AL GUIDO has mastered the art of multi-tasking over the past year and a half, to the extreme. Since last January, the ’19 SBJ "Forty Under 40" class member has not only served as President of the 49ers, but has also taken on the role of CEO for Elevate Sports Ventures. When Guido isn’t traveling around the country -- and globe -- cutting deals, he gets most of his work done in and around the Bay Area, where he has called home since '14. The ever-busy sports exec recently took a few minutes out of his crazy schedule to talk to THE DAILY about what it's like leading two huge sports and entertainment properties.
5:30-6:00am: I typically wake up and either go for a workout with my wife -- we go to the same hot Pilates together but she’s in much better shape than I am -- or I go to the facility and work out with our strength and condition coach or trainers. Then I generally grab a black coffee, I live by it. I don’t eat breakfast, which I know is terrible.
7:00am: I spend about an hour in generally quiet time. It’s really just prep, planning, response, any critical emails that I need to get to.
8:00am: I often sit down with my assistant and go over a 60-day window. On the Elevate side, it's looking at all the projects and my travel, all the business development. On the 49ers side, during the season it's week to week. We react to market conditions -- how our team is playing on the field.
9:00am: A lot of my meetings start. There could be an executive call or meeting on the 49ers side where we go over the week’s status for all the critical functions that we need to do within that given period. If we’re getting ready for a gameday, there’s a lot of things. When you only put on 10 games, versus an arena business, every game feels like a Super Bowl to us.
Guido works hard to balance the day-to-day business of the 49ers with the more unpredictable nature of Elevate49ERS
10:00am: There could be an Elevate call, which is all our critical projects. We have Google docs and sheets to share over the course of the week, all the timelines, what’s happening with each project. Those two meetings really launch the day and/or the week.
11:00am: The rest of the day could be jumping on a bunch of different things. My days are generally broken down into thirds: 49ers, Elevate and whatever personal and/or work stuff I want to get ready for, I call it strategic thought. We can’t spend all of our days in only task management.
12:00pm: For lunch, I’ll have either a smoothie or small plate. I’m the fastest eater ever. When I go to our cafeteria, it takes me 5-10 minutes and I’m back at my desk. Minus client entertaining or settings in which I have to, spending an hour eating kind of seems like a waste of time.
12:30-4:00pm: If my work is 49ers-related, I could be sitting with our chief marketing or revenue officers, our stadium operations crew, getting ready for the game. The football team is a stable, predictable business. We have a stadium built, we have games. That’s easier to deal with. The challenge is in the Elevate world, things are at different time frames in their life cycle. Separate projects could have already kicked off, just be starting, or still in architectural design. They’re not as predictable. That’s where the strategic planning comes in to try to think through all of the timelines.
4:00-7:00pm: A lot of people think we’re the busiest during the season. We’re busy from a time perspective, but it's operational. Our strategic planning is happening, but once our offseason hits we need to be ready to go. I always joke with the football guys, my busy season is their offseason.
7:30pm: I’m normally in the office until 7:30 or 8:00. When I’m home, my wife cooks, which is awesome. If I go out for dinner, I’ll have a big meal. There are two restaurants I love in the Bay: Nick’s Next Door, I have the same table every time I go, and a new one is Hero Ranch Kitchen.
8:00-10:00pm: At home it’s all about my girls -- my wife and three daughters. The phone and work are gone. It’s all about them, what happened in their day, the good, bad and ugly. There are sports, school, homework. I want to be as engaged as possible.
10:30pm: I start winding down for bed.
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