MBA program: Nine Network sends its top executives back to school

Nine has outlaid hundreds of thousands of dollars on a mass internal MBA-style program for its top executives.

Nine boss Hugh Marks. Picture: AAP

The Nine Entertainment Co has outlaid hundreds of thousands of dollars on staging a mass internal MBA-style program for many of its most senior executives, including its sports boss and Sydney and Melbourne news supremos.

The Australian understands Nine boss Hugh Marks has volunteered 16 of his top staff, including sports head Tom Malone, 9Now boss Niamh Collins, strategy chief Alexi Baker, Queensland head Kylie Blucher, program director Hamish Turner, and Sydney and Melbourne news bosses, Simon Hobbs and Hugh Nailon, to be involved in the first intake.

Internal sources say the six-month course — described as an intensive “Stanford University-style” management program — is costing the organisation $300,000, or about $20,000 per executive.

Senior insiders have defended the cost of the program. “That’s an investment in our people,” one source said.

Mr Marks is believed to think that while many of his executives know their specialised areas, they have a pressing need to develop their general business management skills and learn about the broader Nine operations.

The internal course is being conducted by prominent management guru Nigel Watts, who describes himself as a “change management” expert, and as “one of Australasia’s top five CEO coaches”. There are suggestions the course could be used to aid the company’s succession planning.

Other executives involved in the initial intake include content acquisition boss Alison Hurbert-Burns, creative chief Andrew Peace and content strategy head Lizzie Young, with a second intake likely to take place next year.

As part of the program, Nine’s leaders are being personally mentored by those who are proficient in business skills within the company. It is understood Mr Marks and Nine CFO Greg Barnes are mentors-in-chief.

The executives are being required to juggle the management consulting-style program — which includes frequent offsite presentations throughout the six months — with their regular high-powered day jobs.

Some senior executives have privately admitted the combination of work and intensive studies was leaving participants feeling “finished”. “Some of them have four kids and their jobs are full-on,” one insider said. “One thing’s for sure, this has taken them out of their comfort zones. It’s not just a few lectures on top of their normal jobs.”

The course, due to be com­pleted at the end of this month, comes at a time changes to media ownership laws could open the floodgates to potential merger- and-acquisition activity.

A key motivation of the network is giving its managers skills to cope with the media’s current challenging times. One key component of the course is broadening the executives’ skills to make them proper business managers, rather than mere specialists in their own areas.

One insider said Nine had not traditionally been very good at teaching its executives general management skills. “Nine has traditionally had a silo mentality, where executives know a lot about their businesses, but very little about others within the company,” the source said.

“It used to simply be that the meanest dog won at Nine … It was right for Nine at the time, but now we need to work across and understand several platforms.”

The focus is on commercial outcomes. “The course is posing the question: ‘How will putting on two extra staff increase ratings and make money for the company?’ ”