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Graciano enjoys salsa and merengue music,
a love he has shared with his family |
Name: Steven Graciano
Position: NFL Network VP/Marketing
Age: 40
Where I’m from: Manhattan
Where I call home: L.A.
Focusing on right now: Messaging and marketing consistency for original programs.
Best advice: Early on in my career, I was told to view every project and task as a platform for career growth. I’ve taken that to heart. At this point in my career, it’s more about prioritizing and delegating, but I still look at things in the same vein, in terms of how to grow my career and the careers of the people on my team.
Exec I admire the most: Former NBA Senior VP/Global Business Development PETER FARNSWORTH. He was very practical in his approach to everything, and I admired the way he was able to balance work and life. He has since left to open up his own consulting firm, but I got a lot out of working with Peter.
Must for a new hire: A team player, collaborative and persuasive when sharing ideas, but also able to listen to people in the group and organization. Organizations struggle with departments working in silos, so I always ask during interviews about a person’s ability to work with teams.
Best book I’ve read: “The Boys in the Boat” by DANIEL BROWN. It’s about the University of Washington and their journey to the 1936 Olympics and winning gold. It just had a lot of different things that I enjoyed -- perseverance, teamwork -- just a great story. Putting myself in the 1930s was somewhat difficult, but just hearing about some of the things that were happening during that time and everything they had to overcome, that really resonated with me.
First thing in the morning: I have twin boys, MATTIAS and MARCELO, who just turned 3 years old yesterday; they’re my alarm clock in the morning. As soon as I hear them, I get my smartphone, check emails, see what comes in from N.Y., look at Business Insider and a couple of websites, and then go tend to the boys and my 7-year-old daughter, MADISON.
Talking tech: I’m looking at trends and consumption habits. I’m focused on Millennials, and given that more than 50% of their video viewing comes from smartphones, tablets and laptops, I’m trying to see how that can complement the linear TV experience for NFL Network. So for me, it’s "How do I actually get messaging out on those platforms to attract a younger audience and complement that with what we have on the linear channel?"
Must have music: Like most people, I go through phases. Right now, I’ve been listening to a lot of BRUNO MARS, some JAY Z and NIRVANA, but also older salsa and merengue -- HECTOR LAVOE and OSCAR D'LEON.
Food for thought: I’m pretty aggressive in my attempts to cook, but when it’s 10:30 and I’m still not done and everybody’s gone to bed, I know that I’ve done something wrong. My mother’s a great cook and I try to replicate her recipes, but it just doesn’t work out for me. Timing-wise, I get something wrong. Sadly, I’m not a good cook, but it’s not for a lack of effort.
How I unwind: One of my favorite parts of the day is the bedtime routine with the boys. Around 8:00, 8:15, we go downstairs and we play salsa and merengue -- that’s our background music to getting dressed for bed and brushing our teeth. There’s a lot of dancing and laughing. I’m going to try to do that as much as I can now, because I don’t know how long they’re going to continue dancing at night.
Day in the life: We’re going to be premiering one of our original series on Facebook the week prior to its premiere on NFL Network, and we haven’t done that before. The programming will likely resonate more with young families and with Millennials, because it’s about a high school football team in Alaska. It’s called “FOOTBALL TOWN: BARROW, ALASKA.” It’s a way to see if we can build buzz or drive viewership for the linear channel by doing some sampling on Facebook.
