Benjamin Bezold has been working in the entertainment industry for 25 years and joined CLIQ in 2012. Since then, he oversees all content acquisition activities of the company and travels the world hunting for new content opportunities and beyond, as its Licensing Director. Apart from licensing, Benjamin is involved in several other business areas as well, from B2B cooperations up to the conceptualisation of new product initiatives.

Since Benjamin has been playing an important role at CLIQ for over 10 years, we asked him to share some of his key learnings during his time at CLIQ!

Here are Benjamin’s top three lessons in over 10 years at CLIQ:

Lesson #1

Businesswise, never directly accept a “no” and be prepared for the long game! With the right winning mentality and persistence, you can move mountains – not just in your professional career. During the last decade at CLIQ, I had the opportunity to negotiate hundreds of licensing deals. It’s in the nature of the business that negotiations don’t always go as planned. Some deals we even had in discussion for 2 years, where we ended up facing dead ends or hitting road bumps. During this time I learned that staying persistent and always fighting for your goals will pay off in the end!

Lesson #2

Keep an open mindset and accept challenges! At CLIQ, I learned that leaving your own comfort zone can be a real game changer. After joining CLIQ, I accepted the challenge to move abroad and rapidly expanded my professional horizon and network. From initially only one playing field (games), nowadays I am buying content across the entire entertainment licensing landscape: Movies, Music, Audiobooks, Games, Apps, Sports and more. I am proud to say that CLIQ allowed me to become a real All-Star-Licensing-Talent.

Lesson #3

Problem solving instead of finger pointing! CLIQ has an incredibly problem-solving oriented corporate culture. Whilst you may often experience a “finger pointing”-mentality in many companies, I learned at CLIQ that only one thing matters: “Talk to each other and get the problem solved!” If you function as a team, you can achieve so much more. And CLIQ’s ongoing success is the perfect proof!

Last, but not least:

CLIQ is one of the rare companies that allows people to grow and that doesn’t put (or even force) you in one position forever. With the right attitude and willingness to “grow”, you can achieve a lot at CLIQ. Since I joined the company over 10 years ago, I was able to get my hands on so many interesting projects next to licensing. This really makes me proud when looking back in time.

As a Director at CLIQ, I see myself as a role model. Every day I try to give back to my team as much as possible of what I learned and to inspire them to reach their personal goals within the organisation. At the end of the day, it’s the team that makes an impact, not just individuals.