New year, new challenges for media leadership

In the media business, the big shifts in consumer tastes have traditionally happened slowly over time. That’s changed in the digital era.

Foxtel Group chief executive Patrick Delany: ‘Digital combined with Covid is now causing an exponential acceleration in consumer expectations almost annually, if not every six months.’

As we have been preparing to return to the office after the summer break, the past six weeks have reminded us all that Covid isn’t ever going to be what we expected.

For business leaders, this change goes beyond the day-to-day challenges we all face of lockdowns, getting tested, following isolation rules and managing your wellbeing and that of those around you.

If you think about our journey with Covid, at one point, we thought 2020 was a huge one-off event that tested us all and permanently changed consumer habits. In fact, the leadership narrative of the past two years has been about managing accelerating change.

In my 25-year career in the media business, the big shifts in consumer tastes have happened more slowly over time. In Australian television, it was usually the Foxtel Group forcing a change as we disrupted and lifted standards. Ten or 15 years ago, there would be a shift of expectations every three or four years. It began to accelerate when we saw digital arrive. The first time we saw video played on an iPhone or when we saw Netflix being delivered via the internet. Digital combined with Covid is now causing an exponential acceleration in consumer expectations almost annually, if not every six months.

The pace of our transformation and the financial turnaround of the Foxtel Group, and probably the sexiness of Kayo and BINGE together with the iQ5 taking Foxtel into the IP-led 21st century, has helped consumer perceptions of the group. It’s a big shift in just a few years and we are back in the game, but the past two years have taught us business leaders need to be thinking well ahead of where we used to.

Today’s consumers expect a huge amount for a very low price, and they’re very unforgiving of any friction. We must be ready to acknowledge the world is changing even faster, and we need to be more nimble to quickly adjust strategy or tactics.

Of course, you don’t want just to be peripatetic. People expect an amount of stability, but even for us being a mixture of new brands like Kayo and BINGE and heritage businesses like Foxtel means that every two or three years, we’ve got to zero-base the company. This is not just a matter of taking costs out; it’s a matter of acknowledging friction points in ways of working and how digital can make them better.

Our other big leadership challenge as we go into 2022 is people and talent.

For heritage companies like the Foxtel Group, we need to compete more actively in the market for younger talent, particularly in technology.

Heritage companies have to present themselves differently, make the process to bring in people frictionless and quick, and recognise where people work and the conditions they work under are more important than they have ever been. This includes our older employees, whose knowledge and capability remains incredibly important.

This is not just about flexibility and life balance, but about purpose and values, particularly in media where there has been a generational shift that places greater emphasis on authenticity and respect.

This is increasingly a priority for employees who want to know the purpose of the company they’ll invest years of their life in, but also for our customers. Sometimes this is simpler for start-ups than heritage companies.

The past two years have taught us, though, that we all value the new flexibility we have. For leaders, however, we have to provide that flexibility while managing a safe and meaningful return to campus.

This isn’t about working from home and then some time in the office. We need to reset the new normal and build a fit for purpose way of working. It will require a step-change, and leaders need to proactively lead new ways of working and build a community in the workplace where people can work and unlock the creativity, collaboration and wellbeing benefits of people being together.

So if you ended last year thinking about 2022 being more normal, Omicron has reminded us that the future is never going to be what we expected, and a constant focus on renewal, rejuvenation and engagement is the most important attribute of today’s business leader.

Patrick Delany is the Foxtel Group chief executive

Originally published as New year, new challenges for media leadership