Lou DePaoli has lost cell reception again. But you can't blame him. Today, he is juggling a phone interview in between meetings beneath the Mohegan Sun Arena in Montville, Connecticut, where the Wi-Fi connection between him and the outside world can get sidetracked from time to time.

Not that the Connecticut Sun mind. The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team is just one of the many organizations that have asked DePaoli to share his more than 30 years of senior-level leadership insights with its staff.

DePaoli is what you would call an "executive whisperer," if such a moniker existed in the leadership halls across the multiple teams and leagues he has helped steer. As the President, Executive Search and Team Consulting for General Sports Worldwide, DePaoli is known for his innovative and charismatic leadership style—the kind of guru who sports a proven track record of significantly helping sports and entertainment franchises increase their values across multiple sports leagues, markets and venues. 

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"Working with Sports Properties Worldwide"

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In getting to this spot, way beneath the bowels of Sun Arena, DePaoli's track record is as impressive as it is expansive. Over the years, he has held roles as Executive VP for the New York Mets (Major League Baseball), Executive VP and CMO for the Pittsburgh Pirates (MLB), and Executive VP and CMO for the Atlanta Spirit, including the Atlanta Hawks (National Basketball Association), the then Atlanta Thrashers (National Hockey League) and State Farm Arena.

He also was an original member of the National Basketball Association's Team Marketing and Business Operations (TMBO) department, where as Vice President, Team Marketing & Business Development, he helped create the in-house consulting group’s philosophy of driving and sharing best practices and innovation across the NBA, WNBA and NBA G League. It was DePaoli who was responsible for building the analytical infrastructure and reporting that still is used today. Before that, he worked with the Florida (now Miami) Marlins and Worcester IceCats in the American Hockey League (AHL).

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"Expect What You Inspect - Tracking Best Practices"

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"If I lose you, I will call you back," DePaoli says before his phone eventually cuts out.

Thankfully for the number of organizations he has helped guide, that call is always returned. Driven by his ability to provide trust, guidance and resources, DePaoli offers the kind of guidance that instills confidence that the business plans and mission statements can work.

"Can you show me your plan? That is the first thing I ask. Generally, I usually get a budget. 'Yes, but where is your business plan?' And then I typically get a few things written down on paper."

While you might be surprised, DePaoli is not. The refresher course—and the detailed, methodically scripted response—is what people seek DePaoli out to provide. He learned much of the process by mentoring with the person he calls, "The Professor." Bernie Mullin, Ph.D. The internationally-acclaimed management and marketing consultant and speaker helped teach DePaoli the ropes, instilling in him two very important—elemental—rules of the game: learn how to plan and learn how to listen. "It is always about making sure everyone is on the same page. And that can be daunting at times. When I was with the Mets, we had a staff of 200+ full-time people. It is a lot easier if everyone knows what everyone else is doing and what needs to be done."

DePaoli asks that you view it like the McDonald's book of franchising, i.e., you create a structure where someone can come into the picture on the same day and be able to run everything.

They know what everyone's responsibility is, what temperature to fry the French fries, what the temperature of the freezer should be. "Everything needs to be laid out for everyone to see. To succeed, you need to take planning to the next level."

The other part of the playbook is to listen. No plan, no matter how detailed, cannot be implemented without the ability for people to listen and follow. "Find out what's really going on and you can provide solutions. That's a big part of the process. When you listen, you can find what is believable and what is not. There are a lot of times when the sky is falling from a business or brand perspective. When I look back at my time with the Mets, the New York media was all over us for everything every day. But you don't panic; you listen. 'Listen more than you talk.' That was something that Bernie emphasized with us."V

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"Embrace The Media To Help Drive Your Business"

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The keys to getting the best out of any situation fall into a strategy he says is simple enough to make a habit. This includes, more than anything else, being prepared. There is an element of mindfulness he says you must practice when facing any task, especially ones that can be challenging.

Before DePaoli even begins to set the course a management team should follow, he listens. For two full days, he makes it a point to meet with everyone involved in the process—from top to the bottom. The process involves, as you would expect, a lot of questions and a lot of listening. "It is amazing what people will tell you if you ask. Most of the time, they are the things that would never be shared with leadership. It is from these conversations that we can begin to build a plan."

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"Build Growth Plan - Start With Internal Focus"

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"It is always about making sure everyone is on the same page. And that can be daunting at times. When I was with the Mets, we had a staff of 200+ full-time people. It is a lot easier if everyone knows what everyone else is doing and what needs to be done."