154: Atlanta Hawks CEO Recounts His Three Lifetime Careers

Discover Your Talent–Do What You Love

Don Hutcheson

Entrepreneur, Turningpoints, Self-improvement, Careers, Business, Career, Education, Inspirational, Inspiring, Entrepreneurs

5 • 618 Ratings

🗓️ 3 December 2015

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Steve Koonin became CEO of the Atlanta Hawks in April 2014. In his first full season, the Hawks led the NBA in attendance increase, setting franchise records for retail sales, sellouts and season ticket memberships, plus a 500% jump in season tickets. Steve’s late-day cold call to Coca-Cola’s marketing director in 1986 opened doors to 13 different positions in 14 years, including running Coke’s worldwide sports and entertainment marketing, and responsibilities that he never imagined. A call to a friend at Turner Broadcasting led to the top position at TNT for 14 years.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, world. Welcome to discover your talent to do what you love, number 154. I'm creator and host, Don Hutchison. Every day I interview someone from around the world who has discovered
0:21.8	his talents to do work he loves to create a life of success, satisfaction, and freedom. Today,
0:28.3	I'm delighted to bring you our featured guest, Steve Kuhn. Welcome, Steve. Hello. I hope
0:34.3	everybody's doing well. We certainly are. Steve, a quick question. Are you using
0:38.8	your talents doing work that you love? I believe I am. I believe that I'm using talents,
0:45.0	and more importantly, I think I'm building skills. Ah, that's an astute comment. Good. We want to hear
0:49.7	the whole story. Named CEO of the Atlanta Hawks in April 2014, Steve Coonan oversees all business,
0:57.8	financial, and strategic operations of the franchise. In his first full season of leadership in
1:03.0	2014-15, the Hawks led the NBA in year-over-year attendance increase, including a record
1:10.6	500% uptick in season ticket sales.
1:14.1	Kunin also established a new standard for diversity in the NBA, appointing the first
1:19.1	chief diversity and inclusion officer in professional sports. The organization has surged
1:24.0	in popularity with a new focus on the digital and millennial audiences.
1:28.3	Kunin joined the Hawks after holding leadership positions with two iconic Atlanta companies,
1:33.3	Turner Entertainment Network, and Coca-Cola.
1:36.0	He studied marketing at the University of Georgia, where he and his wife, Edie,
1:40.1	have established the Kunin Scholars Fund at the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.
1:45.6	So tell us what you're up to right now in your new position since April of 2014.
1:51.1	Tell us what you're up to now that has you engaged and fired up, if you will.
1:54.2	Well, right now, we're getting ready to start the NBA season on Tuesday night.
1:59.6	We had a record-setting season last year for the Hawks,
2:03.6	and my first season, and it was quite an extraordinary ride.
	...

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