BEST OF: E188: Leigh Steinberg: The Real Story Behind The Sports Empire

Published: May 31, 2023, midnight

First aired: 10/13/21\n\nLeigh Steinberg, premier sports agent, entrepreneur, best-selling author, and Chairman of Leigh Steinberg Sports and Entertainment Holdings, is best known for his work building athletes into stand-alone brands. He is often credited as the real-life inspiration for the Oscar-winning film Jerry Maguire.\n\nLeigh has represented many of the most successful athletes and coaches in football, basketball, baseball, hockey, boxing, and golf, including the number one overall pick in the NFL draft for an unprecedented eight times in conjunction with 64 total first round picks. With an unrivaled history of record-setting contracts, Leigh has secured over $4 billion for his 300+ pro athlete clients and directed more than $800 million to various charities around the world.\n\nThis Episode\u2019s Heavy-hitter\u2019s:\n\nLeigh learned \u201ceverything he needed to know\u201d about negotiating from his time serving as President of the Student Government at UC Berkeley, where he frequently had to meet with then Governor Ronald Reagan. The two would later laugh about those days, but at the time when the Vietnam War was dividing the sentiments of the people, things were more tense.\n\nAnother lesson Leigh learned was from Tom Cruise. During the time Leigh got to meet Tom while he was acting as Jerry Maguire, Leigh saw that Tom has a \u201ccomplex life.\u201d He was able to put in context for his players that you have a choice when things are getting complex\u2013 to double down and persevere or to crumble.\n\nDuring his bout with Alcoholism, Leigh focused on the basics when getting clean. He made a promise to himself that no matter what else happened, as long as he got clean and took care of his family, he would be happy.\n\nThe greatest enemy of athletes, according to Leigh, is self-absorption. So Leigh works to develop athletes and helps them to network and put in the work to help and influence others.\n\nOne major approach Leigh thinks is necessary to successfully promote DEI is to get more minority personnel into organizations at younger, entry-level positions.\n\nIf you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review: https://ratethispodcast.com/thepozcast\n\n#thePOZcast is brought to you by our friends at Interseller \u2013 the prospecting + outreach platform of recruiters and sellers. Whether you\u2019re doubling down on business development or recruiting talent, Interseller does all the heavy lifting of finding contact data, automating the email and follow-up process, and syncs all that rich data into 20+ CRMs and ATSs. Reach out and get going in a 2-week *free* trial today and let them know you heard about them from Adam on #thePOZcast.\n\nCheck out a free demo today! https://bit.ly/2Fbm/BZ\n\nIf you are curious how Adam has created #thePOZcast and turned it into an ecosystem that builds real relationships, clients, thought leadership, and content, check out www.thePOZcourse.com.\n\nFor more, please visit www.thePOZcast.com