"Ed was essential. He made us think about things we had not considered. He pushed us when things bogged down. And, most importantly, he turned the ideas we had envisioned into a reality that exceeded my high expectations." — Bernard Dagenais, Editor, Philadelphia Business Journal

If you want greatness at your newspaper, you can have it—
but first you need
Strong Leadership

It all goes to leadership.

Without solid newsroom leadership, nothing you do to improve your newspaper’s design will succeed for the long term.

That’s a strong statement, but it comes from 15-plus years of experience consulting with newspapers. During those years, I have visited more than 100 newsrooms—with news staffs of two to more than 102.

I still call myself a design consultant, but for the past few years I have realized I’ve become more of a newsroom consultant--who designs.

As I deal with clients and gain their respect, I begin to focus more intently on leadership, staffing, structure, policies and procedures. I’ve become convinced that a redesign is only as strong as the newsroom that builds and nurtures it. The same is true with reporting, writing and editing. And it has become more and more clear to me that a newsroom is only as strong as its leadership.

Good leadership breathes life into the newsroom, it sets your news staff free to do its best work. Too many newsrooms are well managed--and poorly led.

Quality leadership in your newsroom provides a vision that drives the news report issue after issue.

To develop and sustain an outstanding design, the newsroom must develop outstanding content. That takes planning, and that means the newsroom must have a planning process. None of these happen on their own--they only come when strong leadership provides the impetus and the direction.

Good content comes by examining what matters to your readers and your community. It is focused on news that is significant, proximate and personal. Content that is direct can’t help but attract strong readership.

Planning for the presentation of that content takes time, effort and an ability to think differently. Time is a key here. There’s no reason to begin planning for your Easter Sunday front page package in early March when you can do it in early January. Long-term planning provides you with the time you need to do a superlative job--rather than just a good job.

Leadership creates a newsroom culture that fosters long-term planning and it helps your editors to think in the long term. With good leadership, you’ll no longer be caught unprepared for plannable occurrences. And you’ll do a better job at presenting them to readers.

Quality presentation also requires a balanced review process to take a look at what you’ve done and to search for ways to do it better the next time. Leadership points the way.

As I continue to visit with newspapers across the U.S.--big and small--it becomes more important for me to take the measure of newsroom leadership. I’ve learned that those newsrooms with superior leadership will create a redesign that grows and improves with time. Where leadership skills are questionable, a redesign may flourish for a while--but the odds are it won’t stand the test of time.

If you want a redesign that will grow and improve, be sure you’re putting it in good hands.