In the new series, The Playbook, produced by Sports Illustrated and Entrepreneur, we bring together an elite athlete and a business titan to create a playbook for success.
For this episode, retired World Series Champion center fielder and co-CEO of 400 Ventures, Dexter Fowler, met up with Mikey Tanha, restaurateur, CEO, and co-founder of global hospitality group Noble 33, in Las Vegas to discuss the commonalities between success on the field versus success in the boardroom.
At the core of success for both men comes down to one word: passion. “When I stopped playing, I was like, ‘I can’t sit there and do nothing,'” says Fowler. “ I want to get up and I don’t want it to feel like it’s my job — I want it to feel like something I’m really passionate about, something I really want to do, because I feel like that’s when you excel.”
“ My favorite thing to do is travel and dine with friends,” says Tanha. “And we’ve made it our business.”
Both Tanha and Fowler cite the power of teamwork to achieve and exceed goals. After retiring, Fowler went to Penn State to fulfill a promise he made to his parents and to get his bachelor’s degree. After graduating, he began meeting with people from all walks of life in the business world. “You’re rubbing shoulders with all these people, and they’re like, ‘Hey, I want to help you do this.'” Fowler says making these connections provides him with the same juice as when he was playing ball. “When you see that I got this person with this person, or you see other people succeeding that you’ve helped — those are the thrills for me.”
As Tanha breaks down, there are a lot of thrills in business, and they come with taking big risks. “ My career before hospitality was in finance. I was in my comfort zone when the opportunity came about to jump ship.” He says it was tough, but he felt something pulling him in that direction. “So I hired a couple of business coaches and ran a couple of independent processes with them: Where I was, where I am, where I’m going. And I came out of those processes wanting to take the leap of faith.”
Watch the entire conversation to see how these amazing entrepreneurs view risk-taking, new opportunities, and the sense of joy that has fueled their successes.
