Dustin Heise 0:00

Boy, oh boy, Rob, it's so good to get some time together today. And, you know, just in getting to know you, especially in the lead up to this call, the connection is huge on, you know, why, why we're driven to contribute in sport and the impact that we can ultimately have on people's lives through sport. And, you know, you're doing that day in and day out with the Annika Foundation, no question about that. But I'm looking forward to an amazing chat today. And before we get there, today's guest is Rob Ono, president and CEO of Annika Foundation, where he's helping empower young women globally through the game of golf. With leadership experience spanning, the PGA tour, international sports business, and athlete development. He spent decades in building the game from grassroots to global scale. Welcome, my friend. Good to have you today, Rob. Thanks, Dustin. Great to be here. Thanks for having me. Yeah, I really appreciate it. Well, you know, you've worked across every level of sport. You know, when did you realize that you could build a platform to have an impact beyond competition?

Rob Ohno 0:59

Yeah, you know, it probably occurred in phases. You know, I played sports as a kid, so I was exposed to the life lessons that sports teaches you, just even through my father, who was a great youth coach, and he coached high school sports as well. But I probably grew when I got into high school and college and just my awareness of, you know, what sports can teach you about yourself and about life. But I actually think it really hit me when I was a parent and I decided to start coaching youth sports teams and even coaching my own two boys, you know, baseball, basketball, maybe even a little bit of soccer. And I think it was then where it's like, oh wow, you can actually have a really big impact on someone's life through sports and coaching. So that was probably, you know, really when it hit me. I was just gonna say, I remember my first coaching job for youth baseball. I mean, I took it pretty seriously of like, hey, what do I want to teach these boys beyond baseball? I mean, I I actually just went into the Bible and said, okay, what can I help teach these boys? Amazing. I came up with um a couple of principles and I added another, but it was basically our mottos were do your best. I didn't say love others because I thought 12-year-old boys would giggle and laugh. So I so I said respect others and have fun. You know, play with joy and gratitude was basically it. But it was basically do your best, respect others and have fun. And honestly, I've probably tried I've tried to remind myself of those principles too, you know, kind of every day, every year of my life as well, just to help me do what I was trying to preach to young kids.

Dustin Heise 2:39

Man, that hits home. I uh I really appreciate how you're trying to instill those values and being a values-based leader. And, you know, of course, there's there's so many ways that you can offer that kind of growth and how you've tried to simplify some really key principles. Uh I love that, especially how you're trying to then make it so it's digestible for youth as well at the same time. That's so good, man. Switching gears a little bit on like you've now become the CEO president at Annika Foundation, and it's built around empowering young women through golf. What defining moment for you really made that personal so that you know the impact that you have through Annika Foundation just I heard in your earlier just chatting, again, the joy, the ability to give back the impact you guys are having. Do you mind just sharing a little bit about that?

Rob Ohno 3:25

Yeah, I don't yeah, I don't know if it was necessarily one um, you know, defining moment, but I will share that if you ever meet Annika Sornstem, you'll be blown away. I mean, considered the greatest female golfer of all time, you know, super competitive, I mean, achieved everything through golf that there could be achieved. Yet she's like the most humble, full of humility, thoughtful person you'll ever meet, you know, filled with gratitude. And it's I was just so blown away, you know, after I got to know her a little bit better. So just even meeting her is a motivation. But I think it was probably in my first year. I think I met someone from Indonesia that had gone on to play college golf, and she came up to me and I saw her at a professional event, and she basically thanked me, even though she was thanking the foundation, because I had just gotten there, but she just thanked me for helping her get to college from Indonesia. And it wasn't thanking me for playing golf in college, which she did. It was literally thanking me for helping her get to college in the U.S. And I think that was one like light bulb went on of like, oh wow, like this isn't just about giving playing opportunities. This is really about helping, you know, someone advance in life. And then I think the other one for me was I heard Annika speak to our junior girls in Europe at an event we do there, and I was actually moderating. It was like a fireside chat, and Annika was sharing all these life lessons through the game of golf.

Dustin Heise 4:57

Yes.

