AAJA/Gannett Management Development Mentor Program participants:
Back Row (L to R): Abe Kwok, online news editor, The Arizona Republic at Phoenix, Victor Panichkul, managing editor, Statesman Journal at Salem, Ore.; Don Wyatt, executive editor, Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader; Karen Magnuson, vice president/news and editor, Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat & Chronicle; Wanda Lloyd, executive editor, Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser; John Liu, presentation editor, The Courier-Journal at Louisville, Ky.; Derek Osenenko, executive editor, Courier-Post at Cherry Hill, N.J.; Front Row (L to R): Kristen Go, assistant city editor, The Scottsdale Republic, Arizona; Mae Cheng, assistant city editor, Newsday; Samantha Santa Maria, entertainment editor, The Clarion-Ledger; Meg Downey, executive editor, Poughkeepsie (N.Y.) Journal; Theoden Janes, assistant features editor, The (Bergen) Record at Hackensack, N.J. Photo by Heather Wines, Gannett News ServiceSamantha Santa Maria's Gannett Mentor Program experience
I’ve never seen so many people want to trade places with me.
And all because of Wanda Lloyd.
"You got Wanda? Can I be Asian, too?" asked a couple of editors and reporters in my newsroom. And they were only half-joking.
Executive editor of The Montgomery Advertiser, founding executive director of the Freedom Forum Diversity Institute, formerly of The Washington Post and USA Today -- heck, I didn’t want her to mentor me. I wanted her to adopt me.
But for three highly intensive days in January, Wanda and myself were paired up in the Gannett-AAJA Management Development Mentor Program: a first for both the media giant and the minority journalists’ association.
Held at Gannett’s corporate headquarters in McLean, Va., I – along with five other participants – learned about leadership, industry trends, management issues and operational efficiencies through the advice and experiences of our mentors and other panelists (from Cherry Hill Courier-Post president and publisher Mark Frisby to Gannett News Service editor Caesar Andrews).
The aim of the one-year program is not just to prep mid-level newsroom managers for the next step. It is to provide us with a mentor who could serve as a sounding board, wise sage, war room strategist and friend.
Already, Wanda’s advice has proved helpful.
The mentors don’t walk away from the relationship empty-handed, either. For instance, as many of them are looking at revamping sections of their newspaper or launching young reader products, those of us who had gone through the process ourselves were quickly recruited to look at prototypes and offer suggestions.
Before the group’s next formal meeting at AAJA’s Minneapolis convention in August, each participant is to visit their mentor’s newsroom.
To this day, things that were said and shared in those whole day sessions are continuing to sink in. Here, in a snapshot, are some of the more salient points that continue to resonate with me:
- Gannett’s newspaper division president Gary Watson on the changing face of the industry: "Decades ago, the newspaper was like the sun around which several satellites – weekly products, mailers, etc. – revolved. Now the sun is shrinking and those satellites are getting larger and more numerous."
- Gannett’s director of news recruiting Richard Leonard on managing up: "Bring to the table these three things: Solutions, ideas and anticipation."
- Springfield News-Leader’s executive editor Don Wyatt on coping with tough days at work: "Have a ‘Love Me’ file. Put all the letters, e-mails, faxes and notes from people who’ve told you what a good job you’ve done. On the days you feel like the whole world’s against you, take it out and go through it. Works for me."
- And, as a kicker, USA Today editor Ken Paulson on why he loves the 1952 Humphrey Bogart film Deadline U.S.A.: "Because, like Bogart says, as he confronts the murderous racketeer his paper’s about to take down: "That's the press, baby. The press! And there's nothing you can do about it. Nothing!"
Theoden Janes' Gannett Mentor Program experience
Random observations gleaned from the Gannett/AAJA Management Development Mentor Program:
- "Mentee" is a funny word, but at least it's a word - "mentoree" is not.
- USA Today editor Ken Paulsen is one helluva great public speaker.
- It's nice having someone to spill your guts to who doesn't charge you by the hour.
Anyway ... I guess I'm just lucky.
In early January, I was promoted to deputy features editor at The Record in Hackensack, N.J. (a.k.a. The "Bergen" Record). So for the program kick off a week later with an intensive three-day session at Gannett's McLean, Va., headquarters - I couldn't have planned things better.
In a nutshell, this is a one-year pilot program that pairs six top Gannett editors with six middle managers who aspire to keep climbing the ladder; in addition to the McLean session, there will be a session at the AAJA convention in Minneapolis, and time allotted for mentees to visit their mentors' newsrooms.
Now, The Record being a family-owned newspaper, I had some misgivings about a Gannett-sponsored program: Namely, was this simply a recruiting tool for Gannett? My concern morphed when I learned that virtually every other participant - and all 15 of the speakers at the session - worked for Gannett: Was I going to miss the in-jokes?
Well, the answers are "I don't know" and "yeah, pretty much."
But this doesn't change the fact that I left McLean with incredible insight about what habits I need to develop - and which ones I should shed - as I traverse my career path. I walked away with more knowledge, more inspiration, more courage.
Wait, though. I'm not phrasing that quite right. I mean, I wasn't walking away from anything. I was walking into something: a meaningful mentor-mentee relationship with Meg Downey, executive editor of the Poughkeepsie Journal.
So far? So good.
During a phone call prior to the session, she prepped me for my promotion with broad strokes. "Listen well," she said. "Do not make a lot of changes immediately. Feel comfortable in the role before you start moving things around."
In McLean, she got more specific.
For example, she urged me to talk to my boss about my new position's expectations - goals-wise, time-wise, about end-products, etc. - and to write a note afterward outlining my understanding of those expectations. She recommended having a similar conversation with my reporters, following up with a "here's what we discussed, here's what we need to do next" e-mail. These may sound like little things, but both tips have helped me bring clarity and foresight to the table. And as someone who might want someday to run a newspaper myself, that's what I'm constantly striving for: clarity and foresight.
Since the session, Meg and I have talked by phone and traded numerous e-mails, and I plan to visit her at the end of March. If she's recruiting me, it isn't obvious. If there are in-jokes, she's sparing me. And if I could recommend this program to other non-Gannett AAJA members?
I would.