Race Car Driver Turns to a Fast-Track M.B.A.

Steven Goldstein has always been fast on the racetrack, winning the Formula 2,000 Championships in 2004, but it was not until he graduated from the accelerated M.B.A. program at SDA Bocconi in Milan last December that the race car driver's brand really took off.

"There are many elements you need to be a succesful driver," says Mr. Goldstein. "Driving quickly is one of them, but there is a whole busines aspect and that's where I needed to learn more."

At Bocconi, he says his class on return on shareholder value taught him how to maximize his resources. Mr. Goldstein has since begun working with three sports and entertainment management agencies in Colombia, Europe, and the U.S. A class on digital marketing opened his eyes to brand visibiity and led him and his manager to set up a Facebook fan page, a wikipedia entry and a blog. "When people are lecturing, in my head [I'm] thinking, 'How am I going to apply this to my own field?'" says Mr. Goldstein. "I had a whole year and four months of how do I apply this to me?"

Before pursuing the M.B.A., the now 28-year-old driver was on the Official Audi Sport Italia Team and had a sponsorship with Café de Colombia. In January, a month after graduating, Mr. Goldstein signed a contract with Ferrari and has since widened his portfolio to include four sponsors and endorsements with three companies and three non-profit organizations from Café de Colombia to Italian tire company Pirelli, to Nokia, to the Barcelona-based non-profit Arts Relief.

"There was a path I wasn't sure how to cross to speak with all those potential clients," he says. Learning about the importance of working with outside agencies gave him instant exposure to these many clients, he adds.

What's more, instead of putting his race winnings in the bank as he had for the previous five years of his racing career, this year Mr. Goldstein invested in the Ferrari race team, with a 120% return on investment so far. "The Bocconi M.B.A. is quite heavy on the financial part," says Mr. Goldstein. "The first thing that made a big difference for me was to understand the math."
Growing up in Colombia, Mr. Goldstein earned his undergraduate degree at American University in Washington, D.C.where he majored in marketing. He began racing in 2002 and three years later, realized he needed an MBA if he wanted to build his brand.

"By [looking at] different angles, you understand there is an equation for a company to sponsor you," he says. Instead of just approaching potential sponsors with his list of racing awards, he now comes to them with a business plan--counting the hours of TV coverage in Europe and how much it would cost to advertise in such channels, for example, to show potential clients that an investment in his brand would be a wise move. "I sell myself as a business instead of just an athlete," he says.