The Future of Sports: Scott Deans of BeOne Sports On The New Emerging Technologies That Are Disrupting The World Of Sports
Believe in YOU — You must truly believe anything is possible. Don’t create barriers for yourself, the world will do that for you. Believe you are truly a superhero, and you can literally achieve anything.
New technologies have changed the way we engage in and watch sports. Sensors, Wearable Tech, Video Assistant Referees (VAR), and Instant Replay, are examples of new technologies that have changed the way we play and watch sports. In this interview series called, “The Future of Sports; New Emerging Technologies That Are Disrupting The World Of Sports,” we are talking to sports leaders, athletes, sports tech experts, and sports equipment companies who can talk about the new technologies that are reshaping the sports world. As a part of this interview, we had the pleasure of interviewing Scott Deans.
Scott Deans is a former Division 1 athlete, architect and energy executive who has converged his life experiences and passions into his company, BeONE Sports. He is uniquely positioned to lead a sports technology company, due to decades of experience within competitive sports, artificial intelligence, design, data and performance management. But most importantly, Scott has developed a mission rooted from his own failure.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
I started life in a very unique household — rather, it was a boat. For the first eighteen years of life, I lived on a thirty-six-foot trawler in the San Francisco Bay. As an only child of divorced parents at the age of four, I lived a completely unique lifestyle, bouncing from yacht club to yacht club, navigating waterways and experiencing mariners’ culture. Imagination, creativity, and independence became necessities to survive.
Contrary to many third graders’ understanding at the time, I did not have to swim to school, in fact, I rode my bike. I have been a multi-sport athlete since age seven, however, when I picked up football, it became clear where I should focus my time, and football saved my life. As many young people stray from a productive path, I too found myself in a variety of unsavory experiences and situations as a result of my environment, lack of focus and accountability. Football required focus and accountability, ultimately leading to a Division 1 scholarship, and soon my life objective was to play in the NFL. But this dream was not meant to be.
After failing to make it to the NFL, I fell back on the only other passion I had, which was to create things — so architecture was a natural fit. After a Bachelor’s degree of Architecture, I wanted a Master’s degree of Architecture, which I received at the University of Texas — Austin in 2005. Just two years out of school, I had designed internationally recognized buildings, schools, clinics, and systems for human interaction within space. My forte was designing elegant solutions within a complex environment.
Then in 2010, I found myself in a very new environment again. The BP Oil Spill had just occurred in the Gulf of Mexico, and on July 4th, 2010, I found myself working for BP in Houma, Louisiana. You might ask what an architect is doing at an oil spill emergency response, but in just 2 weeks, I had designed a system for tracking personnel and their roles including local, state, and federal agencies, totaling more than 45,000 people across five states. Subsequently, that led to a twelve-year journey in the energy industry. Again, I found myself building new tools, streamlining processes, managing global teams, and designing completely new ways of understanding performance.
So, here we are. I’ve reunited with my passion, converging sports, systems design, user experience, performance, and leadership into BeONE Sports.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
I feel like I’ve already had three careers, but all of them were based on one interesting story. At 17 years old, I was invited to study Qigong in the Santa Cruz mountains. In one of my discussions with the master, I mentioned I was unsure about how I was going to pay for college. I said, “Even if I take out school loans, how am I ever going to pay them back?” He simply looked at me and said, “Well, are you good at what you do?” I responded, “good at what?” He repeated himself, “Are you good at what you do?” I paused for a moment and then said, “you bet, I’m good.”
“Well, there’s your answer, Scott,” he said.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“It isn’t until you stop searching, that you’ll find what you want.”
I have no clue who said this or if I dreamt it up one day, but I think it speaks to understanding oneself, removing biases, and doing your best to listen, observe and act on your intuition and ethos.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I have a very small direct family, prior to meeting my wonderful wife and having two awesome daughters. I’m grateful for all my family as well as the many coaches who acted as parents along the way.
