Release Date:
April 24, 2025
Release Date: Apr 24
What happens when your lifelong career ends overnight? Most people panic. Steve Delsohn got to work.
After 16 years at ESPN, multiple journalism awards, and a career-defining body of investigative work, Steve found himself laid off, just one day after winning two prestigious honors. In this episode, Steve opens up about the emotional and professional toll of being let go, how he transitioned into the world of PR without sacrificing his values, and why saying “no” to big opportunities is sometimes the most powerful move you can make.
Whether you're facing a layoff, rethinking your next move, or trying to lead with more integrity, this conversation is a masterclass in reinvention, resilience, and doing meaningful work.
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In This Episode:
About Steve Delsohn:
During his 30-plus years in journalism and communications, Steve Delsohn has built a national reputation as a network television reporter, nonfiction author, documentary producer, and strategic communications consultant.
Steve worked 16 years as an investigative reporter for ESPN TV’s Outside the Lines, the news magazine show which examines substantial issues in the sports world. In 2013 he won a Peabody Award for a story on the concussion crisis in the NFL. In 2009 he earned an EMMY nomination for a story on Joe Paterno’s morally-decaying Penn State football program.
He did other high-profile investigations of improper medical care in high school football; the dangers of 15-seat passenger vans which transport small-college athletes; the academic fraud scandal at the University of North Carolina; corruption in the youth football helmet industry; a college football coach who sold meth on the side; and a female teenage athlete sexually assaulted while competing against boys during a high school water polo game.
Steve has written 12 nonfiction books, including The Fire Inside, an oral history of American firefighters which inspired a History Channel documentary (Into the Fire) and was used as source material for the fictional film Ladder 49.
He has also written or co-written books on John Wayne, Bobby Knight, Sam Kinison, Emmitt Smith, Jim Brown, Notre Dame football, the 1985 Chicago Bears, the Los Angeles Dodgers and USC football. He has co-produced one documentary on college basketball (Guru of Go) for ESPN’s esteemed 30 for 30 series, and the aforementioned documentary on firefighters for History Channel.
Steve is a native of Chicago now living just outside Los Angeles. His passions are reading, fitness, movies, politics...and above all his wife and three children.
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