How a Great Work Culture Made Conan O'Brien Successful 

And punch random people.

and a hot Armenian assistant

"And then Jay Leno will fuck 'em up"

somehow at first i misinterpreted this as it being the other way round, that Conan stole your graduation quote to to use as his final words 💀💀

@@mayathepsychiic now that would be epic

* Some other prerequisites may apply to achieve result

mine was "don't be cynical, that's my least favorite quality". that quote really changed me

They are an employee and CEO relationship goals :)

Sona is the worst 😂

@@Marta1Buck No need to make a ghost account, Conan. XD

He’s actually going to be godfather to her kids, that’s how close they are

@@Kharnellius It could also be Matt Gorley.

Hope you'll have an awesome team ;)

Those traits are necessary to create a great work culture ;) Thank you for watching!!

Hope it helps!!!

Yes, he was amazing to keep an employee/friends dynamic and still able to keep it professional, though sometimes he'd add some silliness in it. Glad you enjoyed it :) Thanks for watching!!

Thank you so much!! Glad you love it :) Thanks for the insights as well!!

Ahh I see, thanks for the insight!!

Not all workplaces have to be like Conan's but the least they can do is create to create a positive work culture. I hope you are doing well in your office.

Thank you so much!!!

Thank you very much!

Thank you so much!!!

Thank you so much for watching and the support!!

Thank you very much!!

Thank you!!! Hope it does :) Thank you for your support!!

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!!

Thank you!!

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!!

I made a similar article about him in the past on Medium :)

@@nicolesudjono Perfect. I love him.

I agree, it's why I mentioned how Conan and his employees trust each other. And when they trust one another, there is also a sense of respect, which he did even though he showed that he hates his staff on camera. As I wrote before, the traits from what I observe in Conan's way of office culture are also found in positive work culture. In toxic cultures, you'll find a terrible work vibe, not just because of the stress of work but toxic colleagues and there are empty promises from management (in a way, you're not being heard). During the pandemic, there was much news where businesses were affected so much. Some went bankrupt or were on the brink of it. Since Conan is part of Warner Bros, the studio, along with the Conan Show, may have also been affected negatively as well. There was one remote where he crashed a zoom meeting of millennials during the start of the pandemic, and one of them asked for a raise from Conan, to which he replied, "you're lucky you're still getting a cheque right now". I don't know what he's implying but I like to believe that he's still trying to pay his staff even when the studio was hit hard by the pandemic. Show business is also hectic as far as I know as well, but none can beat tech and industries like finance where I believe they put 16 hours a day work. Last year, there was a piece of news where banks are trying to adjust to what employees want now, more flexibility or work from home since they know hard work doesn't reduce the risk of getting fired, I don't know the progress right now though. But I agree that each industry has its own way to create a positive work culture. It'd be great if they share it online, but so far, Conan was the only one I know who indirectly shared about it. Netflix shared what their culture is like, but in a form of a book. But I definitely agree that employees and employers must trust and respect one another, which Conan managed to do.

Yea, I saw he did paid his staff on 2007, but I got more information on the 2010 incident, most probably because it was a huge deal back then since he left the show. But still, thanks for bringing it up!

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!!

Thank you 👍Glad you enjoyed it!!

Thank you so much!!!

I was wondering if someone would realize this XD

It's from one of his remotes of Conan Israel

Hi, these are traits and points of positive culture I found from what Conan shared online. Obviously the company and Conan can't share the entire thing online, that'd be illegal. So I can't find the exact thing that made him successful, though he gave advice on his success which you can find online. What I'm most intrigued is how his employees were willing to stick with him for more than 5 years when statistics said that these days, employees would stick with you for less than that. Now it's 2 years, but Conan managed to have employees work for him for a decade or less. Perhaps the pay is good as well, I can't find the exact salary of how much he paid his employees, but the fact that they stayed with him for a long time speaks volume. And yes, I agree that what Conan did may work for entertainment industry, however, how he did it was more creative and spectacular on the level of silliness and how he executed it. Not all were able to do that, an example is the Ellen show where now she was being accused for toxic work culture and employees are getting mad at her for being mean. Yes, she joked around, but the way she executed it looked like she was embarrassing her staffs instead of elevating them and being mean. There was a video where she showed her employee's pictures online on camera and some of them seemed to be inappropriate to show to the public. Now, Ellen's nearing her end of her final show on May 2022 and we don't know what her future project would be (It's once reported she planned to do a podcast, but there are no updates on it yet). Another thing is is that Conan may have showed that he's acting like a fool on camera and giving employees too much flexibility, risking them to become 'lazy'. Conan is a smart person, he'll know when someone doesn't do their job or behaved unethically such as when he caught Jordan coming in late or when he found out he purchased a coffee machine without his permission using the office budget. There was one remote where he was being very serious when he found Jordan's office a mess. Even though the video had laughter in it, you can see how serious and disappointed Conan was. He said, "This is a place of business, this is a TV show. You seem to be running a resto supplies...." he said something more, and he really meant it seriously. There was a comment section on the video of Jordan's last appearance where he explained what Jordan did as an Associate producer before it was cut in the video, and Jordan explained that he booked places, ensuring and maintaining quality of productions etc. As for Sona, I don't 100% believe she did nothing. She's an assistant of Conan, most PA's jobs is more to help the head manager's personal work life such as grabbing coffee, order or book something, etc. But ever since Conan roped her in, I'm pretty sure she had more to do now such as doing podcast, having her own show that represents Team COCO ('Sona fixes your life'), and now she's writing a book! This is how much she has grown in her career working with Conan. Yes, what Conan did in the remotes were joking around all the time, which is part of his show. But off camera, I don't believe he would do that all the time. It's why his uploads of remotes weren't as constant as his main shows. He only did it in his remotes. I'm not saying that all bosses should joke around or have a dysfunctional office, but the way he managed to bond his team together to create a simple vision spectacular is amazing. I only take the traits of what a positive work culture may look like. Otherwise, his team won't stay long with him nor would they bond with the others as well. Even his show is called Team Coco rather than The Tonight Show with X Y Z, which most tonight show hosts does. It showed who he is as a person and a leader. Hope that explained a few things :)