Rob Ohno 4:58

And I thought it was amazing. And so later that evening, I literally sat down and I was like, oh my gosh, like what are all the lessons that she just shared? And I'm not joking. I think within five minutes I wrote down 18 life lessons.

Dustin Heise 5:10

I believe it.

Rob Ohno 5:11

And they were amazing. And what we ended up doing is Annika can't be everywhere, you know, at everything that we do, but she's at most things. But we said, oh geez, why don't we share these Annika quotes at everything we do, whether she's there or not? So we can be sharing her values and her messages. And a lot of them are just very inspirational quotes. And we put one on every T box now at our tournaments just because we happen to come up with 18 of them in five minutes. And Dustin, I gotta tell you, I get so much feedback from the players and the parents about just trying to help these girls along in golf and in life, and that how helpful and impactful these quotes are. So it's just it's funny how little things happen, and you know, then it it changes into something else, and then all of a sudden I feel like, wow, we're actually making a really big impact. But those are probably a couple things that really stood out to me.

Dustin Heise 6:10

Well, I think that as you continue to to share a little bit about that, like how has that impacted the culture of the organization? You know, as you get to to listen to someone that is as world-class and and world leading as Annika is, you know, obviously athletically, but then you know, how she's transitioned that into how she continues to lead and steward through sport, through the game of golf, the impact that she has on young people's lives and the Annika Foundation has on young people's lives when you take just one speaking engagement from her and turn that into 18 key quotes. Like, how has that shaped the culture of your organization? Like I can imagine it's believable.

Rob Ohno 6:47

You know, it's really interesting. I think for um, again, I thought Annika would have been just all about performance and results. And if we, you know, we screw up, you know, she'd kind of be harping on maybe what went wrong. And it's exactly the opposite for her, which is probably one of the reasons why she became so great. For her, it's all about continual learning. I mean, we strive for excellence, we want to do, you know, our very best and all that. But there's this culture of just learning and growing. And it translates to sports, and I think especially to golf, because I don't know why, but golf is so darn results oriented. It's like you see somebody who just came off the course. It's not even like they say, Hey, did you have fun? or you know, did you do your best out there? It's literally like, hey, what'd you shoot? I mean, it's all about your result. Sure. And then that's somehow defines you, you know, for a lot of people, of like their self-image. You know, they play bad, they feel bad about themselves. They play good, then they feel, you know, even better probably than they should about themselves. So, but for Annika, it's just all about learning. So these girls or young women, they come to a lot of our initiatives wanting to do well and wanting to win. But, you know, we're there to help them understand, hey, this is a learning platform. I mean, we want you to do well, we want you to do your best. But in a lot of ways, we actually don't even care who wins this week. But what we care about is you learn something about yourself as a person, as a golfer. We want you to meet new friends from around the world. There's a bigger we try to share a bigger perspective to why they're there, which I think I think it's one of the things that separates us from how we do things. The girls come for golf and we hopefully turn themselves into a better person, better leader, teach them something. I think it's just incredible what Annika and the foundation is trying to do to help people.

Dustin Heise 8:45

Well, no question with your support and your leadership as well, Rob, but I love how you were able to share just that, you know, ability of the game and then life. And I think golf, by the way, is is such an amazing sport from that perspective. And and by the way, snowboarders love golf also, by the way, because it's a great activity to decompress with, but also to challenge oneself. Like you said, the score doesn't reflect what happened in the game. And, you know, it can, certainly, but you know, the narrative of the game from hole one to eighteen, there's a there's a big story there of the ups and downs of any particular shot and what it took for the athlete to reset mentally to prepare for the next shot. It's not unlike, by the way, for even a snowboarder or or anyone in these action sports, the mental game that's required for the next trick or to get up after, you know, not landing it cleanly or taking a huge slam. You know, it's not like not unlike dunking it into the water or ended up in the sand, you know, when you're trying to learn a new trick. That mental game and that resiliency around the progression, that Kaizen approach to, you know, ability to continue to grow each and every day and continuous improvement, that is the beauty of it. I think that, you know, golf's often seen as an individual sport, but so much of the success, you know, comes through the community and the support in and of itself. What have you learned about, you know, just the ability of the team behind the scenes and what's required for the for the team in order to keep building on?

