8. MBA, Toolboxes, and Building Blocks with Lisa Fahey, President and CMO of FanCompass

As President and CMO of FanCompass, a San Francisco-based sports technology company, Lisa Fahey is a strategic leader who brings classic experience in consumer packaged goods to the business of sport. In addition to rebranding FanCompass in 2016 and driving the company’s international growth and expansion, Lisa became President of the organization in 2018. Prior to FanCompass, Lisa held leadership roles with Kraft Foods, Pepsico and pre-acquisition growth company Annie’s. She has extensive background building brands to drive profitable growth and has led FanCompass to expand its product offering and increase its premier roster of professional clubs including Liverpool FC, the Cleveland Browns, Syracuse University and most recently the league-level relationships with MiLB and MLB . A graduate of Indiana University, Bloomington, Lisa received an M.B.A. from the D’Amore McKim School of Business at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts.

Top 4 Takeaways:

1. Lisa’s career started after she got her MBA. The MBA curriculum differed dramatically from undergrad. She went from learning about a topic to diving into the deep end of research and business practices. Hyper focused to teach critical thinking skills. For Lisa, an MBA was the key to moving into the career she wanted.
   
2. Your career is a stack of building blocks. Each block represents a skill acquired or a project completed. Look at your role and ask yourself, which building blocks will I acquire from this position. Work on the blocks, name the blocks, and promote your blocks. A boss or leader can put you in the right role but no one can guide your career as much as you.
   
3. On balancing family and career, Lisa took a break from the work force to focus on her family and successfully re entered the workforce at the same level. You can too. Don’t focus on the gap. Focus on what you contributed in the past and what you can bring in the future.
   
4. On how to level up, be true to yourself, be authentic, and take ownership and all you have done. Where do the dots of the best accomplishments of your career align? Hone in on those areas and take them to the next level.
   

Connect with Lisa on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/faheylisa/