Building a Corporate Culture of Creativity, Passion, and Empathy

BY Carrie Snider | December 07, 2023

United Talent Agency has gone through plenty of changes of late, but one thing that keeps them moving forward is collaboration. Specifically, nurturing relationships with clients so they can more effectively tell their stories.

Jean-Rene Zetrenne, chief people officer at United Talent Agency, says as they build opportunities for those clients, others take notice.

“They might be looking and saying, I see the success you’ve had here for Bad Bunny, I’ve seen the success you’ve had with Rosalía. I’ve seen the success you’ve had for Karol G. How can I be part of that?” he said. 

Zetrenne spoke to UTA’s strategies in a fireside chat at From Day One’s Los Angeles Conference. Alison Brower, Business Insider’s Los Angeles bureau chief, moderated. 

Providing a Voice

Alison Brower of Business Insider interviewed Jean-Rene Zetrenne of UTA in the opening fireside chat at From Day One's conference in LA.

Prior to his role at UTA, Zetrenne spent 14 years at Ogilvy, a creative and founder-led environment. In considering the move to Hollywood, what resonated was that UTA was also founder-led.

“I can understand the journey that the company is going to be going through as it continues to scale and to grow,” he said. “We sit at the nexus of culture, communications, media, sports, you name it, we are there. We’re able to curate and create an experience that shapes culture. For me, it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”

With UTA’s name and reputation, they can bring in the names, but what Zetrenne said makes an impact is helping them grow. UTA recently conducted an engagement survey, and the results showed that diverse populations coming into the company feel a sense of belonging.

“As in, the organization gives me a voice and a place for me to speak,” he said. “UTA thrives on people having a point of view. Having a point of view is what’s going to help us succeed.”

Another driver is diverse people sitting in all areas of the company. Candidates want to see people at the senior level and all other levels who look like them. Plus it helps on the client-facing side to know that DEI is taken seriously. 

“We have diverse leaders represented at the partnership level. This gives people a sense that they have an opportunity to grow and be successful here,” Zetrenne said. Continuing that mindset is UTA’s program for people of color to opt-in through the onboarding process to gain guidance from other executives that have been successful in the organization. 

Taking Risks

Allowing people to tell their stories is key. UTA has internal initiatives where they have their own fireside chats, which helps to foster collaboration and the exchange of ideas. That mindset and value focus is how UTA allows its people to lead the way and encourage them to take risks.

That kind of collaboration has paid off in developing an entrepreneurial spirit. UTA has added more facets to its business just in the last few years. 

“We didn’t have UTA marketing three or four years back. We had an idea, and it came from within the organization,” he said. 

The same idea goes for acquisitions. UTA has 2,000 employees globally, and 70 percent of the company has joined by way of acquisition and new hires in the last few years. How do you keep the core mindset of the company while bringing on so many new people?

“One of the things that we’ve learned is there’s not one culture that fits within UTA. If you’re going to get the maximum experience out of any company that you acquire, you have to allow them to be who they are.” At the same time, they need to find commonality with who UTA is, which is collaboration, entrepreneurship, innovation. “You must allow for the different points of view to come to the table and make sure that you create space for that.”

Giving Back

Further expanding its way of thinking, the UTA Foundation’s Project Impact sets aside one day a year for all employees to give back to the communities where they live.  

“The idea behind it was to create a space where you could connect clients with some of their philanthropic endeavors, and at the same time, help us as an organization to find ways to give back to our communities.” It’s been a tremendous success in not only turning outward to help others, but to show people in and out of the community what they’re all about.

Carrie Snider is a Phoenix-based journalist and marketing copywriter.

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