Rob Ohno 10:14

Yeah, I have a couple thoughts there, but actually you mentioned the whole snowboarding thing, and I think it's really parallel also because if the snowboarder doesn't perform exactly how they are envisioning, like what is their mental mindset afterwards? Because a lot of athletes will feel like because maybe they failed that day or on that trick, a lot of athletes view themselves as they're they're a failure. And what we're just trying to reiterate is just failure is just a way to learn. And that's actually one big value or lesson that I've learned from Annika that I'm trying to convey is just failure is just a way to learn and are just a way to grow. So, but it's it kind of leads into your question of just kind of the camaraderie in the community. I mean, having that support system like is vital. I mean, it it helps people stay driven and motivated. It allows them to heal when things aren't going well. It allows them to celebrate with others when things do go well. Yeah. We have this program with ambassadors, they're college grads, that we select high potential golfers, but they're also amazing people, and we bring them together after the college experience and help them transition into pro golf. And they get access to this beautiful club, they get some financial support, they get some mentorship from Monica, they get housing, they get some access to experts. But what they've said to us is we've built kind of this community for them to work together, to practice together, to go play together, to socialize together, to commiserate with one another, to support one another. And they just said that community is so vital because if you go from golf in college, it's a team, and then you turn pro and you're literally on your own. And I was told this program is the only one that exists in the world to kind of help people transition from college golf to pro golf. But I had kind of underestimated just the power of community. Yeah. So yeah, it's like it's an amazing aspect that if you can build in, we can um, you know, breed wonders.

Dustin Heise 12:25

Well, I think too, like within the again, I'll just continue to lean into golf here, obviously for obvious reasons with you here today, but I think the the beauty of the community is that you know, when you think of it internationally and just how vast the game is and how accessible you know the game really is, and I think growing in its access, but you know, the the way that you guys are leaning into the women's game, I can only imagine, like you'll have the stats probably top of mind, but like is the women's game the most rapidly growing part of the game? I know it is for so many other sports, but yeah, maybe just share a little bit about that actually.

Rob Ohno 13:01

Yeah, I don't remember all the stats off the top of my head, but I know that was one of the reasons why Annika even started her foundation. It was probably 19 years ago. And it's grown a lot. Our foundation has grown a lot over the past five, six years. But um, yeah, women and girls, heat segments that have entered into the sport, which has been amazing to see because I I get to see it at all levels, you know, young girls, exactly, collegiate, young pros, and it's been amazing to see the progress of just the talent you know that's been coming out.

Dustin Heise 13:34

I can imagine. I mean, and you've seen the game and you've led the game at every level of the sport itself. What do you think plays the biggest role in connecting people across cultures? I mean, you've even leading into the call, we chatted a little bit about, you know, your leadership in Canada and other countries, you know, within the PGA. Like how does how does this continue to to unite that way?

Rob Ohno 13:53

Yeah, it's interesting. I was thinking of like some even some of our junior events, college events are probably similar, but junior events, we probably have girls there from 20 plus countries coming together from a a region. And then and then our US event, they we bring girls in from all over the world for that one. But even if our event in Europe, it's like I swear we had like 24 countries represented. It was crazy. And you you've done a lot of traveling, so you understand the benefit. I I think it helps you understand others better. I think it helps you respect others better, you respect other people's differences, you know, you're more tolerant. I think it's amazing to build friendships across countries. I think it helps you learn more about yourself. And I think one of the nice things for us is we get to see some of these friendships develop across countries. Absolutely. You know, even within the week, or it even could be the next year we see them and we're like, oh wow, you see these two women hanging out together. They don't really know each other. Well, last year and they're from different countries. I think it's amazing. I mean, if we can bring the world a little bit closer together to help better understand one another, I just think it, you know, we're it's we're helping the entire world, you know, through what we're doing.

Dustin Heise 15:07

Well, I think that's the impact that sport's capable of having. I think that it is it it is a uniter of people. It brings people together on all fronts, unlike any other medium. We're seeing that now with the World Cup. You know, there's so much opportunity through sport, and again, the good work that you guys are doing. When you think of the future of youth and women's sport, you know, what gives you the most hope right now?

