Name: Greg Urbano
Position: USA Basketball Digital Director
Age: 32
Where I’m from: Ft. Lauderdale
Where I call home: Colorado Springs
Focusing on right now: Increasing the youth basketball-focused aspects of the organization's website.
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Urbano thinks seeking advice from veterans in the
industry is a key to success |
Best advice: I learned at both CBS and Fox to always seek advice and seek knowledge from those who have traveled down the road you're about to go on. When you get a new job, there's that feeling of not knowing what’s going on. And you sort of have that bit of hesitance at the start. But if you really reach out and talk to people who have been there before you can learn lessons without having to make mistakes.
A must for a new hire: To understand the culture of the company that you’re joining. Many companies will expect you to be part of the team and work well in that kind of setting, while others will leave it up to you to carve your own path. Knowing what type of role you're expected to fulfill is vital.
Exec I admire most: Our CEO JIM TOOLEY. I’ve worked with a few executives in the past that you hesitate to reach out to because you don’t want to bother them. But Jim has an open-door policy, always wants feedback, always wants to hear how things are going. He really allows everyone to be part of the process.
Best book I’ve read this year: I’m not a big book reader, but I’m a big fan of SB Nation long-form articles. I read one recently about JOE ROGAN, where he talked about attacking life on a day-to-day basis and learning as many different traits and skills as you can to make yourself a fulfilled person.
First thing in the morning: I'm a huge HOWARD STERN fan, so that’s usually who I wake up to. He’s continually evolved and sort of changed who he is. Most people think of him and who he was 15-20 years ago, as a shock jock. He's grown and changed into someone who is really a great voice in pop culture.
Talking tech: Responsive design, from a website perspective, really changed the game. It used to be you build a website, and it's one layout, and that's what you see whether you're on a computer screen, tablet or phone. But with responsive design came the need for website design to look at, 'Ok, we have a site, but what's it going to do on a mobile phone, what's it going to do on tablet? How are these different elements on a page going to respond?' So responsive design really took web building from a one-step process to a three-step process in understanding how to utilize all the different devices that people will view your content on and really be able to make those great user experiences across the board.
Must have music: I'm a pretty old soul when it comes to music, like THE ROLLING STONES or THE BEATLES. I grew up South Florida in a time where hip-hop was a huge thing, so I’m also a huge OUTKAST fan, grew up listening to WU-TANG CLAN and JAY Z.
Food for thought: Colorado is the land of great steaks, so I go to a lot of local barbeque places. My girlfriend lives out in California, hopefully she'll be moving out here soon. But cooking for one is not usually the best method, so I tend to go out.
How I unwind: I have two dogs, and there's a great place out here called Bear Creek Dog Park. It's just acres of land with a really cool creek running down that, so I'll do that often.
Day in the Life: Social media is huge for USA Basketball. It not only allows us to get our message out about what's going on with the different USA Basketball teams, but also lets people know that we're much more than just the men’s basketball. A lot of people when they think of USA Basketball, they picture Team USA, they picture MICHAEL JORDAN and MAGIC JOHNSON. But the organization as a whole is much bigger, we're leading the charge for young basketball players to see that the game should be played in the right way.
