635: Rich Gotham (President of The Boston Celtics) - How To Build a Championship Organization

The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk

Ryan Hawk

Careers, Management, Business

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 14 May 2025

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Go to www.LearningLeader.com for full show notes

This is brought to you by Insight Global. If you need to hire 1 person, hire a team of people, or transform your business through Talent or Technical Services, Insight Global's team of 30,000 people around the world have the hustle and grit to deliver.

Go to www.InsightGlobal.com/LearningLeader

Rich Gotham is the President of the Boston Celtics. He is responsible for all aspects of the Celtics' business operations. In addition, he works closely with Celtics ownership, basketball operations staff, and the NBA on basketball-related matters, as well as team and league initiatives. He succeeds “Red” Auerbach as Celtics team President and serves on the NBA Board of Governors. Since joining the Celtics in 2003, he’s helped grow team revenues by over 300%, and they’ve won two NBA championships.

Notes:

Must-haves when making hiring decisions for a leadership role: Work ethic, self-awareness, a catalyst for positive energy, purpose-driven, and care ("give a shit").
At the time, the Celtics were run like a mom-and-pop shop. Rich was brought in to help them run like a professional business.
Rich was recruited to the Celtics by new owner (at the time), Wyc Grousbeck. 3 different people told Wyc that he should talk to Rich. – Add value. Leave people better than you found them. They will refer you to others for big jobs without you even knowing it.
Celtic pride - grew up there, made you proud to be from Boston.
- "Different here." 18-time champs.
Pressure from fans to win: It beats indifference.
Making bets on potential - Hiring Brad Stevens.
Danny Ainge did a great job selling it to Brad.
Watching Payton Pritchard warm up. He cares.
Working with the Bruins and Red Sox leaders – Lower the ego, put yourself in their shoes. Seek first to understand. And find a way to get it done. Rich went outside of the office to meet regularly with a leader of the Boston Bruins to get their lease squared away. That had been an issue for decades, and he helped get it figured out so both sides could win.
Advice - You have to have self-belief, believe in your ability. Don't let that get chipped away. Why should they pick you? Be vulnerable.
Leave others better than you found them.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by Insight Global.
0:03.9	Insight Global is a staffing and professional services company dedicated to being the light to the world around them.
0:11.1	If you want to learn more about the CEO, Bert Bean and Chief Revenue Officer Sam Kaufman,
0:17.1	check out episode 424.
0:19.1	We had a fantastic conversation talking about my partnership with
0:24.8	the great people at Insight Global. If you need to hire one person, hire a team of people,
0:29.2	or transform your business through talent or technical services, Insight Global's team of 30,000
0:36.1	people around the world have the hustle and grit to deliver.
0:40.9	Hiring can be tough, but hiring the right person can be magic.
0:45.8	Visit Insightglobal.com slash learning leader today to learn more.
0:50.2	That's Insightglobal.com slash learning leader.
0:56.9	Welcome to the Learning Leader Show. I am your host, Ryan Hawk. Thank you so much for being
1:04.7	here. Go to LearningLeader.com for full show notes of this and all episodes of the learning leader show.
1:14.6	Go to learning leader.com. Now on to the night's featured leader Rich Gotham is the president
1:22.1	of the Boston Celtics. He is responsible for all aspects of the Celtics business operations. In addition to that,
1:30.8	he works closely with Celtics ownership, basketball operations staff, and the MBA on basketball-related
1:38.7	matters, as well as team and league initiatives. He succeeds the legendary Red Hourback as Celtics team president and serves on the NBA
1:49.0	board of governors.
1:50.9	Since joining the Celtics in 2003, Rich has helped grow team revenues by over 300% and they've
1:59.1	also won a couple NBA championships. During our conversation we discuss
2:04.4	Rich's non-negotiables when hiring for a leadership role, really good. And then how he balances
2:11.7	running the Celtics business and working with the basketball leaders to win championships.
	...

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