{"id":387,"date":"2022-02-22T00:00:13","date_gmt":"2022-02-22T05:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/liaesposito.com\/streamingconsciousness\/?p=387"},"modified":"2022-02-21T21:36:36","modified_gmt":"2022-02-22T02:36:36","slug":"accountability-in-corporate-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/liaesposito.com\/streamingconsciousness\/accountability-in-corporate-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Accountability in Corporate Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A few times in my life, I have gotten a little starstruck: when I met John Green<\/a><\/span> when they were filming Paper Towns in my neighborhood, when I met Doug Lebda<\/a><\/span>, the CEO of LendingTree and when I met Jason Kilar<\/a><\/span>, the CEO of WarnerMedia. There is consistent energy among all three that seems like it can only be described as genius. In these short conversations, I started to piece together how they think and what pushed them to the points they have gotten to today. I cherish those moments because I can see the endless possibilities that await me within my career. I also would just like to add that I met Lebda and Kilar only a few weeks apart, so that was a big month for me. To make matters even more significant, Kilar was having arguably one of the worst weeks in his professional career, and the scandal has only grown since then.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Lia Esposito with John Greene on the film set of Paper Towns<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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On February 2, 2022, Jeff Zucker abruptly resigned<\/a><\/span> as president of CNN. Initial reports cited that he had failed to disclose a romantic relationship with CNN’s chief marketing officer, and it surfaced during the network’s investigation of Chris Cuomo. So, how does that relate to Kilar?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Lia Esposito with John Green on the set of Paper Towns<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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CNN is one of the many subsidiaries of WarnerMedia. As the CEO of its parent company, Kilar was directly involved in this response and organizational changes. In acknowledgment of the Me Too movement and other sexual harassment scandals that have clouded CNN and the media and entertainment industry for years, it seems reasonable to want to make a greater statement about the behavior that will no longer be tolerated in the workplace. However, not everyone shared this mindset. There were multiple reports of leaked internal meetings where Kilar was challenged<\/a><\/span> by senior leadership and talent at CNN. CNN’s chief political correspondent Dana Bash<\/a><\/span> said that \u200b\u200b”for a lot of us, the feeling is that, for Jeff, the punishment didn’t fit the crime,” and CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota stepped down after publicly defending Zucker. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Kilar with Professor John Sweeney, UNC sports marketing professor via UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Two days after the news broke, on February 4, Jason Kilar came back to his alma mater, UNC-Chapel Hill, to speak with students and for the well-anticipated UNC-Duke basketball game the following day. He talked about career lessons and his predictions for the future of media and business. It was an excellent presentation, but in the back of my mind, I knew this was a very rare opportunity to ask him about a huge story; maybe that mindset resulted from all the journalism classes I have taken. Rather than put him on the spot during the Q&A session, where it surprisingly did not come up, I went up and personally introduced myself after. I might have blacked out a little since it took every ounce of courage to not only speak to the CEO of a multinational media conglomerate corporation but ask him about his most recent controversy. I said something along the lines of: “I have to be honest, I was extremely excited that you were coming to speak to us; your name has been all over my news briefs this week. I did not want to put you on the spot in front of everyone since I know this just happened, but I wanted to ask you about what has been going on in terms of how you hold leadership accountable and create culture.” I was not even sure if he would answer the question, so I was pleasantly surprised when he smiled and thanked me for bringing it up. Although he could not go into detail because of ongoing legal and personnel matters, he told me that you have to be clear about your expectations and the culture you are building from the beginning. You want to hire people who are attracted to what you are creating; the right people will come to you because they believe in it.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Posing these tough questions to Kilar was critical because I know how influential culture and leadership can be to creating a positive work environment and a quality product. Kilar was incredibly transparent even though the situation was actively happening. I thought he had a great answer at the time, and I walked away from the conversation feeling optimistic that the next generation of leaders would hold their own accountable. After the more recent turn of events with the resignation<\/a><\/span> of CNN’s chief marketing officer Allison Gollust, I realized that Kilar’s answer was more than just one of his pre-planned talking points on the matter or a nice line he would tell a college student. Actions speak louder than words; Kilar meant what he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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