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Inside CMA Forbes

Change is the constant

Annette Forbes
CMA Treasurer

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, not the most intelligent that survives.  It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” Charles Darwin.

No quote could be more profound as it pertains to our industry today. We are in the midst of revolutionary changes, which make for an exciting and challenging time to be in the media business.

Journalism will have a future. Of that we can be certain. But the future will only be bright for those  who react quickly and with enthusiasm. As advisers and mentors for tomorrow’s leaders, we have to help implement, embrace and endorse change. We have to be willing to take the risks that will position our products for what our public is demanding. Gone are the days when we can assume people are reading what we think they want. We have to know what they want and in what format they want to receive it.

As teachers and leaders, we have to lead the charge with vigor and commitment. We have to hire the best students and give them the guidance and support they need. If we aren’t up to the changing times, then we need to get out of the way.

As leaders in college media we have a perfect niche market, and now we have to create and carve our products to give our public the kind of information it wants. We have the audience and the genius of today’s youth to pursue the loftiest of goals; we just have to be savvy enough to know what those goals are.

And so here we are, with a supreme opportunity to lead the change and give our students the experience of a lifetime. We can position our products for a more marketable future, and we can position our students with the knowledge and experience they will need to land the big jobs.

But are we capable of reacting quickly to change and do we know where we are going?  Hockey legend Wayne Gretsky once said, when asked why he was such a successful hockey player, “Most people skate to where the puck is. I skate to where the puck is going to be.”

As advisers, we should take that advice. We need to take a good, hard look in the mirror and ask if we are positioned for change and if we are willing to take the risks that are associated with that change.

If the future is really in niche publications and websites, then we have to identify, develop and market “our niche” quickly and relentlessly. We need to ask what they want and then quantify and endorse those niche products with the intensity of a star athlete. Then we have to protect and continually improve and latch on to every opportunity we can. Remember, it is not the strong who eat the weak; it is the fast who eat the slow.


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