Perspective

15 years ago I was unemployed and living in my friend’s mom’s storage room in the suburbs of Toronto. I mean, unemployed isn’t exactly right - I had an unpaid internship at Leo Burnett where I was forced to dress up as Tony the Tiger. I paid for stuff with winnings from playing online poker. I appreciate their generosity so much because it allowed me to stay near Toronto and break into advertising. My buddy’s mom was happy when I moved out because it meant she could go back to not wearing pants around the house.

10 years ago I moved to Montreal. I thought I was a fucking baller because the agency that had hired me was paying for my move and put me up in a swanky hotel for a couple of days. I knew one person in the city. And about 25 words of French. Work was life. And life was work. I was grateful for the opportunity because it’s was my big break to work on global brands and sports. I remember trying out for a frisbee team and didn’t get a second look. That hurt. But it pushed me to play a different position on a different team.

5 years ago I was living in New York city. I had just started a new job after getting fired for the first time in my life. It was a huge blow to my ego. But it taught me a couple of things. Have an emergency fund. Good talent is rare, shitty bosses are not. Be nice to everyone. Do good work, because your reputation matters and follows you everywhere. Oh yeah, and people will pay handsomely for good talent. I found out that I was being underpaid by 40% at the place I was fired from. I’m grateful that I was able to learn that one person’s shitty opinion of your doesn’t define your worth. It gave me heaps of confidence going forward.

4 years ago I was back in Toronto. I took my first job in pro sports with the Toronto Raptors. I didn’t know anyone at the company. I didn’t have an in. I was just able to slog through the process of 500+ applicants and get it done. I took a 50% paycut to take the job. I’m grateful that my wife had a kick-ass job. It afforded me the luxury to make that choice instead of taking a job I would have hated that paid more.

3 years ago I was leading marketing for the Toronto Maple Leafs. I got to walk down to the ice before the home opener. I just stood in the empty stadium and took it all in. Such a privilege. What a great fucking team of people that I got to work with. I made mistakes. I got educated right quick on the heirarchies of hockey and how different it was from basketball. I’m grateful for the masterclass that I received in corporate politics, leadership, team building and how to sell shit in.

1 year ago I saw a job posting for the Los Angeles Rams to lead their brand team. They were looking for someone native to LA. They didn’t want a Canadian. It would be a move to a different country. Different timezone. Different business. All with a family this time. I’m grateful I applied.

Today I am here. Here in the present. Planning for the future. I’m grateful for the experiences that I’ve had. The struggles. The trials. The wins. The losses. They’ve given me the know-how to succeed in this moment. Today. They’ve built up my patience, my resilience, my creativity and my self-awareness.

Don’t forget to look back. Especially on the hard days. It makes you grateful for how far you’ve come.

- Christian

Hopping Off The Plane At LAX

I won a job as the new VP, Brand Experience for the LA Rams. I say won, because there was definitely luck involved. I was at the right place at the right time ... and happened to be qualified. It was kind of like poker - I worked hard to build the right hand, know how to play it correctly and was patient. But there was definitely luck involved. As there always is in life.

There were 1,900+ applicants for the job to lead the Brand Experience team for the LA Rams. A good football team. One of the biggest markets on the planet. The opportunity to contribute to a brand that impacts culture. Check. Check. Check.

My chances of my application being seen - nonetheless pass through screening - were slim to none. 

So I took my own advice. I called out to my network looking for an in. I reached out to the hiring manager directly. I got a phone call. I built a PDF designed to tell the story of who I am (because people would rather click on an attachment than a link), I did my research and came prepared. 

And then I waited.

Then I met with some more people. Then I waited again. 

Then I got asked to meet the team president. Shit. Amazing news! The best advice that I got before meeting with him? Just be you. Cool. That's helpful, so I did. I knew that there were other extremely qualified candidates gunning for the role. So even if I didn't get the job, I wanted to walk away with some knowledge. I mean, how often does anyone get to sit down 1-on-1 with an NFL team president? 

