Hey there! Welcome to the Marketer Of The Month blog!

We recently interviewed Kelvin Beachum for our monthly podcast – ‘Marketer of the Month’! We had some amazing insightful conversations with Kelvin and here’s what we discussed about-

1.  Key lessons from football career, emphasizing the ability to thrive in critical situations.

2. Delving into the impact of athletic experience on decision-making and leadership style.

3. Passion for aviation and how it aligns with his interest in science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM).

4. Navigating challenges in advisory roles, highlighting the essence of being coachable and responsive to feedback.

5. Elaborates on the overarching importance of coaching, seamlessly connecting physical fitness, financial guidance, and mentorship in various life domains.

6. Shift from the NFL to diverse fields, emphasizing the opportunity to be curious and learn from different ecosystems.

About our host:

Dr. Saksham Sharda is the Chief Information Officer at Outgrow.co. He specializes in data collection, analysis, filtering, and transfer by means of widgets and applets. Interactive, cultural, and trending widgets designed by him have been featured on TrendHunter, Alibaba, ProductHunt, New York Marketing Association, FactoryBerlin, Digimarcon Silicon Valley, and at The European Affiliate Summit.

About our guest:

Kelvin Beachum, NFL Athlete & Investor with the Arizona Cardinals Football Club, is a multi-dimensional leader excelling in creating and managing energy to drive change. Beyond his prowess on the football field, he demonstrates a keen understanding of organizational dynamics, utilizing his role as a systems thinker to make impactful changes. Proficient in synthesizing complex information, he excels at problem-solving and remains solutions-focused.

EPISODE 174: Tackling Trials, Tech, and Turbulence: NFL’s Kelvin Beachum’s Playbook

The Intro!

Saksham Sharda: Hi, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Outgrow’s Marketer of the Month. I’m your host, Dr. Saksham Sharda, and I’m the creative director at Outgrow. co. And for this month we are going to interview Kelvin Beachum, who is the NFL Athlete & Investor at  Arizona Cardinals Football Club.

Kelvin Beachum: Great to be here. Thank you.

Don’t have time to read? No problem, just watch the Podcast!

Or you can just listen to it on Spotify!

The Rapid Fire Round!

Saksham Sharda: Let’s begin with the rapid-fire, the first one is – at what age do you want to retire?

Kelvin Beachum: 37.

Saksham Sharda: How long does it take you to get ready in the mornings?

Kelvin Beachum: Seven minutes.

Saksham Sharda: Most embarrassing moment of your life.

Kelvin Beachum: Pass.

Saksham Sharda: Favorite color?

Kelvin Beachum: Green.

Saksham Sharda: What time of day are you most inspired?

Kelvin Beachum: 4:30 in the morning.

Saksham Sharda: How many hours of sleep can you survive on?

Kelvin Beachum: 4.

Saksham Sharda: An upcoming technology or social trend is _________.

Kelvin Beachum: AI.

Saksham Sharda: The city in which the Best Kiss of your life happened.

Kelvin Beachum: Port Douglas.

Saksham Sharda: The biggest mistake of your career?

Kelvin Beachum: Pass.

Saksham Sharda: Pick one Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk.

Kelvin Beachum: Musk.

Saksham Sharda: How many cups of coffee do you drink per day?

Kelvin Beachum: One.

Saksham Sharda: A habit of yours that you dislike.

Kelvin Beachum: Biting my fingers.

Saksham Sharda: The most valuable skill you’ve learned in life.

Kelvin Beachum: Vulnerability.

Saksham Sharda: Your favorite Netflix show.

Kelvin Beachum: Don’t have one.

Saksham Sharda: Last movie that you saw or the last song you listened to?

Kelvin Beachum: Melodies from Heaven by Kirk Franklin.

The Big Questions!

Saksham Sharda: On to the longer questions. Can you share some of the key lessons you’ve learned from your professional sports career that have also translated into your pursuits off the field, such as your role as a board member, advisor, and philanthropist?

Kelvin Beachum: The key lessons that I’ve learned from playing football is the ability to thrive, and situational football. So that’s in the most critical moments of the game, where you either win a game or lose the game in the last seconds of the game. So being able to thrive in situational football. And I think that carries over into the board, we’ve been able to thrive and situational moments where it’s pivotal moments for the company to make a decision that can either take a company and take it from, you know, no name company to a company that’s driving, or being able to keep a company from dying, and making the decision that is critical to that company being able to survive, especially in environments like this.

Saksham Sharda: Do you believe your experience as a professional athlete has influenced your decision-making, or leadership style?

Kelvin Beachum:  I think first and foremost, the stability of your gym, either, you know, as an athlete, we’re always, you know, getting the praise or getting the recognition from fans, you know, both in the stadium and outside of the stadium. And I think being able to come into a boardroom or come into the founder space or executive space, and be able to support them and cheer them on. I think it’s something that I found to be extremely valuable.

Saksham Sharda: You’re known for your dedication to social justice initiatives and community work. Could you tell us a bit more about a specific project or cause that is close to your heart, and the impact it has had on the communities you serve?

