{"id":15104,"date":"2022-11-02T14:22:39","date_gmt":"2022-11-02T18:22:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quebec.ubisoft.com\/?p=15104"},"modified":"2022-11-03T14:01:39","modified_gmt":"2022-11-03T18:01:39","slug":"portrait-wissam-zeidan-en","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quebec.ubisoft.com\/en\/portrait-wissam-zeidan-en\/","title":{"rendered":"Together, We Are Ubisoft Qu\u00e9bec: Wissam, Chief of Staff"},"content":{"rendered":"

While most Ubisoft Qu\u00e9bec employees arrive at the studio with a backpack or lunchbox, Wissam Zeidan arrives with his luggage.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hired at the beginning of the summer as a chief of staff, Wissam is a shining example of the metamorphosis of the workplace in the wake of the pandemic: he works in Qu\u00e9bec City, but lives in Montr\u00e9al.<\/p>\n

And while he\u2019s in the Capitale-Nationale about once a month, most of the time, his day-to-day life resembles what we all experienced during the major covidian shutdowns.<\/p>\n

Remote meetings and the omnipresence of Teams are nothing to disorient Wissam, who sees it as a continuity after two years of remote work, despite some initial apprehensions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going much better than I imagined. Because, like a lot of people, I had made plans! From the time I signed my contract to the time I started, it was about a month. I had time to think about it, to wonder if it would work from a distance. In short, I had my apprehensions, but in the end, it\u2019s going really, really well,\u201d he says during a meeting at the studio in late September.<\/p>\n

\"Wissam<\/p>\n

In a way, one might think that the idea of pursuing telecommuting had, among other things, encouraged Wissam to apply for a \u201cremote\u201d job at Ubisoft Qu\u00e9bec, but the reality is quite different\u2026 and much funnier.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I saw the offer, it was someone who sent it to me. It really matched my profile and, in fact, there are very few offers like that that come through at Ubisoft or in the video game industry. So I applied! But I realized in the end, once I had sent my resume, that it was in Qu\u00e9bec City\u2026 I didn\u2019t know it was in Qu\u00e9bec City,\u201d he admits between two laughs.<\/p>\n

However, things worked out for the best. After having applied a few times in the past, without success, for other positions at Ubisoft, it was finally the offer that would allow him to join the ranks of the company, after a little more than two and a half years spent at Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec as a chief of staff to the environment director.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Bit Like a Doctor<\/strong><\/h2>\n

But what exactly does a chief of staff do?<\/p>\n

Wissam smiled when he heard the question, which he had obviously been anticipating for a few minutes already.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a job that\u2019s easy to describe in concrete terms. In fact, yes, it is easy to describe, it\u2019s just that the job title is very vague for people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn fact, the chief of staff, in the role he has, accompanies a person. In this case, it\u2019s the executive team and more specifically our general manager, Nathalie, whom I accompany on a whole range of issues that are important to Ubisoft Qu\u00e9bec. This can range from the studio\u2019s strategic planning to the organization of large meetings between general managers to promote collaboration between Canadian studios, as well as the work of structuring the governance of the Assassin\u2019s Creed<\/em> brand,\u201d explains Wissam.<\/p>\n

\"Wissam<\/p>\n

As a sort of right-hand man to the executive, he helps the management team plan its priorities and those of the company, \u201cbased on our challenges, but also on what we see in our internal and external environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy role is also to try to make sure that people are focused on the right things. That is that we work on the right stuff, but more importantly, that we don\u2019t overdo it and that we respect our abilities. Often, we can have a tendency to go off in all directions, to want to do too much, and then, in the end, things don\u2019t really land,\u201d says Wissam.<\/p>\n

He refers to his day-to-day role as a chief of staff as an \u201call-terrain\u201d role, which aims to support management, but also other members of the studio.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something I really enjoy and find fun after three months at Ubi: I get to touch on a lot of different things. Sometimes I\u2019ll be working with finance, human resources, communications, or with Marc-Alexis [C\u00f4t\u00e9] on production stuff. It\u2019s interesting, because I get to work in a variety of areas,\u201d says the Montrealer by adoption.<\/p>\n

If Wissam were to summarize his role to the extreme, he would compare his mission at Ubisoft Qu\u00e9bec to that of a doctor, who must diagnose and then propose the best solutions, \u201cthe best remedies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a person who has to listen; listen to what the issues are, what the symptoms are, to be able to ask the right questions and put the finger on the right problem,\u201d he sums up.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Asking the Right Questions<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When you sit down with Wissam, you have no choice but to see that the parallels with a medical professional, if not a general practitioner, deserve to be drawn.<\/p>\n

The Frenchman exudes a natural calm, articulates his ideas with precision and no one can doubt him when he describes himself as organized and highly analytical, two essential skills for any self-respecting chief of staff.<\/p>\n

As for his years of experience in consulting for many different companies, they have given him a jack-of-all-trades side that has come in handy since he joined Ubisoft Qu\u00e9bec.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve worked in banking, in finance. I\u2019ve worked in entertainment for Moment Factory, for example. I\u2019ve worked for convenience stores, gas stations. I\u2019ve worked for different clients, but the common thread between all of that is that you\u2019re never really an expert, either in the field or in the subjects you\u2019re in. But I think that in my role, my goal is not to be an expert,\u201d says Wissam.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Analytical by Day\u2026 Creative by Night<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Knowing Wissam\u2019s multidisciplinarity, it\u2019s half a surprise to discover that once the evening comes, our new colleague swaps his chief of staff clothes for those of a photographer and musician!<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my family, there are six of us. I have two sisters and a brother. And generally speaking, everyone has more or less an artistic passion. For one of my sisters and my mother, it is even their job! So, it is sure that I was surrounded by it,\u201d he confides.<\/p>\n

However, Wissam\u2019s artistic side came to him a bit \u201clate.\u201d After learning to play the guitar in his early twenties, Wissam took up photography a few years later, when he arrived in Montreal.<\/p>\n

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Une publication partag\u00e9e par Wissam Zeidan (@wissam.zn)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n