Rob Ohno 15:29

I mentioned just what I've seen on on the athlete side, like these golfers, for example, they're actually they look like they're amazing athletes that could be playing any other sport that they want to. It's not maybe the traditional view of what people had of golfers. I mean, these women and guys, they're just real athletes. But I think what's really encouraged me, and even our ambassadors are one example, they're just amazing, high-quality people. And our ambassadors, they're all pursuing golf at the highest level. They want to play on the LPGA tour, you know, coming out of college. And I'm like, oh my gosh, these women, whenever they s stop playing full-time competitive golf, I think they're going to become CEOs or executives of companies just because of the of the type of people they are. They're just filled with humility and gratitude, their work ethic, their perseverance. They know how to deal with people. I don't know. So it's the combination of the athlete and the person side. I think it's just so inspiring and encouraging to see.

Dustin Heise 16:35

They're all future leaders. You're dead right. They're all future executives. You're absolutely right. And I think that's uh that's bang on. Rob, question for you. In one year's time, you know, where do you see yourself and the Annika Foundation? I'm gonna ask the same question in a five-year time frame. Where do you see yourself and Annika Foundation and the impacts that you're able to be having?

Rob Ohno 16:57

Yeah, I think um we've added a lot over the past three and a half years from when I've joined. So we're digesting a lot. I think one thing we're really trying to do besides just providing these amazing golf experiences and golf opportunities, it's really just the life development part of what we're doing. Whether it's in person at a more than golf session, at a tournament, if it's these virtual sessions that we're doing to, you know, help girls around the world around a different topic of mental health or public speaking, or it doesn't even have to necessarily be about golf. But I think I'm excited just to see the impact that we can make just with helping these girls and young women just become stronger people, stronger leaders. So I think that's one thing we're going to keep working on is just the life development side of what we're doing. I'd say five years down the road, I'll try to make this quick, but we started an award last year. It's called the Anuka Inspiration Award. And it goes to an Anuka alum that's doing something great after golf. And it's probably a little selfish on our part because, like I said, hey, we're just trying to help people understand we're not just about golf development, but we're all about life development as well. So we wanted to showcase an alum who's doing something great after golf, but it was really to help athletes and even snowboarders for that matter. Yeah. A lot of athletes view their sport as the end goal. And if they don't get to college by doing their sport, if they don't make it to pros, if they don't have a seven-year pro golf career, a lot of elite athletes feel like they failed.

Dustin Heise 18:34

Sure.

Rob Ohno 18:35

They're definitely disappointed. They're dis you know, a lot of them are disillusioned. What am I gonna do now? And I just remember Annika telling me one time, I said, Hey, why'd you retire? Like she retired, like I think number one in the world.

Dustin Heise 18:47

Sure.

Rob Ohno 18:48

And she just said, Hey, I was climbing up the mountain of golf. And she was at the top of the mountain for many years, but she just thought I started noticing there were other mountains in life to climb. And I thought, that is such an amazing analogy for athletes, of like, you know what? When you decide that full-time competitive sports is, you know, not your thing anymore, don't go down the mountain with your head down and ashamed. Like, go down with your head up, take what you've learned, and go find another mountain to climb. So I think this award, and Rachel Heck was our inaugural recipient last year, and she's like this amazing athlete who bypassed pro golf and is doing amazing things now with her life. But I think it's so cool that she's inspiring people to understand, like, hey, there's other things in life than just sports, and there's a lot of other mountains you can climb based on what you've learned through your sport. So I hope we can, you know, inspire others to do great things in the world just because, you know, they've learned so many things through their sports journey. And hopefully this award can help reiterate that.

Dustin Heise 19:55

Yeah, no doubt it will. Rob, most importantly, the mountain you're on is making a huge impact. And can't thank you enough for the hard work that you're putting into making a difference in people's lives, but also for taking the time to spend with uh with me today. I want to help support that mountain that you're on. And with you taking time, I learned a lot today, and I have a lot of gratitude for you too, man, and and uh look forward to to climb more mountains with you.

Rob Ohno 20:19

Thanks, Justin. Appreciate you having me.