I’m presently zipping across the English Channel on a Eurostar train wondering why the wifi isn’t working and profoundly shocked by my first-world sense of entitlement. What a wonderful time to be alive.
I’m presently zipping across the English Channel on a Eurostar train wondering why the wifi isn’t working and profoundly shocked by my first-world sense of entitlement. What a wonderful time to be alive.
I’ve started and neglected many blogs over the years, and this is my latest attempt to start again. I won’t even act like this will be something that I keep up with, contributing timely nuggets of insight from week-to-week. In all likelihood, this will be the first and very last post I make on this platform before finding something better to obsess about.
But it’s an attempt nonetheless.
So, why am I racing from Paris to London through the Chunnel? I’ve been incredibly fortunate to drive this year’s League of Legends World Championship, and I’m presently en route to London where the Quarterfinal matches will take place. There are literally volumes of learnings, insights, epic failures, and occasional success moments that I should write about. I truly hope to reflect on a few of them in these pages, but again, in all likelihood, they’ll fade away as distant memories without ever being committed to writing. And that would (and probably will) be a huge shame.
For now, I’ll focus on the theme of humility. I’ve been blessed beyond belief to land on a team of high performing athletes, and it’s been made unmistakably clear over the past two weeks in Paris. When I see the passion, depth of thought, empathy, criticality, and energy that the team brings to work every day, it makes me wonder what I did to trick someone into letting me work alongside them.
But above all, everyone I work with shares a common trait of humility, and I think that’s what sets this team apart. There’s a common belief that we can always do better, that the best is yet to come. And I think this humility is critical in a feedback-heavy, growth oriented environment. I’m often on the giving end of feedback about how the event is being perceived by fans. And when you invest your full passion into something, receiving this kind of feedback can be soul-crushing. I think the saving grace that keeps us from imploding in doubt or defensiveness is humility, the belief that we can be better. It’s only through that common lens that we can receive and reconcile critical feedback in a way that’s developmental rather than defeatist.
We’re lucky that humility is built into Riot’s values, so we have a common starting point. But as we grow as a company, maintaining and deepening our sense of humility is going to be critical to taking what we do to the next level. Personally, I can’t wait to see where we go.
Au revoir for now. London awaits.