From 11/12/06
This guy is pretty incredible. He went from being the athletic trainer at St Josephs in Philadelphia to becoming the head trainer for 76ers, one of the first Black men to do this in the NBA. He was the only college trainer among 200 applicants and got the job! His creativity and drive was soon noticed by Nike who made a bold move, hiring him with no title! Basically, they gave Kevin 90 days to get a feel for the place and figure out how he could best fit in the company. He spent the time communicating with all the departments, shooting them ideas while getting to know them...and this became his job. He named the position "Katalyst", K for Kevin as he was someone to bring ideas together. In the end he was responsible for the "Livestrong" campaign with the yellow bracelets among other things.
He's got a contagious passion and exudes confidence and creativity. His passion is for bringing about social change though sport. One great example of this is his sponsorship of Team Uganda for the 'homeless World Cup'. He has since left Nike and is a private consultant and author. His unbridled enthusiasm for life and equally strong ambition to pursue dreams, and to encourage others to do the same, is nothing less than inspiring. The following are quotes and thoughts from listening to his interview...
"Listen More Than You Speak"
"You can [and should] Influence without titles". - I really liked this one. He spoke boldly about challenging structures that might inhibit creativity.
"Play at Work". - In "The Red Rubber Ball" he uses a playground to symbolize life now. The joys and dreams we had there we can still have but often they get lost in bureaucracy and systems.
- Unashamed and Balanced Ambition. He want to be the "Oprah" of sports for social change.
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