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The Playbook With David Meltzer

Taking Advantage of the Opportunities That Come Your Way With Don Fehr: Executive Director, NHLPA | #ThePlaybook 466

The Playbook With David Meltzer

David Meltzer, Entrepreneur.com

Entrepreneurship, Business, Careers

4.61.9K Ratings

🗓️ 21 September 2021

⏱️ 18 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On this episode of #ThePlaybook, Don Fehr, Executive Director of the NHLPA, shares his insights on: [:44] - The single most important rule for leading a union effectively [6:02] - Why he considers the past year to be the most challenging experience in his entire career [9:34] - How his law career led him to become involved with the MLBPA and the shocking thing he learned after becoming executive director [12:34] - The distinct one advantage that his job has over all others Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

On this episode of the Playbook, I have the legend, the executive director of the NHLPA,

0:06.0

that's right, Donald Fierre. And we're going to talk about what it took to not only be the executive

0:11.7

director of the NHLPA, but also the MLB. Remember, the truth vibrates the fastest here on Entrepreneurs,

0:20.8

the Playbook. This is Entrepreneurs the Playbook. For each week, I bring you some of the greatest

0:26.8

athletes, celebrities, and entrepreneurs to talk about their personal and professional

0:32.4

playbook to success and what made them champions on the field and in the boardroom. I'm your host,

0:39.2

David Meltzer. I have a legend of sports and entrepreneurship and business, Don Fierre,

0:45.4

executive director of the NHLPA. Don, welcome to the playbook.

0:50.5

Nice to be with you. Thank you. Well, you know, it's so exciting to have you because one of the

0:54.7

things I want to talk to you about is leadership. And, you know, with the background that you have

1:00.7

being the executive director of both the MLB at one time, and of course, now the NHLPA,

1:08.1

what are some of the lessons that you learned about leaders? And then what advice would you give

1:14.2

to young people about leadership? Well, in the context in which I've done it, I think it comes

1:21.5

down to this. My role is first and perhaps most importantly, political. My job is to educate,

1:30.1

educate the membership. It is to unify them. It is to insist that they make decisions and be

1:36.7

prepared to follow up on them. The closest analog I can give you is as that of being a prime minister

1:42.5

in a parliamentary democracy. And what I mean by that is I can function as long as I have support

1:50.4

and hopefully lopsided support of the membership. If I lose that, whether I'm right or wrong,

1:57.4

it doesn't really matter. They have to get somebody else for that job. So how do you do that?

2:02.3

Rule number one, talk to me by my mentor, Marvin Miller, who basically founded

2:06.8

players associations, is you always tell them the truth as bluntly as you can figure out a way

2:13.6

to do it. Sometimes, like in a lot of endeavors in life, you have to simplify. But the core

...

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