Welcome to Defining Moments of Leadership, a podcast hosted by Marsha Acker. We’re joined today by guest Mark Franz to discuss the leadership skill of curiosity over knowing and how it plays a pivotal role in leadership. While curiosity is an easy concept to understand, it isn’t always an easy characteristic to maintain. Mark Franz is a video game industry veteran who has successfully scaled organizations from 20 to 3,000 and has had the opportunity to lead major games such as League of Legends. He is currently Director of Production at Vela Games in Dublin, Ireland. Mark is a leader known and respected for his ability to build great teams that are high performing.
Early on in his career, Mark took note of the two vastly different leadership styles he was observing. While some leaders were very firm and demanding, others were relaxed and inviting. Thankfully, the thinking around leadership has grown much more liberal since Mark first joined the industry. Throughout the course of his career, Mark has learned the importance of remaining curious and having the courage to do so. Additionally, he notes the negative impacts of discouraging vulnerability within the workplace. Mark shares an instance during which a team he was leading lost sight of the problem at hand and directed frustrations in the wrong direction because they felt like they weren’t being heard. By acknowledging the part he was playing in the situation and being vulnerable with his team, Mark was able to gain their support and trust again.
So many situations we encounter in the workplace and in life revolve around navigating our interactions with others. After the situation he describes in the episode, Mark feels much more comfortable in his leadership role. While law and order create predictability, it doesn’t work to generate trust within a group of people. Being able to connect person to person is key in any leadership role. Adding authentic vulnerability and curiosity can be a critical force in guiding a team. In closing, Mark shares his aspiration to be an even more widely impactful leader in the future.
Mark Franz is video game industry veteran who’s worked across multiple aspects of video game development. He’s successfully scaled organizations from 20 – 3,000 and had the opportunity to help lead some amazing games including Ultima Online and League of Legends. He’s currently the Director of Production for Vela Games, in Dublin, Ireland working on the company’s multiplayer online co-operative game, Project-V.
