Leadership 2.0: Panel Kicks Around Diversity and Management

Differing viewpoints emerged when NAMIC opening session moderator Monica Bertran, host of Bloomberg TV’s “Market Pulse,” asked if part of the problem with creating diversity today is that people are still uncomfortable with one another. While A&E evp, gm Bob DeBitetto said he found it hard to believe that could be true in places like NY, IFC evp, gm Evan Shapiro quickly jumped in to point out that the Upper East Side isn’t that diverse. Sun night’s Emmy ceremony, which seated all the actors of a show together in a round set, was further proof that “we have a long, long way to go” when it comes to diversity, Shapiro said. BET pres/COO Scott Mills offered up the example of NASCAR. It’s a predominately white sport and cash cow, but CEO Brian France has made it clear that its future is dependent on expanding the audience. NASCAR is going after the delicate balance of reaching out to newcomers while continuing to serve its core fans, Mills said. MTV pres Christina Norman said stressed diversity of thought as well as diversity of race, noting the evolution of MTV’s 1-year-old bilingual Hispanic net MTV Tr3s from a network that thought it was Latino by adding a “bunch of o’s” to the ends of words. The result of MTV’s work on Tr3s has been a “Latinization throughout all out networks,” she said. MTV is considered a diversity leader, but Norman told the crowd it still has a long way to go. “We’re rounding 2nd,” she said. Everyone on the panel agreed that the traditional leadership model of decisions coming from the top down has gone the way of VHS. “No one is smarter than everyone, and that’s the basic key for top-down,” Shapiro said.