Leaders Sport Business Podcast Leaders

Andy Anson is preparing Team GB for a golden summer in Paris. The British Olympic Association CEO is the guest on this month's Leaders in Focus, where he looks ahead to the Olympics; considers the major challenges the Olympic world faces; and discusses whether athletes should be paid directly for winning medals at the Games.He reflects on a long and varied career in sports and media: developing his love of brand at Disney; takeovers and working under the Glazers at Manchester United; and working out what went wrong with England’s bid for the 2018 Fifa World Cup, a campaign he fronted. Anson also reveals the leadership traits he’s learnt – and the leaders he’s learnt from – along the way, as well as how he dovetails his BOA commitments with his role as Chair of Lancashire County Cricket Club and the advice he has for the next generation of sports CEOs.

Leaders' Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan take stock of a big week of sports, entertainment and business at 4se New York.As the green room is dismantled around them in Chelsea, they reflect on some of the big themes of the event: storytelling in all its forms, the rise Cowboy culture, and the budding relationship between sports organisations and the music industry.US Ski & Snowboard CEO Sophie Goldschmidt also stops by to discuss one of the big stories elsewhere this week - the Saudi Public Investment Fund’s new deal with the Women’s Tennis Association - and share her thoughts on the impressive group of Gen Z athletes, snowboarders Red Gerrard and Hailey Langland and NASCAR driver Rajah Caruth, she shared the stage with at 4se.

Leaders’ Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan lean into the sports industry stories of the week.They're joined by Anna Edwards, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at executive search and advisory firm Elite Performance Partners (EPP), to discuss Manchester United' Co-Owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe's new work-from-office edict and, as the WNBA continues to expand, how to structure a start-up sports organisation's front office.They also discuss the latest Leaders Special Report, Succession in Sport, produced in partnership with EPP and the challenges of smooth executive change, managing internal leadership candidates and the skillsets a modern sports CEO should possess.

Barbara Slater is one of the most respected figures in the sports broadcasting industry.A former international gymnast and Olympian, Barbara joined the BBC 40 years ago and is on the cusp of retiring from her current Director of Sport role. During her tenure, she's changed attitudes and enhanced perceptions of women's sport, overseen remarkable growth in BBC Sport’s digital services, and cemented the BBC as the most popular broadcaster in the UK - all whilst managing the challenges that come with working for a publicly-funded broadcaster.Slater was in the hot seat for May's edition of Leaders in Focus and had a wide-ranging conversation with Leaders duo James Emmett and David Cushnan on her life at the BBC and what she leaves behind for her successor. This episode of Leaders in Focus was produced in partnership with IMG.

Leaders' Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan shake down the global sports industry for the stories of the week.That includes Amazon’s potential broadcast deal with the NBA, Saudi giant Aramco’s new partnership with Fifa, difficult days for sports journalism, George Payne’s turf management, DAZN’s German football dispute, the rise of Cowboy culture, and reflections on the death of Ayrton Senna 30 years ago this week.And there’s time for a new feature, Inside The Deal, explaining how Hewlett-Packard’s new title sponsorship deal with Ferrari came about: the brand alignment, the value exchange, who was at the negotiating table, the Omnicom fingerprints on the agreement including the role of the Fuse and PHD agencies and why it’s a handy way to get a slice of Lewis Hamilton’s time.The agenda’s out for 4se New York, our sports, media, brands and popular culture show, examining the spaces where sport, lifestyle, culture and entertainment are intersecting.There’s still time to join us in New York on Tuesday 21st and Wednesday 22nd May - visit 4-se.com for more details.

Leaders Editorial Director James Emmett and Content Director David Cushnan run the rule over the stories moving the global sports industry needle this week. They're joined in the studio by Aquatics GB CEO Drew Barrand. Together they discuss the fallout from the Chinese doping story; and the CEO response to scandal: the motivating factors behind any move or statement and the stakeholder sensitivities that have to be accounted for. Fifa's big ambitions for the new look Mondial de Clubes and the carve-out that's tempting Apple to the rights negotiating table are also covered. Meanwhile, Cushnan had a front row seat for the premiere of the third part of Thomas Bach's Olympic Agenda trilogy: the IOC's AI Agenda, and he liked what he saw. Plus, why the NGB equation of performance + governance = not a lot of room for much else has to change; and what Aquatics GB are doing with the data behind the 550,000 streams of the recent British Championships. The agenda’s out for 4se New York, our sports, media, brands and popular culture show, examining the spaces where sport, lifestyle, culture and entertainment are intersecting.There’s still time to join us in New York on Tuesday 21st and Wednesday 22nd May - visit 4-se.com for more details.