November 29, 2008
Get Us While You Still Can
As seen on Twitter:
Roberto Rocha said:
And the bloodletting continues: CTV axed 105 positions in Toronto. http://is.gd/9iO4 1:29 PM Nov 27th
Media players like CBC and CTV should be acquiring companies NOW. They seem to be losing big money to small decentralized players. 7:34 PM Nov 27th
Roberto Rocha said:
Interesting. What kind of companies? 6:09 AM yesterday
That’s the paper trail. Now what’s my answer? One hundred and forty characters on Twitter just aren’t going to cut it this time.
Allow me first to say that I’ve just finished reading Richard Branson’s new book, “Business Stripped Bare”, and I’m smack in the middle of Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers”. As such I’m in an inspired state of mind likely common to my fellow entrepreneurs and I. Thus the notion of solving big problems is a wildly creative love affair for me so I’ll give it my best shot.
I’m coming from the view that traditional corporations are “on notice”—Stephen Colbert-style. Employees are numbers and statistics. We may as well have barcodes on our necks to avoid the paperwork of moving from one job to the next. The career jobs of yore have seemingly vanished to the point of no return.
There are exceptions to the rule though, like Canada’s Telus, which I think has a progressive hiring and retention policy based on what I’ve heard from friends working there. The opposite is likely more pervasive in the business world and I’m sure that robots are already learning our jobs.
Absurd I might be, but stupid I am not. And the current recession is a testament to stupidity and apathy. If this is the aftermath of deregulation then call me a non-believer, but I must in some way remain a champion for the true free market of the future. Now, with a spending freeze at CBC, layoffs at CTV, CanWest cutting 5% of its workforce, and prior examples like TQS’ implosion months ago it appears that we’re not sitting pretty in the media business.
I suppose we can all shut our doors and syndicate the Canadian Press until the cows come home but that alone won’t be enough to stimulate the vast diversity of the Canadian People. If jobs keep slipping—then who’s left—a bunch of executives pushing buttons? At the risk of losing more faith in the media, legitimate society is already moving to better things.
Alright. Alright. I’ll end my sermon here and now.
So we’re in a recession—one that Bill Clinton suggested at The Power Within Montreal last week will take one to three years to recover from. The media is tanking. Credit has dried up. And the world is shedding jobs, presumably to cut costs but ultimately to outsource more in the future. So what’s the solution?
People.
A common thread in both “Business Stripped Bare” and “Outliers” is that NO ONE can make it on his or her own. Hard work and luck are obvious tenants of success, but ultimately creating leaders and visionaries comes from the apprentice / mentorship model which isn’t to my knowledge commonplace at present. (Except at the top levels I suspect, where executives are groomed with refinement. Top schools also groom leaders. But I digress.)
As a young entrepreneur myself, I’m pawing at the gates of power. I’m also close to figuring out how to pick the lock. And to be frank, I don’t particularly care who’s on the other side of the door. This represents the cyclical ecosystem of intergenerational violence between Bosses and Workers. But climbing the ladder just isn’t the same anymore and moreover counterproductive in terms of creating a vibrant, creative, and productive workforce.
Short of getting a call from Twist Image’s Mitch Joel or Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson (who captivates me with his “branded venture capital” model), I would likely never accept to work for any other than myself. The missing links are too daunting to ignore but show me a job that includes freedom, creativity, and personal development and I would perhaps consider it. Otherwise, I’ve received less than a dozen paychecks in my life that didn’t have my own signature on it and I intend on keeping it that way.
To the more mundane task of figuring out the big media debacles, I think the problems stem from various sources: top-down executive control is exorbitant, companies are too highly focussed on the bottom line, personal development isn’t a priority, and amongst other issues the media companies themselves refused to be leaders—the easiest problem to fix was simply embracing the digital paradigm.
So who are these companies that media companies need to acquire or align themselves with in order to grow? Sure enough as I move this post into novel-length territory, I’ve figured out that they aren’t companies at all. They need people like me. They need independent bloggers, podcasters, and designers working together. They need media planners and marketers that are responsible for nurturing brands. They need political scientists, academics, psychologist and students that can debate issues of the day in order to make policy of their findings. They need hipsters, hippies, and people that understand and care for culture. And most of all, they need a grip on the day-to-day realities of the people. Media isn’t local anymore. It’s generic.
In terms of shaping a business model around this concept, I can’t particularly reveal all of my ideas for surely someone might cannibalize my model-in-waiting. Suffice it to say, it’s all pretty clear: own your means of production, hire functioning members of society, and deliver on your promises.
AOL Music is on the right track. They own and have affiliations with sites like Spinner, BoomBox, and PopEater. Buzznet is also on the right track with niche site brands like Absolutepunk, Stereogum, and The Gauntlet.
Are these acquisitions, partnerships, affiliations, or simply loosely matched sites that collectively produce massive audiences? I’m sure wide ranges of agreements have been inked but the real value in the model is the freedom that it affords to each decentralized web site. Each destination might even be wholly or partially independent, yet they are loyal to a flag, and one flag only. Common purpose allows for innovation.
We can then scale this model up or down which will mitigate the day-to-day and unforeseen perils of the free market. Some silos will fail and others will win great honours. The relationship is interdependent yet capable of withstanding shock. A dead tree branch isn’t representative of the health of a given tree on the whole. Companies, I would argue, should be run similarly.
And there you have it. I managed to wrap this up it under 5000 characters, or 36 posts in Twitter terms. More to follow on this—and other issues of the day as I continue to evolve.
Filed under: Economy, Publisher Side, Personal Branding, Politics, The Future, Leadership, HR, Venture Capital
Be First To Comment
