As the owner and founder of the global sports consulting firm Makesphere International, Tiago Lopes is committed to creating value in the world of sports. With a particular focus on professional football (soccer), he has traveled the world developing personal connections and building opportunities. Recently, those travels brought him to Harvard Business School (HBS), where he enrolled in The Business of Entertainment, Media, and Sports to explore innovative ways to gain competitive advantage in his industry. Lopes shares some highlights of his experience in the program.
It was magnificent. The way HBS structures its format is just unique. It is a truly dynamic, professionally oriented learning experience that went beyond my expectations.
I learned a lot from the cases on Droga5 and LeBron James, but my favorite was the case on FC Barcelona because it was more related to my business. There is no doubt that the business of football is changing rapidly and adapting to a whole new global entertainment environment. The clubs that adapt with speed and efficiency are the ones that become great. What separates FC Barcelona from dozens of other good clubs are the business capabilities it creates to generate new revenue streams and engage with a broader fan base. It also maintains a crucial organizational culture, and that certainly helps to sustain an important balance between talent acquisition and homegrown development while humanizing and growing brand value.
The living group was a great way to instill creativity into an already dynamic learning model. It helped to promote a multidimensional understanding of the cases by enabling contributions from participants who work in different professional sectors and markets.
I learned so much, but a few things that stand out are talent, quality control, and technology. In the football industry where talent is clearly critical, it is important to understand that talent does not reside only in the football pitch. Organizational talent off the field in critical business areas is just as important. At the same time, organizational culture and quality control help achieve sustainability. The football industry also operates in the world of entertainment where multiple industry players are fighting for the same dollar. And that dollar may be well outside a club's borders. This is where clubs could become positively disruptive by engaging with new consumers through technology and digital capabilities.
Don't hesitate! You will find that there are two phases to your academic and professional life—one before Harvard and one after.