Asher Simons

Name: Asher Simons

Position: Executive @ CAA

Where I’m from: Derbyshire, England, and Miami

Where I call home: N.Y.

Focusing on right now: Growing the sports practice’s client base across the U.S.

Best advice: People often say, "It’s not what you know, it’s who you know." But I’d go further than that and say it’s not who you know, but how well you know them. We built this business over here on quality relationships with senior people in the industry and delivering on our searches. It's also about getting to know folks who are more junior who are going to be senior in 10-15 years and running the show.

A must for a new hire: We have to make sure that you have an ability to sell, but also that you have the ability to deliver on our searches, which requires a lot of research. We need people to be extraordinarily detail-oriented, very methodical in their research and in the process. I’m always looking for people who look at this as more than just a headhunting role and more as a consultative role, and really want to gain a wider understanding of the sports industry.
 
First thing in the morning: My day starts at about 4:30-5am. I wake up and look at my phone, and I’ve got however many emails in. I start replying to those, get up, and by the time I’m at work, my email has probably doubled.

Talking tech:  We have a database on our intranet where we log all of our network, all of our contacts, which is obviously important. I live my life glued to my phone, so if anything goes wrong technologically speaking with that, I’m in big trouble.

Must have music: I like a little bit of everything. I was at the BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN concert at Prudential Center a few weeks ago. I love a little bit of that old-school rock. I like rock, rap, pop -- everything. But I don’t really get to listen to that much music. I’m usually listening to the DAN PATRICK podcast.

Food for thought: Japanese and Italian are my favorites, and my wife LAURA’s cooking is also fantastic. My go-to restaurant is a great place called Upland, which is on 26th & Park. If I want something really casual, there’s a Peruvian chicken place called Pio Pio.

How I unwind: I grew up playing tennis, so I like to hit tennis balls every now and again. I’ve got family in the U.S. and the U.K., and my wife's family is in Australia, so we spend a lot of time trying to make sure we keep up with all of our friends and family all over the world.