This networking presentation summarizes the careers of Billy Beane and Amadou Fall. It outlines Beane's career path from baseball player to GM of the Oakland A's, noting his challenges of fielding winning teams with low payrolls. It also summarizes Fall's career from basketball player to VP of NBA Africa, focusing on his goal of growing the game of basketball at the grassroots level in Africa. The presentation provides advice from both on passionately pursuing your career and maintaining focus amid many opportunities.

1. Networking Presentation
By: John Deodato

2. Billy Beane
• Vice President and General Manager of the
Oakland Athletics.
• Born March 29, 1962
• He grew up in Hollywood, Florida and San
Diego California.

3. Career Timeline
• Billy Beane was drafted by the New York Mets
in the first round (23rd overall) in 1980.
• He spent most of the 1980s in the Mets minor
league system.
• His baseball career was spent with the Mets,
Twins, Tigers and the Oakland A’s. Career
Numbers- Batting average .219, 3 home runs,
and 29 RBI’s.

4. Front office timeline
• In 1990 Bill Beane approached Oakland A’s
current GM Sandy Alderson and asked for a
job as an advanced scout.
• In 1993 he was promoted to Assistant GM of
the Athletics.
• Beane succeeded Alderson as GM on October
17, 1997.

5. Why he chose his career path
• Baseball was all he knew and after failing to
have a successful major league career in order
to stay with the game he loves he decided to
resign from baseball and take a job as an
advanced scout for the Oakland A’s.

6. Biggest Challenge
• Fielding a winning team with a low payroll.
• The Oakland A’s consistently have one of the
lowest payrolls in the major league.
• Competing with teams like the Yankees and
Red Sox’s who are amongst the top teams in
all of baseball consistently have very high
payrolls.

7. Average day of work
• An average work day may include negotiating
player contracts, scouting reports, study
statistical data, review rosters and updates of
the medical side of things.
• GM’s have 9 primary areas of responsibility:
preparation and meetings, player drafts,
dealing with agents, salary arbitration, media
responsibilities, crisis management,
international markets, contracts, and rules.

8. Hours
• “The hours are not great, but the workload is
consistent in that it might seem like you have plenty of
time to do it.”
• “At the end of the season through Christmas is really
the busiest time for most general managers.”
• “I’m not sure you can work enough hours to complete
that day’s project because you’ve got employees
contracts, your own contract, you’ve got people
coming, you’ve got people going, you’ve got players
coming and going, you’ve got arbitration, things like
that.”

9. Advice
• Billy Beane said “Too many people set a
timetable on themselves. They are more in a
hurry to get to the next job, and sometimes
they aren’t concentrating on the current job
that they have.”
• “If you are goo t what you’re doing and you
show a lot of passion ultimately, you will rise,
probably quicker then you even think.”

10. Billy Beane Profile
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42SxZIseI
mE

11. Amadou Fall
• Vice President of development, NBA in Africa.

12. Vice President of development
• The goal is to grow the game of basketball at
the grassroots level.
• Developing local expertise, they are investing
a lot to organize seminars to train staff
(coaches, referees).
• Continue to grow the NBA internationally.
• Give people from Africa the opportunity to
see the NBA on TV.

13. Career Path
• First job: Sales clerk in African art show during
freshman year in college.
• College education: B.S. in biology, University
of the District of Columbia (1993).
• Volunteer with Basketball without borders in
Africa
• His previous title was Director of player
personnel and vice president of international
affair for the Dallas Mavericks.

14. Career Advice
• “You just need to develop simple life
principles such as integrity, patience,
resilience and respect.”

15. Biggest Challenge
• “There is so much to do and no shortage of
ideas, so I’ve got to discipline myself every day
to stay sharply focused on our priorities.”

17. Sources
• http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/14
178/amadou-gallo-fallthe-nbas-man-in-
johannesburg
• http://bizofbaseball.com/index.php?option=com
_content&view=article&id=1229:interview-billy-
beane-vp-a-general-manager-
athletics&catid=15:biz-of-baseball&Itemid=81
• http://en.starafrica.com/football/exclusive-
interview-with-amadou-fall-v-144434.html
• http://www.athleticsnation.com/2014/2/3/5365
922/the-business-of-billy