Janet Stilson

Looking Under the "Hood" of Very Successful People

Recently, someone asked me what kind of journalism writing I liked to do the best.  That was easy to answer.  Because in addition to the pleasure I get from digging down deep into issues and trends, I love to write profile articles about people that I find inspiring.

Successful people generally have some really interesting stories to tell, and they give me clues about the key character traits and personal philosophies that lead to the highest levels of achievement. Plus, they're just fun to speak with. (Sure beats meeting people at a cocktail party!)

I really enjoyed writing profiles of four individuals who were named "People to Watch in 2012" by The Financial Manager magazine. While all of the executives I wrote about were fascinating in their own ways, the comment that resonated most deeply for me came from Patrick Walsh, who is pictured here.

The Powers of Enchantment

It's remarkable when you meet someone from beyond the grave. That's happened to me over the last few months as I've worked on a special supplement to The Financial Manager magazine that was all about a man named Ed Deichman. I have the honor of serving as TFM's editor. And Ed was chairman of the organization who publishes the magazine, the Media Financial Management Association (MFM).

Ed passed away in the middle of 2011, and MFM's board decided to honor him by creating the supplement. I spent a good chunk of November editing the reminiscenses of over 20 people who served with Ed on MFM's board and at the company where he worked his entire career, Media General, which owns a string of broadcast, Web and publishing properties.

Ed and I ran into each other over the years at MFM conferences, but our exchanges were short and rare. I began to relate to him on a deeper level as I edited all those memories. I learned he was a beloved task master. He wasn't the first person to speak up during an intense board debate, but when he did, his observations were so astute that everyone listened very carefully. And he had a very infectuous laugh.

The  most striking remark for me came from MFM's CEO and president, Mary Collins. She wrote that Ed became deeply involved in MFM because the organization was navigating very difficult waters, and it was so important to the industry. He didn't want it to fail.  

It seems so incredibly admirable, to leave such a deep impression on those around you that they feel compelled to write their thoughts down about you when you die.

This resonated for me all the more because at the same time I was working on the Ed Deichman supplement, I was helping to produce a big gala fundraising event for New York Women in Film & Television in my capacity as VP of Special Events on its board.

Competition in an Urgent World

When I first subscribed to Time Warner Cable in New York City, the techie who came by to install the wiring couldn't have been more impatient and rude. "I don't care if she's the President of the United States!" he barked at his supervisor on the phone when she asked him to wait a few minutes so I could get the key to the roof doorway and he could complete his installation. It wasn't until after the supervisor informed him I was an editor at one of the most important business publications covering the cable industry, Multichannel News, that he changed his tune. Move over, Mr. President.

I don't need to pull out my press credentials anymore when dealing with TWC or other companies of that sort. The competition is so stiff, they're generally extremely helpful, and I've also lowered my cable TV and high-speed modem subscription costs by 50% over the last year because of Time Warner's turf war with Verizon in my apartment building.

The importance of competition couldn't be higher today, as consumers try to preserve their capital in the face of high unemployment and a tenuous economy in general. But that's true for businesses as well.

That was driven home to me over the last few weeks as I reported an article about the challenges TV stations face getting valid statistical information from Nielsen on their viewers. A growing number of TV outlets have opted for a competing service, Rentrak, either as a complete replacement for Nielsen or as a supplement.

Patience, And What I'd Like It to Teach Me

"Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. Try to love the questions themselves, liked locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. Perhaps you will gradually, without ever noticing it, find yourself experiencing the answer, some distant day."

-- Rainer Maria Rilke

Years ago, when I was but a girl-woman in college, I hitchhiked from New Hampshire down to Boston to hear Miles Davis play. It was midsummer, and I slipped into the bar area of the packed club with my friends in a state of rapture that I would get to hear him in person.

Half way through the set, something odd happened. Miles' eyes seemed to pick me out of the crowd, and it wasn't a good look. He stopped playing. This wasn't one of his famed moments of silence that could be so amazing. It was as if he was terribly angry with me. As if I was the Ghost of Christmas Past risen up in July. He walked off the stage, and he never came back.

Two years ago, one of my friends brought Jimmy Cobb to a New Year's Day party that my honey, David, and I threw. Cobb was the drummer on Miles' famous "Kind of Blue" album, one of my favorites. And as he and I got to know each other a little I related the experience, now so long ago. He told me that I look like one of Miles' ex-girl friends. I don't think the affair ended well.

Maybe Cobb was just making a fanciful remark, but for me it was like hearing the proverbial second shoe fall, decades after the first.

And that experience, and Rilke's wonderful quote, has made me think a good deal about patience lately, and my longing to have more at a time when it's so easy to find instant gratification in so many ways.

I've been impatient lately with two films I recently saw -- Tailor, Tinker, Soldier, Spy and Melancholia. 

