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The business of sport

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YSPN hosts Head of the Hyundai A-League, Damien de Bohun

YSPN Dinner.Indian Link
Young Sikh Professionals Network (YSPN) Melbourne chapter recently hosted its inaugural Annual Dinner at the Melbourne Business School. The event, The Business of Sport, was attended by more than 70 people. This marked the 22nd event YSPN has hosted in the three short years since it was founded.
The keynote speaker for the event was Head of the Hyundai A-League, Damien de Bohun who was welcomed by YSPN National Chairperson Karan Anand. During the gala evening, guests learned how Mr de Bohun’s passion for sport has driven him to radically change the face of cricket and now football in Australia.
YSPN Dinner.Indian Link
Since taking on the chief role at the Hyundai A League in 2012, Mr de Bohun has overseen an 18% increase in attendance and 23% increase in broadcast viewers. He has also been instrumental in finalising the new Collective Bargaining Agreement for the Hyundai A-League, and securing TV Broadcast rights dealing with both FOX Sports and SBS TV.
Mr de Bohun shared his career journey from being previously in charge of game and market development for Cricket Australia, to moving to the A-League. He discussed how he has turned the Hyundai A-League into a successful franchise in competition with the traditional Australian national sports of AFL and NRL.
YSPN Dinner.Indian Link
Sharing his business and commercial acumen with the crowd, who were made up of mostly young Sikh professionals and business leaders from organisations such as CSL and NBN, Mr de Bohun outlined five key tips for success.
1. Focus on finding
outstanding people – find people who will complement you in the area that you are weak
2. Reflect often – It is important to pause and deepen your understanding of your context and situation
3. Actions speak louder than words – People notice you by what you achieve, not just by what you say
4. Listen – You have two ears for listening and one mouth for speaking, use them in those proportions. He also quoted FFA and Westfield Chairman, Frank Lowy who had remarked to him ‘I don’t learn anything when I speak’.
5. Focus on incremental gains – Success is a series of short races
Acknowledging the importance of networking, Mr de Bohun suggested that people needed to get out of their comfort zones to network. The key to networking is persistence, he said, which means that once you meet someone new you need to follow up and keep in touch with that person a number of times before a successful outcome is reached.
YSPN Dinner.Indian Link
With active chapters in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, YSPN is looking to launch a Perth chapter before the end of the year.
YSPN is driven by its mission statement ‘to create the conditions for young Sikh professionals to succeed and amplify their influence’. More information visit www.yspn.org.au

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