Three Questions With... Stephen Smith, Josh Rawitch and Kurt Hunzeker

Stephen Smith founded sports technology company Kitman Labs in 2012 to enable professional and elite sports teams to help reduce injury risk and increase player availability. Prior to founding Kitman Labs, Stephen was the Senior Injury Rehabilitation and Conditioning Coach with the Leinster Rugby Club in Ireland for six years. A self-proclaimed sports science and athletic performance nerd, Kitman Labs is building its presence with US professional and collegiate level sports teams (every single day).

Mistake: Hiring! At the beginning of my journey as a CEO I held the belief that hiring the smartest people for a given role was the most important criteria for creating success. What I quickly learned was that expertise and intelligence alone don't equate to organizational value and often can be divisive. Finding people who share a common set of values and are aligned with our mission and purpose has helped us to build a true TEAM. Finding?people who are not only smart and intelligent but are driven by the mission of the organization and who have clarity and alignment in purpose creates an organization on a shared mission that can tackle any problem and overcome any obstacles.?

Purpose: My daily purpose is to take us one step?closer to winning. I want to come out of every meeting with an outcome that takes us one step closer to achieving our mission and vision. I constantly ask myself, did that meeting move the ball forward.?

Passion: Leaving a legacy. I started this company to change the world of high performance and health forever. I wanted our company to be synonymous with helping high-performance organizations unlock the hidden value in their data and that simple mission is what drives me. I get to work on the project that I am most passionate about everyday which is truly incredible. This business is the passion of my life and will be my legacy.

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Josh Rawitch is the President of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum , an independent non-profit with the mission of preserving history, honoring excellence and connecting generations. He comes to the Museum (two years ago) after a flourishing 25+ year career in Major League Baseball (MLB) (LA Dodgers, Arizona Diamondbacks, MLB.com ). And a personal note: if you have not ever been to Cooperstown, well, you are missing something. Make the trip!?

Mistake: As I was coming up in sports, I often assumed people had similar motivations and goals that I did and once I realized how different we all are, I have been a much more empathetic leader and hopefully, a better one.

Purpose: I am driven by making an impact on the people, places and things I come in contact with daily. I long ago realized that in these roles, the simplest things we can do for someone is often something they remember for the rest of their life. I’m fortunate to work (and have worked) at places where people are truly in love with the product and I simply want people to leave our interactions better than when they started. I also feel a strong responsibility for the institution I lead, as this is one of the most unique places in America, if not the entire world of sports.?

Passion: My family is definitely the thing I’m most passionate about and I’m eternally grateful for their support of my professional endeavors. I also love traveling the world and seeing different places/cultures, I love live music and being around my friends. Professionally, I would say I’m most passionate about making an impact (see question 2!)

Kurt Hunzeker joined the National Lacrosse League (NLL) earlier this year after overseeing all business-driving and revenue-generating functions of MLB’s restructured player development system and its 120 MiLB teams, including: national commercial sales and partnership activation, marketing and communications, content strategy and creation, and much more. His background includes time as President of the XFL St. Louis franchise and Rawlings Sporting Goods.

Mistake: Early in my career, I would get very nervous (to the point of being nauseous) any time I had to present to senior leaders or speak in public. I would try to avoid either scenario and work behind-the-scenes to make a positive impact. I was blessed to have a great mentor who could just “work a room” … Tina Beckler, who I worked for at Relay Sports + Event Marketing. Tina connected with everyone - our clients, industry friends, internal staff, everyone - in such an effortless, authentic way. I took note and forced myself to break out of my shell, and she took notice too and was quick with encouragement for me to really let loose and become a vocal leader. Now I believe my storytelling ability is one of my biggest strengths. I love pitching off-the-wall ideas, present strategic plans to owners, share my experiences on panels … and without Tina being the perfect role model and greatest “hype machine,” I’m not entirely sure I would have turned this glaring weakness into a strength.?

Purpose: Simply put: be bold, always improve, don’t hold anything back, and lead by example. This was my mantra when I was a young kid playing baseball and it carries over perfectly to my professional career and being there for my family.?

Passion: I am hellbent to get kids to play sports. While being active is a necessity, the best part of participating in sports is what you learn and experience at practice, in the dugout, on the bench, and with friends. My aforementioned work ethic today links directly to be scrappy, go get-em attitude when I was a very average youth athlete. I knew I wasn’t going to win on skill, but I could surprise people by simply out-hustling them. And there is nothing better than being a part of a team. So many different personalities, skill sets, motivations … and to gel together and become something powerful is the best adrenaline rush. Teamwork extends well beyond a game: you can be a great teammate in school, with your friends, at work, and at home. Kids need to learn this early in life. Sports is the best laboratory to provide that education and experience. This is why I’m very passionate about engaging with fans and consumers at the grassroots/local level. I love every bit of it.

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