While Joe Lacob was watching both the Sports Business Awards and Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals last night, he received a touching text message from his executive assistant, Shari Knight. “It was the most beautiful paragraph, saying how much she loved working for the organization for five years and ... it almost brought tears to my eyes,” Lacob said. "And it reflects what I think a lot of people in this organization feel, why they come in to work every single day. They love being a part of it.” Lacob added to the Warriors' recent string of accolades by taking home the Sports Executive of the Year award, but he spent most of his speech and postgame interview shifting the glory to his employees and partners. His job is not difficult, he said. His secret to success is simply to hire great people, pay them well, and demand focused, hard work at all times: ”24-7, 365, as we say in Silicon Valley.” Keeping that motivation going is not easy, but it is made easier when so many of his workers seem to sincerely enjoy their work and believe in the power of teamwork. "They love that we’re all rowing in the same direction,” Lacob said. “That’s a powerful thing. I don’t know how that’s happened exactly ... but we’ve continued to do it for 5, 6 years and hopefully we’ll continue to do it for a while.”
