Key facts
- Blackstone President Jon Gray led a group run with over 110 interns and junior staff in Central Park.
- Gray's popular LinkedIn running videos, which offer business advice, inspired the event.
- The videos aim to communicate Blackstone's goals and brand to a wide audience.
- Gray believes authenticity is crucial for connecting with people through social media.
- Junior employees find Gray's approach humanizing and important for understanding senior leadership.
- Blackstone's compliance team reviews all of Gray's videos.
Blackstone President Jon Gray led a group run with over 110 interns and junior staff through Central Park, an event inspired by his popular LinkedIn running videos. These videos, which blend business advice with a casual, sweat-drenched persona, have garnered millions of views and aim to communicate Blackstone's goals and brand to a broad audience, including potential talent.
Gray believes that authenticity is key to connecting with people, stating that overly produced or scripted content does not work. He sees the running videos and events like the group jog as a way to communicate at scale while also allowing for more intimate, one-on-one connections with junior employees. Some younger staff, like first-year analyst Abigail Miles, regularly watch Gray's videos and believe senior leadership should adopt similar social media strategies to appear more human and relatable.
During the run, Gray paused to honor Wesley LePatner, a Blackstone real estate executive who was killed in a shooting at the firm's headquarters. The event also highlighted the challenges young employees face in navigating social media regulations at top financial firms, a process that Gray noted is subject to review by Blackstone's compliance team.
The run concluded as Gray prepared for a busy day, with Blackstone set to take Jersey Mike's public in a significant restaurant IPO.