Exclusives

Mike Forde, strategic advisor to the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs, advisor to McLaren Formula 1’s Applied Technologies division, and former director of football operations and executive club director for Chelsea Football Club, has spent 20-plus years in professional sports. And he’s come away with one major conclusion: you need to analyse all the available data to become a champion, but the data can’t be the only thing you rely on.

Delivering the keynote presentation at the 5th November Smart Content Summit EU event, Forde pointed to the 2003 book “Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game” about the Oakland Athletics MLB team and how the A‘s analytical, sabermetric approach to putting a winner on the field changed not only American baseball, but how all professional sports worldwide approach choose who to invest in and who to turn away from long-term contracts.

“It takes a different leadership style in how you determine things,” Forde said. “People are coming in and asking a different set of questions, without the legacy of the past. The evaluation of teams is around how decisions are made around players [and the front office].”

Professional teams today, however, can’t rely on analytics alone, he stressed. They have to balance the data with the talent assessments provided by scouts as well, Forde said. “The teams that have gotten it right during my 20 years have consistently married the two together, so they don’t over-index on qualitative information driven by human [assessment], and they don’t over-index on analytics. They try to find a happy medium.”

Beyond just the numbers, how sports teams make signing decisions can also be applied to media and entertainment staff: is the person you’re hiring a team player, exhibits selflessness, perseveres, do they have honesty and integrity? No matter how fast or good they may be at any given job, if they’re impossible to work with, going just by the data doesn’t pan out.

“If you’re thinking about adding value to your business or the industry you’re in … [balance] the qualitative and quantitative,” Forde said.

His keynote — “Using Data to Drive Business” — offered insights into how European M&E players can gain a competitive advantage by using smarter recruitment, and by allowing the talent they bring in to fulfil their full potential.

During his tenure in the English Premier League Chelsea won the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, the Premier League title, and three FA Cups, and in 2014 Forde helped the Spurs win their fifth NBA title. He currently sits on the board of the Lawn Tennis Association/Wimbledon and two private equity funds that specialise in the sports and entertainment space.

Smart Content Summit EU was produced by MESA and MESA Europe, in association with CDSA, HITS and the Smart Content Council, which meets regularly to share best practices, evaluate emerging technologies and collaborate to accelerate the pace of transformation in our industry. The summit is sponsored by ATMECS, Cognizant, Deluxe, Digital Nirvana, Éclair, Eluvio, EIDR, Iyuno Media Group, TransPerfect, NAGRA, Premiere Digital, Zixi, Whip Media Group, AppTek and EIDR.