So I thought ... what would Shane Parrish do? Or Adam Grant? Or Jordan Harbinger? Ask a bunch of questions and try to suss out the systems he uses to make decisions. Try to figure out how he structures his thinking. How he thinks about building culture for both the team and the business side. How he measures value and on what timeline. 

He probably just thought that he was drinking coffee and having a conversation with someone. I was on the other side of the table desperately trying to balance retaining the information he just shared and continue the conversation down an interesting path.

And I was fortunate enough that the CMO placed her faith in me and I got the job. 

I will need everything that I learned from my time in advertising and the client side. How to articulate strategies. How to build buy-in. How to get shit done. And I will need to keep learning.

And now I'm on a plane to LA to start this off. To work with a great marketing and brand experience team. To tackle challenges I don't even know exist. To get a crash course on the different cultures in LA. To wrestle with insane fanaticism of NFL fans. And figure out how to create a couple million more. This time, for the LA Rams. 

Wish me luck!

- Christian 

Thank You MLSE

I can finally write this. Thank you Leafs. Thank you Raptors. Thank you MLSE.

I started working there thinking that it would be an opportunity to do great work on cool brands. Mainly the Raptors. My wife got an awesome job in Toronto and I had to find work from New York. So I cold applied to MLSE. I didn't know anyone there, but I figured it was worth a shot.

I was there for five championships (TFC, 905, Marlies, Argos and Raptors). Full disclosure - I didn't have to do with any of them. That was all the front office, the players, the coaches, the analytics teams, the training staff and the GMs. They won their rings through hard work, determination, vision and strategy.  

To sit at the feet of greatness and to hear from the people that made those decisions ... that was life changing. To hear how Kyle Dubas was willing to leverage the Marlies to experiment with things that were locked into tradition - like the five forward power play or individualized player development with Adam Brooks. Or to listen to Masai talk about being able to make a decision with the best information that you have in the moment and ignoring the noise. Small glimpses into the minds of these people allowed me to start to understand how they think. The mental models they use. How they made decisions.

I left having had the opportunity to lead three amazing marketing teams - (1) Raptors digital, (2) Leafs & Marlies marketing, and (3) Live & Lifestyle. The best part of it was watching the people on my team grow. Grow into smart strategists. Grow into strong leaders. Grow into good decision makers.

Seeing people move up with promotions they worked hard for was one of the most rewarding things that I experienced as a boss (or ex-boss, I guess). Being there to support team members battling through tough circumstances and see the them come out the other side stronger ... that sort of thing imbues a weird sort of paternal pride. Knowing that the confidence that you had in them, they now see in themselves. And having the teams you lead clean up at the awards shows ... well, that's always a cause for an ego boost and champagne celebrations. Or was it donuts? Probably both.

And there were bumps in the road. Structures to navigate. Relationships to build. Tough conversations to have. Real talk - who the fuck thought it was acceptable for an 8 second load time for a website? At my most exasperated, I remember having everyone in the meeting room sit in silence and watch the clock for the full time it took the website to load. Uncomfortable? Yes. Rude? Absolutely. But why would we expect our fans to do it if we wouldn't? It got fixed.

With every mistake, I strived to learn. Where the boundaries of the brand were. Where our fans needed us to lead them. How the process could improve. If we were really listening to what our partners wanted, or playing broken telephone. I remember the crash course in how an unrealistic narrative can be built from a couple of hand selected Tweets from anonymous fans on a slow day for sports news in Toronto. 

People think that the value of MLSE is their brands - that they are able to build cultural artifacts so powerful that they lead conversations instead of following them. Or the people who buy tickets. Or the players they’re able to attract. Or the championships.

But it's really their fans. They legions of people that get whipped up into a frenzied obsession. It doesn't matter if you've been ride-or-die with the team for 20 years. Or if you've never seen the end of a game because your mom makes you go to bed before the 3rd period. That audience is the true value. They're the people who keep the lights on with their passion, demand championships and hold MLSE accountable.

I may be oversharing compared to what people normally talk about when they leave MLSE. But I had a great time there. I had some great bosses. I led amazing teams.  I learned a lot. I wanted to share it. So sue me.

- Christian

PS. To read about where I landed, click here.