Name: Joe Carr
Position: UFC Senior VP/Int'l & Content
Where I’m from: South Boston
Where I call home: Las Vegas
Focusing on right now: The integration process with WME-IMG and merging their global footprint to accelerate our international goals. We now have the personnel and financial resources in markets like Russia and China to take a five-to-10-year view. I'm also focused on defining a long-term content strategy for our OTT service, UFC Fight Pass, and trying to enhance the value proposition for our consumers.
Best advice: Control what you can control. It's counter-productive to spend your time worrying about external variables. If you keep your head down and continue to deliver, you'll eventually be successful.
A must for a new hire: You have to be intellectually curious. Have questions. Challenge the status quo. Experience and maturity are not one and the same, and I've always felt the latter was more important. If you're intelligent, hard-working and professional, you'll eventually figure it out.
Exec I admire: LORENZO FERTITTA. For someone as successful and wealthy as he is, he couldn't be more humble and approachable. Whether it was a security guard or a senior executive, he treated everyone with the same dignity and class. For me, that was always far more impressive than his obvious business acumen and leadership qualities.
Best book I’ve read in the past year: "Atlas Shrugged" by AYN RAND. It's pretty topical given the current political climate. Depending on your interpretation, it could be pretty motivating as well. A lengthy read, but well worth it.
First thing in the morning: Try to breeze through as many emails, text messages and WhatsApp messages I have from overnight.
Talking tech: I'm interested in how VR and augmented reality will be integrated into the sports landscape in the future. We're very early on, so it feels somewhat like a novelty. So it will be interesting to see if it becomes a primary vehicle for consuming live sports, or if it will always be a secondary experience. The technology is there at this point, but how can brands and properties actually monetize?
Must-have music: Broad tastes, mostly rock: PEARL JAM, U2, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, VAN MORRISON, FLEETWOOD MAC. But I'm also a big fan of DRAKE and KANYE WEST.
Walkout song if you were a fighter: "Victory" by NOTORIOUS B.I.G.
Food for thought: We have a strong food crew here at the office, led by our COO IKE LAWRENCE EPSTEIN. Obviously, Las Vegas has amazing food culture and restaurants, but the best part of traveling with UFC is we get to go to the best local spots. The best meal I've had this year was Pujol in Mexico City. It's one of the most underrated food cities in the world.
How I unwind: There's not much unwinding during the week. But during the weekends, I like going to the pool, golfing, a nice dinner on the strip.
Day in the life: I get to sit across all of our regions, but also all of our different business verticals. It feels like things change on a daily basis. Yesterday, I was dealing with a ticketing issue in Brazil, a TV contract in the Balkans and planning our first event in mainland China. So it really runs the gamut. I'm trying to work with all of our resources on the ground overseas, as well as with all the WME-IMG employees across the world, to figure out how to deliver and execute on our vision. It's a combination of management, analytics, big-picture strategy ... and a lot of conference calls.