My Favorite Sales Person

Meet Carnation France. We first encountered each other around six years ago when my mate David and I moved to Harlem. And I've come to consider him one of the best sales people I've ever met. He's one of many different street vendors that line the wide sidewalks of my street, Lenox Avenue, also known as Malcolm X Boulevard or Sixth Avenue. (Because why have one name when you can have three?)

Carnation and his sidekick, a Jack Russell terrier named Jewel, have a lot of competition in the hood from other hawkers.There's a guy known as Soup Man, who roams all over the area, rolling his various liquid lunchtime fare whereever the spirit moves him. A bit of an elusive guy, who seems wild as the escapee parrot that's always cawing when I zoom down the side of the Hudson River on my bike. There's lot of jewelry for sale, which is one of Carnation's specialties, and some really great hat stands as well.

Teetering On The Economic Cliff Edge

You could have heard a pin drop last week when Heather Goodchild spoke before a group of media executives in New York. Goodchild is managing director of media and entertainment debt ratings at Standard & Poor. And she was delivering a very grave assessment of where the economy is headed, and the media business in general, at the Media Financial Management Association's Outlook 2011 conference.

She had the demeanor of Bette Davis in her bright red dress, big pearl necklace and conservative hairdo. And Davis could have hardly done better in conveying a tone so very similar to a doctor telling a patient about a very serious ailment with the utmost tact.

Goodchild noted that the gross domestic product (GDP) outlook is worsening. S&P has lowered its GDP forecast for full-year 2011 to 1.6% from 2.4%. A 2.5% GDP is considered normal, and S&P doesn't expect it to rise above 2% for the next two years.

Lessons From the 'Hangover' Man

As I write this post, I'm winding down from a very intensive period marked by many journalism assignments, the completion of a film script draft and three conferences, including the Creative Screenwriting Expo in Los Angeles where I am right now. 

While I've written many stories since my last posting, and plan on sharing some on this blog in a little bit, right now, the subject that most moves me is a man I met yesterday, the writer/producer Dan Goldberg, whose worked on such comedies as Hangover, Hangover II, Stripes, Meatballs, Due Date, Roadtrip and School for Scoundrels. 

As it happened, I'd watched Hangover on my way to L.A., not even realizing I was going to meet Dan and hear his amazing stories about the huge gambles and luck that he's experienced along the way to becoming such a comedy king in Hollywood. While Hangover has grossed over $460 million worldwide and Dan and his pal Todd Phillips are so well known and respected, it was a really tough sell in the beginning. The studios didn't want to make it because it was too expensive, given that it was using the talents of three relatively unknown stars.

"The studio people aren't stupid, but their jobs are on the line," he told us. "With comedy, you can't be nervous. You have to be gutsy."

Please Don't Go to Costa Rica

Several years ago I visited an ancient Spanish missionary church in Orosi, Costa Rica that left me spellbound. Outside in the palm trees, there was a flicker of green wings as parrots exchanged mating calls. And inside the dark 17th century building (pictured here) there was the aromatic scent of someone who was no longer present. Only her floral perfume remained, though I kept thinking she must still be there, kneeling in the dark, whispering mysterious secrets. 

Later, as I passed the church with my guide, he told me that the Spanish conquistadors had built such churches all through that area of Costa Rica.  It's easy to see why; it's a lush tropical paradise in many respects. But the Spanish conquerers couldn't stay. The mosquitos drove them away. Or so said my guide, and it suits my fancy to believe him.

I thought of the conquistadors' experience a few times over the last month as I swatted away at mosquitos in San Ramon, a little bustling city in Costa Rica's central valley.

Our Fish Eat Fish World

Can you believe that some sharks have around 300 teeth? Or that every so often a shark gets pregnant without a male around? Those are just two of many facts I learned while writing about Discovery Channel's Shark Week, which has been riveting audiences for 24 years now, and gets underway July 31.

The big mama shown here is named Curly, the "star" of a new Shark Week special called Jaws Comes Home (Photo Credit: Discovery Channel). I really like that show.

My article will appear in a magazine called Delight!, which just published the first story I wrote for them, about Travel Channel's Man V.Food Nation series. You can access it here:  Download Delight - Man V FN - June 11

The primal world of sharks puts me in mind of the media industry, where companies are constantly shape shifting in hopes of climbing up to a higher rung on the food chain. I've been listening to many media deep thinkers in the last few months talk about how the business is evolving.

Making Sense Amidst Senseless Violence

Almost exactly one week ago, one of my favorite people in the media business was murdered. He was shot repeatedly in front of his three-year-old child.

His name is Steven McIntosh, and I posted a blog about him on Jan. 28th. If you scroll down, you'll find his photo and why I find the work that he was doing on behalf of the whole television industry so important.

The account of Steve's death is disturbing even if you never met him. But part of the shock for me has to do with how deeply his death hit me, because I'd grown so fond of him in such a short span of time. How many phone conversations did we have? Maybe five. How many e-mails did we exchange? Around 20. How many times did I meet him face to face? Zero. 

So how did he do it? Why is it that my heart is so shattered when I never even spoke with the bloke until late last year -- less than six months ago?