED: But having someone who can operate as well as think strategically within those, you know, within those guardrails, to be able to be creative within those spaces.

01:00:09.670 –> 01:00:12.070
JARED: And I really feel that’s what the Chief of Staff does.

01:00:12.070 –> 01:00:30.650
JARED: It’s kind of like, you know, I always describe it as like, I don’t have a good football position, but it’s either being that point guard on a basketball team who is taking the direction from the coach and really figuring out how you’re putting the players in position for success.

01:00:31.690 –> 01:00:35.350
JARED: To reach and accomplish those goals.

01:00:35.350 –> 01:00:38.290
JARED: I mean, that is essentially like what an old school point guard would do.

01:00:38.290 –> 01:00:46.610
JARED: Or is it having that midfielder in a soccer, you know, in the soccer arena who is you’re not working to the midfielder.

01:00:46.610 –> 01:00:47.530
JARED: You’re working.

01:00:47.530 –> 01:01:02.690
JARED: There’s Ted Lasso episode on this, where you’re working through the midfielder, who is, again, putting those players in position to carry out the orders, to really get people in spaces for them to shine.

01:01:02.690 –> 01:01:06.190
JARED: And I think that’s what you would.

01:01:06.190 –> 01:01:14.090
JARED: That would be the argument I’d use for a chief of staff is they are helping others shine while carrying out what the strategy is.

01:01:14.090 –> 01:01:16.770
JARED: And that can make the thing really fly.

01:01:16.770 –> 01:01:19.050
MAGGIE: Yeah, I love that so much.

01:01:19.050 –> 01:01:20.090
MAGGIE: Last question.

01:01:20.090 –> 01:01:22.490
MAGGIE: And then we are done for the day.

01:01:22.490 –> 01:01:23.630
MAGGIE: Who helps you shine?

01:01:25.830 –> 01:01:27.690
JARED: Oh, shoot.

01:01:27.690 –> 01:01:29.450
JARED: In my role?

01:01:29.450 –> 01:01:32.710
JARED: I mean, I think the people around me.

01:01:32.710 –> 01:01:46.350
JARED: I mean, I think, you know, whether it be a conversation with an ops person, whether it be a conversation with an analyst who’s working to become a coach.

01:01:46.350 –> 01:01:54.590
JARED: I mean, I think those are the moments where I feel like I shine because you’re getting an opportunity to really do what you love to do.

01:01:54.590 –> 01:01:54.930
MAGGIE: Yeah.

01:01:54.930 –> 01:01:56.370
MAGGIE: People are trusting you.

01:01:56.370 –> 01:02:05.410
MAGGIE: People are giving you the room to be great, the room to make things your own, to have an impact in your own way, place to do it.

01:02:05.410 –> 01:02:05.950
MAGGIE: I love that.

01:02:05.950 –> 01:02:11.150
MAGGIE: Well, any final thoughts from you before we say goodbye to everyone today?

01:02:11.150 –> 01:02:11.770
JARED: I do.

01:02:11.770 –> 01:02:16.650
JARED: So I have a question for you because you just did your first speaking engagement.

01:02:17.050 –> 01:02:17.470
JARED: Yeah.

01:02:18.510 –> 01:02:23.690
JARED: What did you get from that experience and how was it?

01:02:23.950 –> 01:02:24.910
MAGGIE: Well, yeah.

01:02:24.910 –> 01:02:28.110
MAGGIE: So I just gave a keynote speech to this.

01:02:28.350 –> 01:02:32.770
MAGGIE: It’s a very generic title, but the Admin Conference down in San Antonio.

01:02:32.770 –> 01:02:36.150
MAGGIE: They found me, they asked me to come speak to them.

01:02:36.150 –> 01:02:46.070
MAGGIE: I accepted and I knew that I was not quite sure what I was going to walk into and not quite sure that it was something that I would love or have time for.

01:02:46.750 –> 01:02:54.430
MAGGIE: So what I learned is that I do absolutely love it, super great, but I do not want to be away from home very much right now.

01:02:54.430 –> 01:03:00.470
MAGGIE: With my little guy, 16 months old and just it takes a lot for me to travel.

01:03:00.470 –> 01:03:04.810
MAGGIE: So I thought I’ll show up, I’ll speak for 60 minutes, go home.

01:03:04.810 –> 01:03:06.430
MAGGIE: There’s so much more to it.

01:03:06.430 –> 01:03:13.970
MAGGIE: Preparing, traveling, thinking, practicing, like all of it, especially the mind share of it.

01:03:13.970 –> 01:03:20.390
MAGGIE: In the mind share, we have to add that in, the amount of time that we’re thinking about something, that’s preparing.

01:03:20.390 –> 01:03:22.430
MAGGIE: So it was a lot for sure.

01:03:22.430 –> 01:03:23.190
MAGGIE: But I enjoyed it.

01:03:23.190 –> 01:03:24.370
JARED: Well, congrats.

01:03:24.370 –> 01:03:25.090
JARED: It’s so awesome.

01:03:25.090 –> 01:03:25.730
MAGGIE: Thank you.

01:03:25.730 –> 01:03:26.410
MAGGIE: Thank you so much.

01:03:26.410 –> 01:03:28.030
MAGGIE: Well, Jared, you’re the best.

01:03:28.030 –> 01:03:30.530
MAGGIE: Thank you so much for being here.

01:03:30.530 –> 01:03:34.290
MAGGIE: Feel free to reach out to Jared on LinkedIn.

01:03:34.290 –> 01:03:47.250
MAGGIE: We will include a summary email to everybody who registered with a lot of information about how you can donate, how you can find Jared, other resources, things about Nova, about me, all the good stuff.

01:03:47.250 –> 01:03:48.590
MAGGIE: So thanks for being here, everybody.

01:03:48.590 –> 01:03:49.450
MAGGIE: This was super fun.

01:03:49.450 –> 01:03:50.670
MAGGIE: Jared, thank you so much.

01:03:50.670 –> 01:03:51.810
MAGGIE: You’re the best.

01:03:51.810 –> 01:03:53.430
JARED: Thank you so much for having me.

01:03:53.430 –> 01:03:53.810
MAGGIE: Okay.

01:03:53.830 –> 01:03:54.690
MAGGIE: Bye, everyone.

01:04:05.807 –> 01:04:08.167
<v SPEAKER_3>Please review on Apple Podcasts.

01:04:14.602 –> 01:04:16.302
<v SPEAKER_3> goburrows.com.