By the time Ryan Reynolds took the stage at OMR 2025, the room was packed. Phones were out. But Reynolds wasn’t there to promote a film—he was there to talk about leadership, authorship, and why he’s not as ambitious as people think.
1. Creative control over creative success
Asked about his dual role as actor and producer, Reynolds spoke candidly about ownership:
“If I’m gonna lose, I’d like to be the architect of my own demise—not someone else. So if I fail at a Deadpool movie or Free Guy, I can say, ‘That’s noble, because I made the thing I wanted’”.
When it’s not his film, he defers. “If I’m just starring in it… it’s someone else’s creative vision. I respect that. Yes sir, no sir, how high would you like me to jump?”
2. Obsession, not ambition
Reynolds corrected the narrative about his work ethic:
“I’m not ambitious. I’m obsessive. And that’s way worse. I get obsessed and I have to break away”.
That obsession spills into the smallest details. “I’m on set going, like, ‘There’s a little piece of purple in the back, about 100 yards away—can we make that red?’” He laughed, acknowledging how absurd that sounds, but added: “It has to be perfect.”
3. Culture is contagious
Reynolds traced much of his company’s success to one thing: culture.
“It starts from the top down. If the boss is late all the time, suddenly everyone feels like they can be late. But if you keep your culture accountable and optimistic, it spreads. It’s a contagion”.
He’s seen what happens when people are disengaged: “They call it quiet quitting… you’re punching in and punching out, but you’re not really passionate.”
He’s determined to avoid that. “The people that work at my company love working there. That means a lot to me.”
4. Wrexham wasn’t a TED Talk
Reynolds dismissed the myth that buying Wrexham was a calculated bet.
“It’s not like life is really a TED Talk. We didn’t say, ‘We saw exactly what was going to happen.’ No way. You listen, you learn, and you say ‘I don’t know’ as much as possible”.
He and Rob McElhenney used the money Disney paid them for the docuseries to fund the team directly. “Brick by brick, we started building it back up again.”
And when asked about making football decisions? “We don’t. We just support the team and the community.”
5. Social media—blessing and curse
Reynolds has a conflicted relationship with the platforms that helped build his businesses.
“Yes, there’s so many good things about it… but social media projects perfection. Perfection is a fucking disease. People are so afraid to suck that they don’t try anything”.
That said, he’s grateful for what it’s made possible. “Every kid with cancer that we’ve had at Wrexham, that comes to the matches—that’s social media. That’s how we find these kids.”
He added, “One of my favourite things that ever happened on social media was this guy trying to reach me because he had my grandfather’s WWII helmet. He found me on Twitter.”
So what?
Ryan Reynolds isn’t just a celebrity who lends his name to brands—he builds them the way he builds films: with obsessive attention, hands-on leadership, and complete creative authorship. His message at OMR was about taking responsibility for the outcome, treating culture as strategy, and knowing when to say “I don’t know.” Whether it’s a football club in Wales or a billion-view marketing campaign, what sets Reynolds apart is how close he stays to the work.