Plenary Speaker Cathie Black to Focus on Five Pillars of Successful Change

Cathie Black, cited by the Financial Times as "one of the leading figures in American publishing over the past two decades," will be the plenary speaker at ABA's "Day of Education." Black is the president of Hearst Magazines and the author of Basic Black: The Essential Guide for Getting Ahead at Work (and in Life) (Crown Business, this fall), a primer on business strategy, with anecdotal tips for everyone from the entry-level employee to the CEO.

Black began her career in print media in advertising sales with several magazines, including Holiday and Ms. In 1979, she became the first woman publisher of a weekly consumer magazine, New York.

Widely credited for the success of USA Today, Black joined the paper in 1983 as president and then became publisher. She also served as a board member and executive vice president/marketing of Gannett, USA Today's parent company. For five years prior to joining Hearst, she was president and CEO of the Newspaper Association of America, the industry's largest trade group.

As president of Heart Magazines, Black manages the business side and development of some of the industry's best-known magazines, including Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Harper's BAZAAR, O, The Oprah Magazine, Redbook, and Town & Country. She also serves on the boards of IBM, Coca-Cola Company, and the Advertising Council.

Black will address booksellers about adapting to change on Thursday, May 31, at 9:00 a.m. at Hotel ABA, the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge, in Brooklyn. BTW recently had the opportunity to talk to Black via e-mail.

BTW: Can you give booksellers a few highlights of what to expect from your presentation at the plenary session, "Adapting to Change"?

Cathie Black: There are many similarities that exist between the bookselling business and the magazine business. The essential "common thread" is the strong connection and engagement we both enjoy with our readers. I'll be talking about the Five Pillars of Successful Change, which are:

• Understanding the imperatives
• Building the brand and determining what makes yours unique
• Expanding your reach
• Serving your consumers what they want in the ways they want it
• Changing the model when necessary to stay ahead of the game

BTW: With so many new technologies and communication channels these days -- today's MySpace could be tomorrow's Friendster -- do you have any suggestions for staying current?

CB: Understanding your consumer is the key to staying current. Any media today must be constantly thinking about three key questions: How do we connect with consumers? How do we deliver the products of that connection: what they want, how they want it, and when they want it? And when we have those answers, how do we translate them into growth and profits? At Hearst, we are launching robust, engaging, interactive websites for all of our brands to maintain and strengthen the connection with our readers. The sites give consumers an opportunity to go deeper into the content they already relate to in print form, and it gives our editors a chance to experiment -- both with content and technology.

BTW:Adaptation and change are, of course, key parts of surviving and thriving in business, but how can a business balance its previous success while staying nimble enough to safeguard its future? In other words, how do businesses avoid the (very expensive) New Coke pitfall?

CB: It is important to remember what your core competency is but you have to be willing to adapt as changes happen around you. Businesses must stay in tune with what their consumers want. For example, Cosmopolitan is one of the world's most successful magazines, but we know that our readers today want more and different ways to interact with our content. As a result, we have launched a Cosmo Sirius Radio channel, a series of Cosmo books, a yearly special issue on Cosmo Style, as well as Cosmo Web and mobile websites, which are all different and compelling ways for the reader to stay engaged with a brand she already feels connected to.

BTW: In Basic Black, you talk about some of the routes taken to bring about USA Today's success, which included calculated risk taking, creating "gimmicks" that grabbed readers' attention, and "blowing the dust off the curtains." How do you think these strategies might apply to independent booksellers?

CB: I am a big believer in taking calculated risks -- even if they aren't all successful, you will always learn something that will help you in the future. For independent booksellers to market themselves successfully, they must help consumers reconnect to the concept and unique advantages of the local bookstore: personal service from someone who knows you and your tastes, a staff that is passionate about books and shares the book buyer's love of reading, and an inventory that includes much more than the latest bestsellers. Independent booksellers also have the ability to present small-scale events, including intimate readings with authors, and to develop and host neighborhood book groups. By increasing these activities, and promoting them as points of differentiation, independent booksellers will reinforce what makes them integral parts of their communities.

BTW: Given your position at Hearst, you're in a unique place to provide an "old media" vs. "new media" forecast. Do you think the "old" is as threatened by "new" as many believe, or can the one enhance and inform, or possibly even provide a platform for the other?

CB: I work hard to make sure magazines never get pigeonholed in that way -- it's not how consumers and advertisers should be thinking about print media. The changes taking place right now are an opportunity for growth. Magazines are in a period of rebalancing and transition: we now have the ability to reach across a range of platforms including television, websites and mobile websites, to build stronger, more powerful brands that connect with consumers. Technology is constantly evolving, and media companies need to adapt if we want to keep consumers engaged. We never know what the Next Big Thing will be -- who would have thought consumers could use a cell phone to look up a recipe or buy a pair of shoes?! -- but whatever it is, media in all forms will always have to continue to take chances, get creative, and adapt to change. --Interviewed by Karen Schechner