IN THIS EPISODE:

• How a split-second shift to follow his gut changed the course of his life
• How to make progress on large challenges
• Discovering the accidental diminisher
• The key to making shifts
• How swarm intelligence makes things feel less insurmountable

QUOTATIONS FROM THIS EPISODE:

“None of us had ever met a customer. So, how could we make this pronouncement.”
“Most of the shifts in my life were not planned.”
“Start almost anywhere and you’ll make progress.”
“The best leaders make everyone around them smarter.”

Q: How did your Carlisle education help to prepare you for college and career?

With apologies to the Scouts, I don’t think you can “be prepared” for what life has in store for you. For most people, being prepared implies methodically planning for a specific future. But no one really knows what’s coming next – how many of us were preparing for a pandemic at this time last year?

On the other hand, my Carlisle education taught me how to adapt to a situation. It taught me how to learn new things – not just by reading books and taking tests but by interacting with people and asking questions. I believe that I’m comfortable in unusual environments because I was exposed to such a wide variety of topics at Carlisle.

The San Jose Sharks and the County of Santa Clara, in partnership with The Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Druva and Majestic Sales are teaming up to provide residents with free and easy walk-up COVID-19 testing at SAP Center at San Jose from June 23 through June 27.

“It is our privilege to partner with the County of Santa Clara to provide free COVID-19 testing at SAP Center at San Jose,” said Sharks Sports & Entertainment President Jonathan Becher (@jbecher). “Although we cannot currently host and entertain the millions of sports and entertainment fans located throughout the Bay Area, it is important that we do our part to help reduce the transmission of this virus. I want to offer a special thanks to our partners, Druva and Majestic Sales, for their generous contributions to our residents on behalf of the County of Santa Clara and the Sharks.”

It’s not a tactic to avoid getting recognized at Starbucks. For Becher, it’s just the truth. His true title is President of Sharks Sports and Entertainment, with his purview extending past the National Hockey League team to the minor league franchise, facilities, a non-profit and other wings of the business.

Still, men skating and using sticks in an attempt to get a rubber disk past a man with a glove drives most of their business. So, when the actual hockey stops, as it has during the coronavirus pandemic, what do you do to keep fans connected? If you’re Becher, you adapt.

“I don’t think we’re in the business of putting on a hockey game,” he said. “What we’re actually in the business of is making memories.”

The National Hockey League has announced today its Return to Play Plan that includes a 24-team Stanley Cup Playoff format. Seven teams did not qualify, including the San Jose Sharks, ending their 2019-20 season.

“Thank you to all of our fans and partners for their unwavering support since the NHL season was paused on March 12. Over the last several weeks, we have been working with ticket holders to provide credits or refunds for games that have not yet been played. This process will accelerate now that these games have officially been canceled. There are still many open questions regarding the start of the 2020-21 season. The safety of our fans, partners, and players who enter SAP Center remains our top priority.” – Jonathan Becher, President, San Jose Sharks

That scenario is a stripped-down version of what the NHL’s Return to Play Committee has begun envisioning for whenever the league returns from its COVID-19 imposed shutdown, which went into effect March 12. It’s a virtual guarantee that world health officials insist the resumptions of pro sports leagues begin with empty venues, and which will create some unprecedented conditions. Hockey games, for instance, will look and feel like practices or glorified shinny. How, then, will the players competing have to tweak their strategic approaches? And how will the games be presented to fans watching the broadcasts?

“Our mental model from the beginning is, we wanted the game and all the hockey rituals as players go to seem exactly as it would be for a regular game,” Becher said, “from when they come in through our loading dock, to their normal ritual of how they go to the locker room and what they touch. In our building we have the shark (mouth) they skate through, and we still need to do that.”

As job losses and pay cuts wreak economic havoc on Silicon Valley, the San Jose Sharks have made a point of going above and beyond when it comes to giving back to the community and their employees.

In addition, part-time workers who were already signed up to work an event before the pandemic—for instance, ushering Sharks home games—will be paid for those contests, even though those games got cancelled due to COVID-19.

“We’re going to pay for those shifts you missed because those workers are the ones most hurting because often their other job may not be as generous as we can be,” Sharks President Jonathan Becher said.

Public meetings about Google’s downtown San Jose project have been shut down for months by coronavirus health orders, pushing back approval deadlines into next year. But planning work has been proceeding inside City Hall, and the downtown transportation ideas planners are considering sound too radical to the San Jose Sharks and the San Jose Downtown Association even though they will have to go through public approval process for adoption.

The ideas “seem to prioritize and have a much disproportional emphasis on walking, bicycling and mass transit,” Sharks President Jonathan Becher said in an interview.

The San Jose Sharks announced that the Sharks Sports & Entertainment COVID-19 Relief Fund will provide individual grants to the more than 1,800 part-time staff at the SAP Center and several other related facilities.

Sharks’ President Jonathan Becher speaks with ABC7’s Kristen Sze about how they have already pledged more than $200,000 and gave details on how you can donate as well. Jonathan says. “The effect that COVID-19 has had on the lives of these people is drastic and ongoing. This is a wonderful way to say ‘thank you’ to these individuals who make our experiences truly memorable.”