I’ve been invited by Tony Silber of Folio: to sit on a panel at their annual conference with Forbes’ Dan Bigman to talk about being an Agent of Change in a publishing organization.
As the three of us kicked the topic around, it was clear that Tony was looking for a basic blueprint for how publishers can really change their organizations to leverage the digital marketplace. He was appropriately forceful with us: Don’t talk about change around the margin, talk about real changes that can help the business.
A couple of big questions immediately sprang to mind:
- Are there core underlying differences in the assumptions about print media and online media that are easily defined?
- What do you want the outcome of the change to be?
- What is getting in the way of change? Is it cultural? Is it short-sighted management? Is it resources? Is it skills? Is it desire? Is it just that there really isn’t a good model to change to?
- What frustrates the people who do the work in publishing organizations the most?
- What kind of change are our customers asking for from us? Both the advertising customer and the content customer?
The best way to get answers to questions like this is to ask. So, I’m asking. Let me know what you think.
What do magazines really need to do to change?
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