Name: Kraig Kann
Position: LPGA Chief Communications Officer
Age: 48
Where I’m from: Chicago
Where I call home: Orlando
Focusing on right now: Trying to elevate the exposure of this tour.
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Kann travels many weeks out of the year, but makes
family a priority when he finds free time at home |
Best advice: I never let "no" be an answer as I built a career in broadcasting. I was quite satisfied with the career I had in TV. But if my current role tells me anything from an advice perspective, it’s that you never know who’s paying attention. You have to make the best of every opportunity and never stop trying to make an impact. I never thought that MIKE WHAN would contact me about this opening. I didn’t know it was open and I never thought I would become chief communications officer for the LPGA. There are a lot of people who want opportunities, but they forget that the most important thing is to do something with the one they have, and that’s what I’m trying to do.
A must for a new hire: I have a “Three Things” board that I use for any interview candidate. The first of those things is what the interview process that you just went through told you about our organization. The second is what separates you from other candidates. The third is three things that can make us better as an organization. I make them present it to me, and that always kind of throws people. But I need people who can take their ideas and their thoughts and present them to others. If they can write really well but they can’t sell it, I don’t think they have the complete package. I’m really big on hiring people who can communicate and present.
Exec I admire the most: My boss, Mike Whan. Not only did he take a chance on me in thinking outside the box in bringing in this TV anchor to help raise the level of exposure for the tour. In three years, he’s given me the business degree that I never had. I’ve learned so much from him, about creating a team and building culture. I am an ideas guy, and sometimes I have too many, but so is Mike. I know that while creating all those ideas is fun, the real challenge is making something out of the good ones and knowing that some of them are going to fail. He enforces that every day, and that’s exactly what I try to do. He is a fantastic recruiter to get me to leave what I was really comfortable doing at Golf Channel.
Best book I’ve read this year: The one that sticks out to me is called “Platform: Getting Noticed In A Noisy World” by MICHAEL HYATT. I take notes when I read books and I’ve never taken so many notes and used them so frequently as I did when reading that book. He understands the social world that we live in, the media world and the pressure people are under to find success. Visibility in a business world that’s very crowded with hopefuls. That book is exactly what I’m trying to do at the LPGA. Our goal is to raise the platform of the LPGA and women’s golf in a very, very crowded sports landscape. The LPGA is a niche within a niche sport, and we’ve got to find ways to get noticed.
First thing in the morning: Number one is Twitter. I do check my phone; my family thinks I’m on it all the time. I do have a decent excuse with my job but I’m always paying attention to what’s going on in golf. But it’s not all golf, I do have outside interests. I love looking at Forbes and Inc., anything that has to do with presentation or public speaking. My morning is also a commute in the car, so I’m a big sports-radio guy.
Talking tech: I am completely technology challenged. I’ve never had an iPod; still don’t to this day. Was one of the last to have an iPhone or iPad. Things like Pandora and Spotify and all the latest and greatest things -- I’m always way behind. I think I’m pretty decent with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, which probably drives my kids crazy because they block me and all that.
Must-have music: When I was a kid I loved BOSTON, CHICAGO, JOURNEY, .38 SPECIAL. I actually had some buddies of mine, we could tell you everything about THE GO-GO’s, which, looking back, is really funny. We would go to their concerts in Milwaukee at Summerfest.
Food for thought: I’m a grill-out guy. I like throwing burgers and brats on the grill. I’m a pretty simple Midwestern roots guy who likes that type of thing, so we’ll do that a lot.
How I unwind: When I manage to get some time at home, my wife and three kids are my priority. Whether it’s going to one of their sporting events or whatever, just spending time with them really helps. I really am just pretty simple at home. I’ll throw the TV on and watch sports, maybe read. I used to play tons of golf, but when you get into the golf business, it seems like the number of rounds you play goes down every year.
Day in the life: If you’re working with NFL, NBA or MLB teams, you’re working with local media who cover the teams day to day. We have a global tour that has 33 events spanning 14 countries. International players that come from everywhere. That’s a challenge. Our media doesn’t travel with us week to week as a city beat reporter would with their team in another sport. We do have beat writers, but week to week, it’s a new stop and a new group of media members. We have to educate every single week on what the stories are, who the players are, why they care. I’m really big into the why; why we’re relevant or why we’re important. There’s the “what” every week -- what event or who’s leading the money list, but it’s the why that matters and what I’m really big on. We work hard in relationships with media members because I don’t believe you can take them for granted. They always get the last word, and they really shape how you’re covered. I think if somebody would say, “What’s your take on media?” I would tell them you have to treat them like a three-million-dollar sponsor.