@@nicolesudjono I just think there’s a danger in pointing to Conan or Feige as leaders. These are celebrities in the entertainment industry. Any footage we see of them is curated and edited to show them as they want to be perceived. Feige seems like a very straight-laced person and we know that he is a successful producer. But we have no idea how ruthless he has to be behind the scenes to get these actors and projects in line. Everyone in the industry likes Conan but again I think most of his treatment of staff is heightened for comedic affect and a lot of his ironic persona would not be applicable in most workplaces. In one sketch Conan doesn’t like a staffer’s squeaky chair so he throws it against the wall. In another he lines interns and demands they compliment him. Obviously they know this is a sketch and Conan likes to play at being the ‘mean’ boss cliche. He’s said as much on his podcast. But this is only accepted because Conan is a known performer in an artistic industry. Even if he wasn’t well protected these ironic jokes could easily be misconstrued. Remember that time Conan made an audience member cry? It was a joke, he comforted her and she was such a fan that he was easy to forgive but an average boss in a normal workplace wouldn’t get away with that! I guess I’m saying it’s a fragile balance and that the entertainment industry allows performers to stretch those boundaries

@@terminatrix92 Hi, even if you are a celebrity, you still need leadership. Take an example from Warner Bros with their DCU. They didn't bring back their visionary leader Zach Snyder, using Joss Whedon's script instead, they fire Ray Fisher, Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill have somewhat shaky relationship with the company, and their universe is somewhat questionable now. Even Patty Jenskin, director of WW, once said that the top managements aren't listening to her pitch and she was somewhat upset about it. At this point, audience don't know where the franchise is going and they'll think that it's just another movie coming out. Perhaps they'll change in the future, we'll see. Feige may come up as a democratic leader as the culture of Marvel, as said by their actors, said that they value the actor's opinions. The new actor for Dr Strange who will be playing America said that she was advised by Elizabeth Olsen that if she's uncomfortable with something, she must speak up to the team as they value feedbacks. He's most probably strict as well since he's very strict when it comes to spoilers, and that's one of the fear and excitement he managed to implement in his team. The same for show business for Conan, you made a valid point on Conan wanting to play as the mean boss. I think it's why most people said he's like the real Michael Scott hahaha!! Even if he does play as a mean boss, I think he knows a fine line for that. Otherwise, his staff would be complaining and media will pick it up. Ellen is now accused for creating a toxic culture as employees were stating that she was mean, even one of her audience was complaining about her when she was 'joking'. Compare that with Conan where there weren't any similar reports and some of his staffs like Aaron, sona, and Aaron stayed with him until the end of his show, perhaps he'll bring them to his new show. Conan is a smart and empathic person, I'm sure he know who's not doing their work and will take action to get things done. Sure, we can't see him 100% behind the scene, that'd be illegal, but seeing his results and how his team stayed with him until the end speaks volume. So overall, leadership is still needed no matter what industry you are in. Once you are forming a group/team, there must be a leader. Even in a family (at least what Simon Sinek also said)! It's why it's said there must be the head of the house. Hope that explained a few things :)

