The Bravery to Master the New Contents Foreword
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The Bravery to Master the New Contents Foreword Foreword 3 The sport, media and entertainment industries are undergoing significant disruption. After decades of impressive growth fuelled by Research Findings 4 seemingly endless increases in the value of media and sponsorship Methodology 7 rights, we are hitting a wall. For the last two years, top executives have told us that the future may look less rosy than the past. How to Spot a Convergence Trailblazer? 8 Convergence Trailblazers 18 Indeed, concerns with changing consumption behaviour of younger generations, particularly Gen Z, is posing significant challenges to decision makers. Putting on “more of the same” Delia Bushell CEO, THE JOCKEY CLUB 20 and simply shifting to a digital channel will not cut it. Younger generations have greater expectations towards content: it needs to be highly personalised, engaging, interactive, Humphrey Cobbold CEO, PURE GYM 22 shareable. To make things more complex, younger generations are used to having massive Mark Cornell CEO, AMBASSADOR THEATRE GROUP 24 amounts of content at their fingertips. The sport, media and entertainment industries have work to do: regardless of whether through digital or linear, accessing live content remains Johanna Faries COMMISSIONER, CALL OF DUTY ESPORTS, ACTIVISION BLIZZARD 26 complicated and expensive. Tony Goncalves CEO, OTTER MEDIA 28 So, what’s next? A transition period, somewhat like the music industry two decades ago. The environment will remain challenging until new, customer-centric and future oriented Brian Grevy EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBER, ADIDAS 30 business models move the centre of gravity towards a “new normal”. Peter Hutton DIRECTOR, SPORTS PARTNERSHIPS, FACEBOOK 32 What is needed to effectively manage this transition? Talent. A new breed of leader is emerging. Sarah Martin CEO, THE ARTS HOUSE 36 Those with the courage to put political motivations aside, to challenge the status quo and empower the creative talent in their organisations to find new paths. Bryant McBride CEO & CO-FOUNDER, BURST 38 Where will these leaders come from? The time has come to look beyond industry boundaries Eric Min CEO & CO-FOUNDER, ZWIFT 40 and attract the best talent that the broader entertainment, retail and consumer industries Sara Molnar CEO, PEAK PERFORMANCE 42 have to offer. If we are to pivot business models for the next chapter, we need innovation. Innovation that is intimately customer-centric and harnesses technology. Innovation that Peter Moore CEO, LIVERPOOL FOOTBALL CLUB 44 gives new meaning and value to the importance sports and entertainment play in fostering cohesiveness and integration in our society. Erika Nardini CEO, BARSTOOL SPORTS 48 SRI’s Convergence Trailblazers brings a welcome focus on a critical business challenge for Clive Ormerod CEO, LES MILLS 50 2020: adaptation of leadership strategies to be equipped in a converging world. Chris Park CEO, GEN.G 52 Tom Pickett CEO, ELLATION 54 David Dellea Head of Sports Business Advisory, Ari Segal CEO, IMMORTALS GAMING CLUB 56 PwC Gabrielle Toledano COO, KEYSTONE STRATEGY 58 Sarah Treseder OBE CEO, ROYAL YACHTING ASSOCIATION 60 SRI Team 62 Convergence Trailblazers SRI 3 Research Findings What makes a trailblazer? What are the qualities that define those special SRI’s research reveals clear patterns - the trails that leaders are most frequently following to individuals who move effortlessly from one industry to another, injecting the move from one sector to another. dynamism and fresh perspectives that those with a multiple-sector career How CEOs are moving can bring? 1 This was what SRI set out to discover in Convergence Trailblazers, an unprecedented exercise 2 1 designed to gain deep understanding of emerging trends in cross-industry leadership. 4 1 We set out to identify global leaders who have traversed industries. In a series of in-depth 12 8 6 interviews with members of SRI’s extensive global network, we asked them to tell us about the CEOs moving into CEOs moving into CEOs moving into 2 4 3 1 strengths they considered most important in their career journeys and the unique challenges esports teams sports leagues sporting goods of stepping into a radically different working environment. 