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.
Walsh has had to make tough decisions to keep Emmis on the straight and narrow over the last few years, and employed some very creative business tactics. When I asked him to tell me about his greatest acheivement, he started to tell me about a specific business success. But then he changed his mind. Instead, he said it was "learning a set of skills that adapt well to ill-structured problems and major challenges, and trying to [develop] those things into real turnarounds that allow people to find growth, to find new opportunities -- to make space for themselves that perhaps they didn't see right off the bat."
That's some gun he's got there.
To read about Walsh, as well as the other three very interesting people I profiled -- CBS Radio's Valerie Blackburn, Cox Enterprises's Lacey Lewis and Bonten Media's Scott Moody -- please click on the link below. Or click here for an electronic version of the entire issue of The Financial Manager in which the profiles appeared. TFM is, by the way, published by the nonprofit Media Financial Management Association, and I serve as its editor.
Download TFM People to Watch 0112
Comments