Bowlcut Bajeet, esq.

Mark Jackson at Northwestern is one of the more interesting ADs to watch right now, and his recent conversation on the Excellent Leadership Podcast from Excel Search gets at why... He's restructured the athletic department around a true C-suite, with a chief revenue officer, chief communications and branding, chief administrative, chief operating, and a dedicated GM function that works alongside the CRO and head coaches on market evaluation and deal structuring. The quote that stuck with me was on building an executive team culture that demands real friction: "If you're executive team, if you're not shooting me straight and we're not aligned coming out of this room, fight me on it, compete for what you believe and tell me where I'm wrong because if we don't, we don't have a chance." Good operating leadership in college athletics looks a lot like good operating leadership anywhere else, and Northwestern is showing what that can look like in practice. Bullish on NU given how they are shaking up how they are going to operate...