1 Simultaneously, SRI examined leadership at the world’s largest 20 companies (by revenue, 1 or esports teams: valuation) in the sectors of media & entertainment, technology, sports 2 1 1 1 leagues, esports teams, and sporting goods. It is in these areas - all key constituents of the consumer attention economy - that traditional industry lines are most obviously blurring. Sports Media & Entertainment Consumer Goods Media & Entertainment Shipping Automotive Cross-industry hiring of CEOs is a fast-growing trend Consulting Financial Services Technology Financial Services Recruitment Retail Our findings show that industry transition is a fast-growing trend among CEOs and that Technology Construction companies are increasingly looking outside the traditional parameters of their sectors for leaders Sports Marketing who are most able to capitalise on opportunities in a rapidly-evolving business environment. Sports leagues are highly amenable to hiring CEOs from other industries, with eight cross- Percentage of cross-industry CEOs* industry leaders being appointed by major sports leagues since 2015. The most popular pathway was from the media & entertainment sector, which produced four of these CEOs. 50 Chase Carey transitioned from 21st Century Fox to Formula 1 and Rahul Johri went from 45% Discovery Co to the Indian Premier League. 40 The rapidly-expanding esports sector was most likely to look elsewhere for its CEOs, with 12 outsiders hired to take charge of leading companies since 2015. Four of these were recruited 30 from the traditional sports sector. 20 Sporting goods has brought in six new CEOs from other sectors since 2015, with three of those *Sample: 20 largest companies following a pathway from the consumer goods industry. John Donahoe, a former President and (by revenue/valuation) in each of 9% 11% 10 CEO of eBay, has been named CEO of Nike. the following industries: sports leagues, media & entertainment, esports teams and sporting goods 0 Just one technology organisation has hired a CEO from outside. Yet, SRI found that such cross- Hired 2005-09 Hired 2010-14 Hired 2015-19 sector CEOs remain a minority in these industries in 2020. Just 27 percent of CEOs in the top 20 companies in sports leagues, media & entertainment, esports teams and sporting goods Cross-industry hires of CEOs in our key sectors climbed sharply to 45 percent between 2015- arrived from a different sector. 2019, up from 11 percent of those hired between 2010-2014 and 9 percent from 2005-2009. 4 SRI Convergence Trailblazers Convergence Trailblazers SRI 5 Methodology 1. We examined a sample of 100 organisations, taking the 20 largest by revenue (or valuation for esports teams) in each of the following sectors: sports leagues, esport teams/franchises, sporting goods/apparel, media/ entertainment and technology. We selected the companies by referring to third party company listings sources including Fortune Global 500, Forbes and Investopedia (view full source list and list of the 100 sample companies) 2. We reviewed the profile and backgrounds of the CEOs of each of these 100 companies to find out: A. Whether they had experience of working in more than one sector. We classified an individual as ‘multi-sector’ if they had worked in a minimum of one other sector in the last 15 years. B. Which sector(s) they had worked in before moving to their current sector. C. Which countries they had worked in through their career. D. What year they had been appointed as CEO, to uncover any variations in the prevalence of multi-sector CEOs according to how long ago they had been hired. 3. We invited 19 top industry leaders ‘Convergence Trailblazers’ – from media & entertainment, esports, sport, sporting goods and technology – to talk to us in some depth about their career journeys. We were looking for the common traits and competencies of those who successfully move across industries. 6 SRI Convergence Trailblazers Convergence Trailblazers SRI 7 How to Spot a Convergence Trailblazer? From SRI’s interview-based research with some of the world’s top leaders who have switched sectors, we were able to ascertain common traits of those CEOs who most successfully cross industries, and what companies should look for in making such a hire. Many of the Trailblazers themselves expressed the view that they were at the forefront of a growing cohort of CEOs who are adapting to a world where traditional industry parameters no longer apply. Erika Nardini, CEO of online sports and gambling publisher Barstool Sports, says: “We, Barstool Sports, are in content, media, lifestyle, entertainment, sports. I think everything is changing.” Delia Bushell, a former broadcasting industry CEO who is now Group Chief Executive of The Jockey Club, tells us: “We’re at a time where the world of sport and the world of business, which were once quite separate, are now converging.” Johanna Faries, who moved from a stellar career at the National Football League to set up the Call of Duty League for gaming giant, Activision Blizzard, says “I think that if you’re a sports entity…or part of the entertainment industry focused on competitive content, the media trends and the consumer behaviour trends are changing too rapidly not to be able to try to mine for people who can speak multiple languages in that regard.” They are crystal “We’re at a time where