Keynote speaker touts positive attitude, energy
By Jeff Linville -- Furniture Today, February 22, 2004
NEW ORLEANS — Surviving a tough economy means maintaining a positive attitude and high energy while listening to customers.
That was the message to Nationwide Marketing Group members here from keynote speaker Pat Croce.
An entrepreneur and former National Basketball Assn. team co-owner, Croce is known more for his dynamic personality than his business savvy, but needed a lot of both to become the first person to rise from the training room to the board room of a professional sports team.
In 1980, he was hired as a conditioning coach for the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team. Several years later, he opened a treatment center, Sports Physical Therapists, which grew into a chain of 40 centers in 11 states.
In the mid-1990s, Croce sold his business and set his sights on owning a sports franchise, partnering with cablevision giant Comcast to buy the Philadelphia 76ers basketball franchise. Croce became the 76ers president, and during his five years led the team from the NBA's cellar to conference champions in 2001, breaking franchise records for attendance, revenue, merchandise sales and consecutive wins.
Croce is now co-owner of a hybrid sports league combining basketball and trampolines called Slamball. He has written two books with his third, "Lead or Get off the Pot," coming out in April.
He told his Nationwide audience how positive mental attitude and perseverance helped him achieve his goals. That energy and tenacity also helped Croce through a serious motorcycle accident in 1999 that nearly cost him his left leg. He said he couldn't feel sorry for himself after receiving a get-well card from a quadriplegic fan.
Being positive isn't always easy, he acknowledged, but business owners and sales reps need to "tinker with their thinking" in order to be successful. Visualization really works, he said. Those who want to succeed must paint a picture of what they want, then strive to create it. And businesses must listen to their customers. People may think they are listening, he said, but they don't keep an open mind to suggestions.
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