My Favorite Guest Lecture in 2018
After launching the Global Institute of Sports
Business in October of 2018, we were fortunate to have a number of global
sports industry influencers visit the campus to deliver a Guest Lecture for our
students. People like former US Soccer President, Sunil Gulati, Premier
League’s Head of International, Kate Hodgkinson, Chelsea FC’s Director of Fan
Engagement, Jon Scammell, Delhi Dynamos CEO, Ashish Shah and many others. While
each session was informative, insightful and entertaining, my favorite GISB
Guest Lecturer in 2018 happened to be the person who has the least experience
working in professional sport – My Father.
On December 21, 2018, the eve of his 76th
birthday, my Father delivered a powerful talk to our students about how he went
from growing up in India as the oldest son of a village farmer to becoming a
senior member of the global automotive industry and settling his whole family
in the United States. The 2 hour
presentation was filled with stories, insights, humor and specific life lessons
that had the students amazed, inspired and motivated to dream big and work
hard.
In my whole life, I don’t remember seeing my
Father smile as much as he did during the 20 minutes after the talk when the
students were sharing what they took away from his story. Even now as I write about this experience, I
have tears in my eyes and goosebumps on my skin. These are the type of moments
that have me feel that my move to India had much more to do with re-connecting with family with our roots than building a sporting ecosystem.
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