News media organizations must become portfolio entrepreneurs that make experimentation and "iteration" a way of life and that "put risk and speed at the center of the corporate altar," a new report from the Media Management Center concludes.
The report, "Running While the Earth Shakes: Creating an Innovation Strategy to Win in the Digital Age," was released at a Media Management Center conference on "Our Digital Future" at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, on September 9 to 11, 2007.
The report chronicles what 36 outstanding media company leaders believe it takes to be nimble, to innovate, and to provide transformative leadership for media companies today, as they compete for the hearts, minds, attention and pocketbooks of readers, listeners and viewers.
Written by innovation expert and consultant Annette Moser-Wellman, it draws on interviews with a diverse group of leaders from both traditional media companies, such as Washington Post, Meredith and CBS, and "emerging" media companies that sometimes don't consider themselves part of the news media, from Google and Twitter to Major League Baseball.
One of those interviewed, Meredith Publishing Group President John L. "Jack" Griffin, gave the keynote address at the conference. He talked about what it took to transform Meredith Publishing and its culture in four years from a traditional publisher into a multi-media powerhouse that now produces not only three of the country's largest-circulation magazines (Better Homes and Gardens, Family Circle, and Ladies' Home Journal) but also many new magazines, websites, television and radio programs, books and events.
Coming soon: a transcript of Griffin's remarks and stories about him and other speakers at www.mediainfocenter.org/mmcdigime, which will feature a series of stories about the conference.
To read what others are saying about the report and the conference, go to our Press page.
The conference was designed to help news executives think about what the digital transformation means for them, their leadership and their companies, and to help shape MMC's education and research agenda. Not only is the way that people get their news changing rapidly, so is the business structure of the industry that produces, distributes and supports news and information.
For more information about the conference or to request an invitation to future MMC conferences on digital media, contact Rebecca Weston, r-weston@northwestern.edu,
847-491-5237.
Please note that access to the "Resources" tab above is limited to attendees of the Our Digital Future conference.
