Leaders Series #4 - Rob Johnson
“Be proactive and get work experience, get a piece of paper and plan a way to have a go at whatever you’re interested in.”
For the next in our Leaders Series we have had a chat with Rob Johnson, Rob is the Digital Content Manager for The hundred Competition, which after being postponed last Summer is set to get underway this year.
Have a read through our catch up with Rob below….
What do you do?
I work in the Digital Team at the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB). The ECB is the national governing body for all cricket in England and Wales, supporting the game at every level – from grassroots to professional.
We believe cricket is a force for good that can have an enduring impact on everyone’s lives and we have an ambitious strategy to inspire a generation to say ‘cricket is a game for me’.
My role is responsible for managing digital content output to be consumed by our fans. This might be on our websites, apps or on social media channels like Instagram and Facebook. The content I manage could range from full scale video production on YouTube to a simple tweet.
I am currently focused on The Hundred, our exciting new 100 ball cricket competition launching in 2021. I’ve worked on a number of other parts of our portfolio including county cricket and all levels of England Cricket.
Can you tell us a little bit about your background and path to where you are now?
I went to my local state school in Doncaster, then studied Sports, Health and Exercise at Durham University. I have been a very committed recreational cricketer from being about 11, I knew my ability wasn’t going to allow me to play professional cricket but I always dreamt of working in cricket in some capacity.
After University I did a week of unpaid work experience within the commercial department of a county club, this confirmed my ambitions to get into professional cricket.
In 2004 I successfully applied for a post in the International Teams Department at ECB, responsible for the day to day management of the England cricket teams. A lot of administration goes on behind the scenes to plan and deliver England cricket tours home and away, it was fun to be part of the team behind the team.
A big focus of this job was making sure our players had all of the right kit and arrangements in place at all times. If Kevin Pietersen or Charlotte Edwards needed more stash I would get the phone call to sort it out!
There wasn’t an obvious ladder to climb in the administration team and I spent a few years when I was unsure of how to progress my career. I flirted with the Event Management element of cricket and actually spent a fascinating three months working on secondment as a Tournament Operations Manager at the Indian Premier League. This was a really exciting experience. However I felt my long term ambitions were in a relatively new part of the business, Digital.
To that end I took a fairly unusual move of moving sideways at ECB from the cricket operations and events into our newly formed Digital team in 2015. This was quite an unusual move at the time, and I’m very grateful that the ECB saw the potential in me to move into something completely new as a Digital Content Editor for domestic cricket.
To make this move possible I did quite a bit of unpaid work in my spare time to gain experience. Whenever there was a chance to help out I put my hand up.
From 2015 my career has really kicked on as the role digital takes has expanded and accelerated significantly across most industries not just cricket! Working in the ECB digital team has been a real treat as we’ve had some amazing moments to play a part in.
Tell me about your typical day/ week?
A typical week involves spending time collaborating with a range of people within ECB and at external agencies who support our in-house digital team. I work very closely with our marketing department, our video production team and our communications team. Digital has a role to play in most aspects of our business thesedays.
We spend a lot of time planning our content and building up to milestone events, like a ticket launch or a player announcement in the off season or a big game in season. When the cricket is actually being played we have a more immediate focus on the live action and how we amplify the best moments for the fans. We want to find interesting ways to bring cricket to more and more people, especially families and younger people.
What have been your biggest challenges? What have been your highlights?
My biggest challenge was figuring out a role that played to my strengths, I found administration really difficult at times and in hindsight it didn’t tap into my creativity. Making the move into digital and the progression that has followed is the clear highlight, I had a lot to learn but I quickly realised I was playing to my strengths.
Witnessing England’s men and women’s team win world cups was amazing, as was capturing the moment Freddie Flintoff fell over dressed as Elvis at Vitality Blast Finals Day. That’s the best tweet I’ve ever posted! https://twitter.com/englandcricket/status/904042328092012545
I’m hugely excited by what we’re going to do with The Hundred this summer, it’s going to be amazing.
What piece of advice would you give to our students?/ What is the best piece of advice you have ever been given?
Be proactive and get work experience, get a piece of paper and plan a way to have a go at whatever you’re interested in. I set up the website and social channels for my local cricket club which helped me get digital experience and learn the ropes.
Tech has become so easy and accessible now there’s no excuse not to have a go. If you want to set up your own podcast, blog or a YouTube channel, what’s stopping you, just have a crack the best way to learn is by having a go yourself.
It’s important to ask people for advice too, most people will give you 20 minutes on zoom. Get on LinkedIn and start networking. If you don’t ask you don’t get!
What/ who inspires you? Maybe a person, phrase or picture?
I can’t think of a single person who inspires me, but I enjoy listening to audiobooks and podcasts on personal development, especially in the sports and tech space.
Tim Ferriss is an interesting person to look up, I’ve listened a lot to his podcast and I’ve read most of his books, his blog is definitely worth a look. He’s very good at curating and assembling useful tips and advice from highly impressive people in different areas of business and life.
A huge thank you to Rob for his time and sharing his journey and advice with us - we really appreciate it!