Paramount’s new co-CEO once hired a barista he met at a cafe with no resume. His advice to Gen Z: ‘Look up and make eye contact’

Billionaire-heir David Ellison tapped Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz this week to serve as co-CEO of Paramount Skydance, putting him in charge of the company’s day-to-day operations and integration of its $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery.

And while it might sound unusual to tap the man behind Barbie, Hot Wheels, and Fisher-Price to help lead one of the world’s biggest media organizations, it fits a career built on taking chances. From betting on Barbie to giving a cafe barista a shot, Kreiz has repeatedly embraced unconventional people and ideas.

In a commencement address to graduates of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business last spring, Kreiz shared that he regularly works from a local cafe on weekends and had noticed one of the baristas for his “efficiency and engagement with customers.”

“One day, I raised my eyes from my laptop and asked him, ‘Where are you from?’” Kreiz recalled. The man told him he was an Iranian refugee who left his family at age 21, camped in Turkey for three years to get his U.S. visa, and later arrived in the U.S. alone. He did, though, have a degree in computer science and had taught himself English—but his resume was restricted to being a barista and server.

“But much more than his grades, this was someone who found the courage to flee a bleak past, to seek a better life, and worked hard on his own with no support to pursue his goals,” Kreiz said. “Someone with that kind........

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