Newspaper companies need to find new leadership that can bridge the gap between the old- and new-media worlds, according to a partner in an executive search and leadership advisory firm.
In fact, “There is a digital talent emergency in publishing companies as they transform into full-blown, digitally-oriented companies,” says Lynne Seid, a partner in the Global Consumer Marketing Practice at Heidrick & Struggles.
In the world of the iPad and other tablet devices, publishing companies need to find leaders who have skills in both traditional and digital media, Seid says. And she didn’t even mention the continuing evolution of the Web, the growth of mobile or social media.
Seid suggests that media companies need more than just “change agents,” they need people with new skills, including the ability to redefine the jobs that make up the typical media organization. In the digital era, she asks, what is a publisher? An editor? A circulation director? “What is the head of sales actually selling?” she says.
This digital talent emergency has been building within the newspaper industry for years, and it would be easy to pile on and criticize the industry’s current leadership for failing to seek and develop digital management talent. And it would be unfair to suggest that ALL publishing companies have failed to recognize the need for digital talent and leadership.
The real question is what do they do now? I’m sure Seid would encourage publishers to engage Heidrick & Struggles to help them figure it out. But the industry doesn’t need to look to far for digital talent. A great deal of the talent and digital expertise they need is either within their own organizations or was at one time. Sadly, a lot of digital talent has moved out of the publishing industry after growing weary of the constant battle to prove digitial’s importance.
But they’re still out there, and even though they work with with electrons and clouds and social networks, many of them still have ink in their blood.