Is there a particular book, film, or podcast that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
Easy one. ROCKY IV and the POWER OF ONE — are the two most impactful movies in my life. They both portray the ideas of triumph from struggle, belief in yourself, combining your strengths, and changing the world.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
The first one is humility. I believe humility is a superpower. Only the strongest people can practice humility because it requires deep listening and recognition of what did not go well, and only then are you truly learning.
Next, I would say bold curiosity. Asking better questions is more powerful than finding solutions. I think having the confidence to ask better questions is where true innovation and invention occurs.
Finally, creativity is instrumental to success. Nothing is unsolvable, you just have to find the creative solution.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
I’d like to believe that I have impacted many people who have come to know me, whether in business, sports, or friendship. Although, I don’t use my success to bring goodness to the world. In fact, maybe it has been my failures that will bring the most goodness to the world. I think the most important thing is to understand and build your path as a leader and continue to learn and grow from your journey.
Ok wonderful. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. Can you tell us about the sports technologies that most excite you at the moment? Can you explain why you are passionate about it?
Computer vision is the future of many things, including how we train humans in sports. The process of utilizing already existing hardware and software into completely new use cases, is true innovation. The sports technology industry is one of the fastest growing, and many different beliefs and applications are being explored. Clearly, machine learning is at the basis for very exciting futures, and we have only begun exploring the possibilities with ML in computer vision.
But there is a phenomenon occurring in sports technology which must be addressed. While technology advancement is a requirement for sustained growth in the industry, I do not believe technology should be developed for technology’s sake. A majority of sports technology today is focused on the elite players, the elite teams, the elite movements — when 99% of the planet goes without access to sports technology. We should be focusing our efforts on making the largest impact possible, simplifying instead of adding complexity and focusing on direct customer needs, which is a simple, affordable, and accessible solution to the cutting-edge.
How do you think this might change the world of sports?
Designing for the largest customer base is not only the best way to make the largest impact, but it makes fantastic business sense. Hundreds of millions of humans play sports every day, yet a tiny fraction of them have access to sports technology. I don’t believe any one technology is going to change the world of sports, but a completely new focus on the customer, will. We need to put athletes, coaches, and parents at the top of our priorities, not science.
Keeping “Black Mirror” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?
Like with any technology, we must maintain a healthy human/computer relationship. Technology, or specifically AI, is still widely misunderstood, so there are risks associated with application and customer adoption.
What are the 3 things that concern you about the sports industry today? Can you explain? What can be done to address or correct those concerns?
Here are the top things about Sports Tech I’m trying to change:
- Sports Tech is designed for the 1%
- Sports Tech is seen as a niche industry
- Sports Tech is not focused on the larger customer base with the least resources
- Sports Tech is focused on science, not the customer
Fantastic. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)
Believe in YOU
You must truly believe anything is possible. Don’t create barriers for yourself, the world will do that for you. Believe you are truly a superhero, and you can literally achieve anything.
Follow your “WHY”
Try to find what really matters to you. What drives you? What is your purpose? Remove the barriers and constructs life may have created and find what truly matters. Then GO!
Find your Superheroes
Batman needs Robin, Superman needs Lois, and Rocky needs Adrian…don’t try to do everything alone. Understand your weaknesses and find your team of superheroes who share your passion. Be willing to learn, share and build a team where everyone has ownership and inspiration.
Trust the journey
Success is imminent, absolute, and inevitable — no matter what outcomes may occur. Goals and objectives describe milestones, but recognize the race, the journey, and the micro-decisions along the way — that is where success is found.
Be BOLD
If you believe in YOU, understand your WHY, and focus on the journey with your team of superheroes… GO!
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
This is BeONE Sports.
Globalize access to the cutting edge. Seek to tell stories of positive change, not just business outcomes. Use sports to explode economic, regional, and social constraints and build a global community seeking to learn and improve.
We are very blessed that very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them :-)
Serena Williams — hands down, one of the strongest humans on the planet.
Madonna — a superhero with the ability to reinvent.
Sylvester Stallone — the creator of life changing characters as manifestations of himself.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Thank you so much for these excellent stories and insights. We wish you continued success on your great work!
