CEOs love the phrase “I’m so proud of what we accomplished.” It’s a great soundbite. Sometimes they mean it, other times I am sure they wish they did. But every now and then I will hear a CEO say this phrase with so much passion, there’s no doubt there is lots of history and innovation to back it up.
Last night I attended a dinner where recently retired New York Times CEO Janet Robinson started and finished her remarks with these words. And what she was most proud of was how the organization embraced the reality of the digital revolution with smarts and fervor.
Robinson told the group (a fascinating collection of folks brought together by friends at Fleishman-Hillard and convened by Martha Boudreau) that the way the New York Times brought its properties into the digital era was a product of not only smart tactics, but of courage on the part of the leadership at all levels. What most impressed me was her description of internal conversations where she told her team that the way the New York Times adapted to a new online era was “the choice to be part of the past or help write the future.”
It was this historic move, the way that Robinson helped her organization not just adapt but adopt the opportunities of a digital future, that powered her “I’m so proud of what we accomplished” statement. I would be too. And plan to be as we all help write the next chapters of our emerging digital history.