Kelvin Beachum: I think the biggest one that I’ve started to spend a lot of time with lately is working with United Airlines and their United Aviate Academy. We all know that there’s a shortage of pilots that’s currently going on, not only in America, but across the world, and being able to make sure that they’re diverse candidates that are going through their pipeline. So understanding that, hey, there’s a big issue understanding that aviation isn’t going anywhere, but how do we ensure that they’re diverse pilots that can participate in this economy that’s growing just within their little sub-sector? The thing is, I’ve always focused on science, technology, engineering, arts and math. When you look at what a pilot has to do every day, to something related to science, technology, engineering, arts, and math.

Saksham Sharda: How did you initially get involved with this project and what motivated you to contribute your time and effort?

Kelvin Beachum: Now the thing is, I love aviation. Again, it’s an extension of that vertical of steam, but there When you think about kind of where again, the economy is going, how do you participate, and make sure that others can participate. And not only the conversation around driverless airplanes or AI, there’s going to be, you know, going through the aviation industry. But you also want to make sure that the young people realize, especially young black kids get black and brown kids that can participate in this, this economy that’s going to continue to be around, it’s not going anywhere. And that I think what United ABA Academy has done is they’ve lowered the barrier of entry. So you can be able to get a pilot’s license as early as you know, 13 or 14 years old, even before you get your driver’s license.

Saksham Sharda: So being involved in various advisory roles, what are some of the most common challenges or opportunities you have encountered? 

Kelvin Beachum: I guess the challenge is being coachable. Being able to take what somebody gives you, not only myself, but also the board can give a founder, and you take what you know, that advisor gave you and you’re able to take that coaching and be able to make a decision or make a change that’s necessary for the company to thrive. And our profession. You’re coached on Tuesday during training camp on Wednesday, this helps you to make that correction from Tuesday, it’s a lot different than a company, you make you know, give a coaching tip or coaching point. And sometimes that takes, you know, we could do to permeate. So you’re not doing it for me. That’s been kind of the biggest challenge is the ability to see coaching take root and take root in a very frequent and fast manner, which you know, for us in sports is done daily and within startups. And within you know, the more corporate ecosystem is not done as fast.

Saksham Sharda: And how well do you think coaching translates into these ecosystems as well?

Kelvin Beachum: I think it’s super important. You know, I think everybody needs a coach in some shape or fashion, whether you’re working out, you’re getting stronger or getting fitter, you need a coach, whether you’re thinking of how to utilize the resources that you have in a much better way, as a financial coach, you know, when you’re thinking about your social well being your mental well being as an executive coach. So I think at some point in your life, you need somebody that’s coaching you or showing you how to do it, that or your parents or coaches, that’s the first coach that you encounter. And I think at every step in your journey, there is somebody who’s helping you become a better individual, and usually, somebody who’s helping from a mentorship or coaching standpoint.

Saksham Sharda: So transitioning from the NFL to a broader range of academics can be a significant shift, what motivated you to expand your involvement beyond football, and pursue opportunities in different fields?

Kelvin Beachum: I think for me, the ability to go into different fields was an opportunity to be curious. Within the game of football, you have the opportunity to be curious, but it’s curious how you better define your craft. How do you get better at your craft, of being able to go into another ecosystem and be curious, you realize that there are many different things that you don’t know. So you have to be able to lean on individuals, you have to be able to be vulnerable, like I mentioned earlier, and be able to understand that you just don’t know it all, you don’t have all the answers you don’t know how to create, you know, some of the sizable type of infrastructures, the size of the type of firms that are driving, you know, the returns within the private market. So it’s been this opportunity to be curious and go and learn and spend time with people who have done this at a much higher clip.

Saksham Sharda: How do you think one of these is fun, this transition has been your personal growth.

Kelvin Beachum: You know, I think it’s because this transition has accelerated my personal growth. It’s forced me to continue down this dual path, but doing what frequency of being able to spend time with individuals due to an urgency, realizing that I don’t have much time left on the football field, and understanding how urgent I have to be off the field. But also how to be able to understand how they work together how sports work with the venture, how to spend your work with sports, how to spend time with executives, is how was that similar to spending time with a general manager or spending time with a coach and that’s how it was like spending time with with a product manager. So you realize some of these similarities and be able to utilize this as much as possible.

Saksham Sharda: So looking ahead, what are some of the goals and projects that you’re most excited about in the coming years?

Kelvin Beachum: It’s been able to win on my word, I’ve been able to be an advisor to a couple of different companies and firms. And I want to spread and ensure that I do those with a high velocity and high conviction to ensure that I serve them in that manner. My contract is up until yours, we’ll see you know where things go after that. But I want to make sure that I’m serving and honoring the words that I gave to a couple of those entities over the next two years.

Saksham Sharda:  The last question for you is a bit personal. What would you be doing in your life if not this?

Kelvin Beachum: Well I’m doing but it would be being a dad. You know, I think being a dad is one of the most impactful things that you could do for society to be able to raise great global citizens. And being able to have been able to do that full time will be amazing, but understanding just how the world works. That’s not what I’m able to do. But if I wasn’t doing this, I would be doing you know being a stay-at-home dad, all pro dad, and trying to make sure that I’m thriving in that particular position. 

Let’s Conclude!

Saksham Sharda: Thanks, everyone for joining us for this month’s episode of Outgrow’s Marketer of the Month. That was Kelvin Beachum, the NFL Athlete & Investor at  Arizona Cardinals Football Club.

Kelvin Beachum: Great to be here. Thank you.

Saksham Sharda: Check out the website for more details and we’ll see you once again next month with another marketer of the month.