@@nicolesudjono I don’t think we’re disagreeing about the requirement for leadership but we are debating what traits make a good leader and where that leadership comes from. I don’t think Conan is portrayed as a good leader but he may be behind the scenes. Yes his staff seem to enjoy his antics but ultimately I doubt that he’s the real head of that operation; I think a producer like Jeff Ross actually leads freeing up Conan to be funny and likeable without the business losing control. Yes I think Feige is very good but not just for the reasons you’ve stated. For instance you cited Joss Whedon as being a problem for DC. The same Writer and director put together Avengers almost and drove the creative direction that has fuelled the MCU for 10yrs. So clearly Feige knows both how to keep a problematic person in line and get the best work out of him. But none of that suggests he is ‘Authentic’. Or at least it seems he must bring a lot more strength to the table to handle ego and behaviour. Remember Feige wasn’t even fully in charge until around the end of phase 2! Ike Pearlmutter tried to force through many bad decisions and it was only through Feige’s repeated successes that he got control. But ultimately I don’t think he achieved that through authenticity even if that trait has helped him deal with difficult personalities. I’m guessing force of will, cunning, manipulation are all facets that he hides well. He knows how to use creative people without letting them disrupt and he knows how to hold off business before it destroys creativity. That complex balance is what made the MCU

That's a great point. People join the Great Resignation for their own reasons, but one thing for sure, companies must adjust employees' needs instead of treating them, as you said, like slave. Toxic culture is not helping either and people would leave in a heartbeat. It's why leadership is important in a company. But to be fair for some companies as well, due to the pandemic, some (not all) couldn't pay their employees as much as before. But they may have to consider on not 'enslaving' them as well with their wage being cut or stay stagnant, even places like Wall Street are now adjusting to their employees needs now. Perhaps such as matching their productivity and their wages. I still believe if the work culture is better, leaders would find ways on what's best for their employees. Especially in a time of crisis like this. Thanks for your insights!! Let me know what you think :)

:')

Yep, I mentioned that in the video. That even if he did brag, it's in a self deprecating way. In a Harvard talk, he mentioned sth about toning down bragging and he's teaching his son about it too.

Will take note on that :) thanks for the insight!!

Yea that's true. I get that offices means you have to work, and most of the time it's hectic. I used to find that people would stay in a company for max 5 years, and these are Gen Xs. Now, it's 2 years or less (thanks for pointing it out) for Millennials. I can't imagine what the company had to go through on to deal with turnovers and retraining again also cost time and money. The Great Resignation also taught us that constantly treating employees like 'slaves' won't attract people to work for you as well, which is why I put leadership first as the one of the most important point to create a better work culture because leadership reflects the culture of a work place. I'm sure there were hectic moments in the Conan Show, which they didn't share online aside glassdoor (but it didn't reveal much either). Show businesses tend to be very busy most of the time, especially in movie industries. The closest one where he shared his most hectic time was when his show ratings weren't that high, so he had to work extra to get his ratings up. But even when he tried doing that, NBC preferred Jay Leno over him, and Conan had to leave. At that point, that must've been a dark time for Conan because he was in a way, out of job, and he still had to pay his staffs who weren't paid. As a father who had to support the family and still had to save his team, that must've been the most challenging time of his career. Fast forward later, when he moved to TBS and that was the beginning of social media era, you can actually see familiar staffs still working for him for over a decade. Sona, Aaron, Jordan, Kramer, Chris and many more (I don't know the exact time they joined as I tried to look early footage of their first appearances in Conan's videos). If you watch the video where he gave performance reviews and other office remotes, he'd ask his employees how long have they worked for him and most would say over 5 years! Which is amazing! The fact that they were willing to still work for Conan speaks a lot about him and his work environment. Plus, the outcome of his show business. Yes, work isn't always fun nor it shouldn't be sometimes because it's a serious task/business. But at the same time, it's not great to be overworked and not compensated, which was why the Great Resignation happened. And I think Conan understood this, and in turn, his employees too. I don't know how much he paid his employees, but I think he paid them enough and Sona once said that the pay to work for him was good. That's why we saw familiar faces in his remotes over the years. With that said, in this difficult times, employees and employers must work together as best as they can to survive. But it all depends on the employers, if they are leaders or bosses. Otherwise, as you said, they'd gladly leave. Perhaps what I discussed here may change in the future (and I added that in the disclaimer description), but with most of Conan's staffs still willing to work for him for over 5 years speaks a lot about him and his office culture. But we should also consider the part where they may not be able to resign due to money or family reasons, and they had no choice but to stay. They can suck it up if their boss is bad, but if their leader is authentic, then their productivity would be better. And I think Conan had proved himself on this, he's actually doing pretty well for his show business and I wish him all the best for his next show on HBO max. Toxic work culture won't help, but having a better work culture will make employees feel better as they do their work for that company. And I do hope this pandemic will be over too as it had pressured a lot of employees and employers to survive. We all have to work together to survive, leaders and staffs. All these team buildings can happen if there's a good work culture rather than toxic. Anyways, thanks for the insights!! Same goes here, peace and love :) Take care!!