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 of determination was worth taking a chance on. Who wouldn’t want a person like that on their team?”

Kreiz ultimately introduced him to Mattel, and the company brought him on as an intern, where he became “one of its highest performers.” He now works full-time on Mattel’s global technology team. 

For Kreiz, the experience was a reminder that some of the most valuable career opportunities can come from simply looking up from screens and talking to the person in front of you—especially as technology makes more hiring and workplace interactions digital.

“Look up and make eye contact,” he said.

“In the world of Zoom, working from home, and agentic AI, personal interactions and casual conversations are more important than ever. For all your training and experience in education, remember, human connection is mankind’s greatest superpower. Harness it and you will go very far.”

Kreiz’s three-decade climb to the top of media

Kreiz grew up in what he’s described as a middle-class family in Israel, with his father working as an engineer and his mother a psychologist.

By his late teens, he had already mapped out a seven-year plan to build a career in American business. After completing Israel’s mandatory two-year military service, he earned an undergraduate degree in economics and management from Tel Aviv University, followed by an MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management in 1993.

During business school in Los Angeles, Kreiz met media mogul Haim Saban, who at the time ran a company specializing in children’s television programming.

“I got my MBA at UCLA,” Kreiz told Fortune in 2019, “and I got my Ph.D. with Haim.”

The relationship helped launch Kreiz’s media career. The two eventually founded Fox Kids Europe, which Kreiz ran from London before selling the business to Disney in 2002.

Kreiz went on to lead Endemol, the Dutch producer behind reality-TV hits including Big Brother, and later moved into venture capital. In 2012, he took over as CEO of Maker Studios, a struggling producer of user-generated video that was nearly out of cash when he arrived. Four years later, he sold the company to Disney for $500 million.

He joined Mattel’s board in 2016 and became the company’s CEO in 2018, taking over after the toy giant had cycled through four CEOs in four years.

How Kreiz’s bet on Barbie helped redefine Mattel—and land him next to David Ellison

At Mattel, Kreiz wanted to transform the now-81-year-old company from a toy manufacturer into an entertainment and intellectual-property company built around franchises and fans.

One of his biggest bets was also one of his riskiest: turning Barbie into a feature film. But the script that eventually landed in Kreiz’s inbox ultimately painted Mattel—and Kreiz himself—in a decidedly unflattering light.

“Imagine you are me, and the script you’ve been anxiously waiting for finally lands in your inbox. And in that script, your number one brand is called fascist. Your company is portrayed as the worst in corporate America and you, the CEO, are a chauvinist buffoon,” Kreiz said in his Wharton commencement address. 

“Now imagine not only saying yes to this film but staking your company’s strategic vision on it.” 

Rather than trying to make the Barbie movie fit an existing Hollywood formula, he backed director Greta Gerwig and star Margot Robbie and embraced the film’s willingness to poke fun at Mattel itself.

The result was a blockbuster that became 2023’s highest-grossing film and is still Warner Bros.’ biggest movie ever. Mattel also said its Barbie business benefited from the film’s success, with sales for Barbie dolls rising 16% in the third quarter of 2023.

The movie’s wide-ranging success may be part of why he’s now being tapped to lead Paramount’s integration with Warner Bros. But in his message to students, the lesson was bigger than Barbie itself.

“The lesson of the Barbie movie is this: Don’t be afraid to break conventions. Not every good idea has a comp,” Kreiz said. “If you’re looking for precedents, you will not be the one sending them.”