How professionals work. Alexey Krainov, RiotGames CEO for Russia and the CIS

The column “How Professionals Work” continues to acquaint readers of Megamind with the working habits of various specialists in the IT market.

And since there is not less, and sometimes even more, than in numerous startups in modern game devs, we decided to invite a fundamentally new guest to our regular column. Meet Aleksey Krainov, the “country manager” in the international classification of Riot Games, which he heads as CEO for the Russian Federation and the CIS.

For those not in the know, Riot Games is the publisher of one of the most popular free-to-play MOBA games today : League Of Legends. Now the final stage of the international tournament for this game is taking place, and on Saturday the long-awaited "Korean" super final will take place, in which the SK Telekom T1 and Koo Tigers teams will compete. However, we return to the person of Alexei.

Alexei says to himself that he is a classic example of a man who always loved video games, but never dreamed of working in the gaming industry. Alex graduated from the USTU in 1998 with honors, and in 2012 received the Executive Education Program at Harvard Business School.

Alexey’s working experience is very diverse: here is British American Tobacco (National Key Account Manager in Russia and Switzerland), work as director of retail marketing at Adidas, and finally, Alexey was the director of broadband access in the Russian Federation and the Central Region at VimpelCom.

Aleksey says that to get to RiotGames he had to go through 15 interviews and interviews and he tries not to apply this experience when hiring new employees in the Russian office of the company. Alexey’s tasks in Riot Games as a director: building the strongest team in the games and entertainment market in Russia, as well as developing the League Of Legends phenomenon in our region.

A word to the professional.

Current location:
Moscow

Current place of work:
Riot Games, General Director for the Russian Federation and the CIS

Education:
Ural State Technical University, graduate 1998.

One word that best describes how you work:
People

How many hours do you work?
> 9

Current mobile device:
iPhone 6s

Current computer:
Macbook Pro

Without which applications, programs, utilities you can not live?
Gmail, Facebook, WhatsApp.

What life hack helps you save time?
Concentrate on the main thing, cancel everything secondary

What kind of to-do manager do you use?
A sheet of paper with tasks for the day.

What do you listen to when you work?
Dubstep

What are you reading now?
“Peppy Long Stocking” - daughters out loud

Which book of the last read was the most memorable?
Homer's "Odyssey"

Do you use electronic readers or prefer paper books?
iPad

How long do you sleep?
9 hours

Are you an owl or an early bird?
Owl

How do you have breakfast?
2 breakfasts: porridge and coffee - the first breakfast; sushi, croissant and coffee - lunch

How do you spend time on the way to work / from work?
I’m listening to Maximum radio.

What advice have you ever been given to give to others?
Think about people in the first place and about the results in the second.