Grey Matter

Mark Messier: 6x Stanley Cup Champion & Co-Founder of Game 7

The Art of Reinvention: The Difference Between Achieving Success and Sustaining It

Over the course of his remarkable 26-year career, Mark Messier won six Stanley Cups and remains the only player in NHL history to captain two different franchises to a championship. Few elite athletes have been asked to reinvent themselves as often or as successfully.

In Edmonton, he spent a decade alongside Wayne Gretzky as the team’s indispensable second star. When Gretzky was traded in 1988, Messier stepped into the captaincy and led the Oilers to another Stanley Cup two years later. Then he arrived in New York, where he joined a franchise that hadn’t won a championship in 54 years and helped end that drought in his third season.

In this episode of Grey Matter, Mark joins Consello Founder, Chairman and CEO Declan Kelly to reflect on a career shaped by constant adaptation. They discuss how he learned to meet the demands of different teams, different moments, and different stages of his career, and why that same mindset matters just as much in business as it does in sport.

In this conversation, Mark discusses:

The realization at nineteen that led him to train his mind as deliberately as his body
How he thought through the Gretzky trade in 1988, and why he changed his role
What separates a good teammate from a great one, and why surrendering to the team is the highest form of leadership
How leaders hold people accountable without breeding resentment
How he weighed the move to New York when the people he trusted told him not to go

The views and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent those of The Consello Group. Consello is not responsible for and has not verified for accuracy any of the information contained herein. Any discussion of general market activity, industry or sector trends, or other broad-based economic, market, political or regulatory conditions should not be construed as research or advice and should not be relied upon. In addition, nothing in these materials constitutes a guarantee, projection or prediction of future events or results.

Mark Messier

6x Stanley Cup Champion & Co-Founder of Game 7

Mark John Douglas Messier OC is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward. His playing career in the National Hockey League lasted 25 seasons with the Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks.

HOST

Declan Kelly

Founder, Chairman and CEO

Declan Kelly is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Consello. He is an advisor to many of the world’s leading companies and CEOs.

Prior to founding Consello, Declan was the Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Teneo. During his ten-year leadership, Teneo became one of the world’s leading advisory firms.

From 2009-2011 he served as the U.S Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland at the U.S Department of State, appointed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In this role he is recognized as having helped bring significant investment to the region and played a significant role in supporting the efforts that led to the historic devolution of policing and justice powers to the Northern Ireland Assembly, giving Northern Ireland fully devolved governance for the first time in its modern history.

Prior to his government service, Declan held senior leadership roles at FTI Consulting and Financial Dynamics, two leading international consulting companies. He previously started, co-ran, and sold his own consulting company in Ireland called Gallagher & Kelly. Before that he worked as an award-winning journalist for more than a decade.

Declan has been recognized on several occasions for his philanthropic and nonprofit work and his public service.

In 2008 he became the youngest ever recipient of the American Irish Historical Society’s prestigious Gold Medal, presented annually to one person deemed to have made a unique contribution to Irish American society.

In 2012 he was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, presented to individuals of different ethnic backgrounds who distinguish themselves by their contributions to society in the United States.

He is an honorary visiting professor in management and leadership at Queen’s University, Belfast, where he received an honorary doctorate in 2011 for his contribution to the community and economy of Northern Ireland. For the last decade he has overseen the Northern Ireland Mentorship Program which has enabled more than 100 students to date to spend a year working inside leading U.S. corporations before launching new careers in Northern Ireland.

Declan has served on numerous nonprofit boards over the last two decades and has helped raise hundreds of millions of dollars during that time on behalf of worthy causes and organizations. Declan is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

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