Again I'm going to take a second to move away from talking about news articles because I think my own experience in this case actually has a lot to do with keeping tabs on the trades. This morning I went up to the Time Warner Building for the orientation of the Digital Reverse Mentoring Program that I'll be in through next fall. When I applied, I kind of understood the program, but now I get the gist - and it's pretty cool!
Two other mentors and myself (of 10 total East Coast Mentors) met with Dori Rubin and Laurie Baird of Time Warner. Dori Rubin works specifically to facilitate the leadership and people development programs that the mentorship is a part of. Laurie Baird is the Director of Technology Partnerships, Platform Research, and Development for Turner Broadcasting. Laurie is most like Cheryl Family - she works to find the most innovative ways to bring content to consumers. Her bio can be found HERE.
The program matches tech-savvy undergrads with senior TW executive in order to help them understand changing trends and patterns in technology today. The executives come from three different leadership programs: Digital Insights (a one-day development workshop), Breakthrough Program (specifically for women executives), and the Next Generation Chairman's Program (and big, big guys - the 250 top-most TW execs). What will happen is that I will get paired up with a couple executives and I'll meet with them to talk about changing trends that are important to the work they do. I'll coach them through different applications and websites, and I'll also be there to advise them on the best ways to reach our generation in terms of marketing and PR.
The real reason this program is in place, though, is because more and more TW executives are getting stuck because their jobs didn't originally have to deal with changing technologies, but the massive push to online now means that have to be caught up to speed - and fast. I'll be meeting with executives for about 3 one-hour sessions and by the end, I'm told, the executives often ask for input about specific projects. I think this is a REALLY interesting twist to the decision-making process in media companies as a result of the move to digital.
I'll add that the program pays me well. Maybe Time Warner is just the kind of company that can afford to pay undergrads like this, but I think it's also indicative of their increasing need to adapt to the technological landscape - there was a very real sense of urgency in the orientation. I wonder, then, how this is not only changing the face of marketing and distribution for TW, but also how it's changing competition among the major media conglomerates.