Pat Croce has been described as the Dale Carnegie of the 21st century by Inc magazine, but that title doesn’t go far enough
This celebrity entrepreneur could also be called the Guru of Get-Up-and-Go, Doctor Dynamism or Mr. Management. Think of him as Coach Croce, the man who can help you and your business get to the winner’s circle. To put him in your corner, all you have to do is listen.
He wants to tell you everything he knows. And he knows a lot.
"I’m a very successful entrepreneur," says Croce, "who does business in a uniquely customer- and employee-friendly way. Some of it is ‘Sesame Street’ simple, stuff your parents taught you, like saying please and thank you. It’s part of building relationships. Everything depends on relationships.
"My approach combines common sense, street smarts and book sense. My son-in-law has an MBA, and I value what he has to say. But application is something else. What you learn in school has to be put to use before it’s useful.
"I tell people, ‘Think of life as a three ring binder.’ You decide if you want to add some of what I have to offer to the pages in your notebook."
Croce’s got tips to take you from "What if … " to a business plan, a 10-step rule book for outstanding customer service and fool-proof team-building techniques. He’s formulated a crash course in effective communication and knows exactly what it takes to be the kind of leader who motivates others.
A tone of optimism and positive reinforcement runs through everything he says. But his leadership and management techniques are more than a set of upbeat maxims. He’s distilled a career’s worth of learning into a simple, straightforward, can-do approach that, he says, anyone can implement.
"If you have a passion," he insists in a style that mixes preaching with teaching, "you can lead. Each of us can be a leader in business, in the community, in whatever group we’re a part of. But most people don’t know how. It’s true that some have an innate talent for leadership. But the skills required can be learned. And with practice, they’ll carry you forward."
The 50-year-old from Philadelphia has worked hard to earn this expertise, and his credentials have been conferred on him by the school of real life.
In the Cliff’s Notes version of the Croce rags to riches saga, he goes from being a physical therapist and athletic trainer to owner of Sports Physical Therapists, an 11-state chain of 40 fitness and sports medicine centers. In the process, he invents the concept of pairing athletic training with preventive and rehabilitative health care and creates a market for it.
In 1993, 10 years after opening the first center, he sells the business for about $40 million. Three years later, after going on what he’s dubbed "The Vision Quest" to figure out what new adventure he wants to embark upon, Croce buys the Philadelphia 76ers, an especially amazing feat because the basketball franchise wasn’t even for sale.
When he became president, the team had the worst record in the NBA. Under his guidance, it made it to the playoffs, energizing fans and filling seats along the way. Although he still serves as a consultant and owns a minority share, Croce resigned as president in 2001. During his five year tenure, attendance increased by 60 percent, and franchise records had been broken for merchandise sales and overall revenue.
His latest project is The Pirate Soul Museum in Key West, Fla., which opened in January. Built from the ground up, the $10 million, 4,000-square-foot facility containing almost 500 artifacts is a tangible expression of his long-standing interest in buccaneer history and culture and of his equally enduring enthusiasm for taking on new challenges. His daughter, Kelly Croce Sorg, is CEO, and his son-in law, Jeffrey, is COO. Pat’s title is "visionary."
Along the way, he’s become a radio and TV personality, a best-selling author, a columnist for Fortune Small Business and a highly sought-after — and highly paid — motivational speaker. His stories and strategies about how to succeed in business and in life have become a brand that is the core product of Pat Croce & Co., a multimedia enterprise based in Haverford, Pa.
"An effective leader needs to know how to delegate. I had a hard time with that about two lifetimes ago when I went from having one to two sports medicine centers. But not anymore. Following my own advice about putting trust in others and giving them responsibility, I recently hired Marc Cerceo as Croce & Co.’s first COO."
