10 ways to become an excellent leader in news [infographic]
Does your newsroom have them?
By Alexandra Borchardt | Feb 20, 2019
While there is plenty of bad leadership around in all industries, it is safe to say that leadership skills in the media profession are particularly underdeveloped. The reasons are structural.
- First, in most newsrooms, people get promoted for their skills as journalists, not for their potential talents as people managers.
- Second, the increasing pressure to become a personal brand themselves absorbs much of the energy leaders should place on developing their reports.
- Third, professional leadership development is not a priority in environments shaped by 24/7-pressure, financial constraints and pronounced professional pride. “There is almost an anti-management ethos in the industry”, observes Lucy Kueng, author of Going Digital – A Roadmap for Digital Disruption.
Luckily, things have improved. Many in the newsroom understand that management skills are not only for wimps. Truly great leaders are rare, but decent leadership and management is a craft that can be learned and taught.
The following is not a manual, but a compilation of advice gathered at the Reuters Institute’s leadership events, through research and decades of personal experience in the industry and beyond.
How to be an excellent leader in news [infographic]
