COMMUNICATION LEADERSHIP IN THE

ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY

Presented by: Melody Huskey, Janae Jacobs, and Padcha Lo

Leaders

Mike Altieri Vice President, Communications

Los Angeles Kings Hockey Club Hawk Koch

Executive Producer Hollywood films

Howard Hsieh Financial Director

Paramount Pictures Sasha Strauss

Brand Strategist Innovation Protocol

Rod Perry CEO/Co-President

The Ant Farm Melissa Palazzo

COO/CFO The Ant Farm

Multi-platforming

“Where are people, both young and old, going to want to get their entertainment? Are they going to want to get it online or on demand?  …From a business standpoint, the people who guess right are going to do better than the people who guess wrong.” – Hawk Koch, film producer

“Entertainment industry nowadays covers so many things… All of these different subsets of entertainment have their own issues. How are we going to survive in this digital transition era?... “How do we deal with the digital world and going from selling hard, physical products to selling digital files?” – Howard Hsieh, financial director

INDUSTRY CHALLENGES

“For the studios, how do we keep business and productions within Southern California where places like Canada and other states are

offering these huge tax incentives to boost production out of state?” – Hsieh

Economic ConcernsINDUSTRY CHALLENGES

“Entertainment dollars are going to

be used very selectively. The

challenge for us is to rise above the

noise.”– Mike Altieri, VP

Communications LA Kings

“People are expecting us to do the same amount of work for less money, and it’s a struggle to stay as profitable as we used to be.” – Rodd Perry, CEO The Ant Farm

“The entertainment industry was built in an earlier era and, just like automobile industry, they have always made enough revenue that there was never a reason to update the model.”

– Sasha Strauss, Managing Director

1. Leadership style2. Learning/adapting3. Failure/success4. Politics5. Balance6. Legacy

Themes

“People like Sumner Redstone and Rupert Murdoch, I think that greed

makes them successful businessmen, but I don’t want to be led by them…A

successful leader is someone who inspires those who work with him or

her.” – Koch

"I think a good leader is a good motivator, what I mean by that is a

cheerleader for their people.” – Melissa Palazzo, COO/CFO

“I spend 50% of my day enabling my employees to do their jobs, answering

their questions, guiding them on though processes, and helping them

interface with clients.” – Strauss

“In the entertainment industry - definitely being able to inspire and

motivate others - hands down.” – Hsieh

InspirationalLEADERSHIP STYLE

“I feel that my leadership is about being positive and allowing each department head their own leadership within their department.” – Koch

“You haven’t truly built a business unless you can leave for six months and the business will still operate and survive without you…my schedule is far healthier because I have taught and empowered my employees to thrive without me being present.” – Strauss

Level of ManagementLEADERSHIP STYLE

"I am not very traditional, I don’t think I’m very removed from people I’m leading… which is bad sometimes, because sometimes youdo have to act differently and put on that hat." – Perry

"My intention is to be the leader that I would liketo work for.” – Palazzo

"You join boards where other people who are like minded get together and you learn that way.“ – Palazzo

"Meeting other people who are in this industry, I do more of that now than I used to, we compare stories, notes, and experiences. You get a better pictures and set of tools to react to something when something comes up, because you’ve got the experience of everyone you’re talking to.“ – Perry

“I talk to a lot of people. Read a lot. You really have to sort of force yourself to listen to what other people have to say. I mean that’s the best way to adapt.” – Hsieh

NetworkingLEARNING/ADAPTING

“Today, the strongest, most effective individuals are the ones who have the best team.”

“The smartest leaders surround themselves with smarter people.”

– Strauss

Having a Great TeamLEARNING/ADAPTING

“More important than research is being willing to take on new things and being willing to let your role change.” – Altieri

"I think a good leader is not afraid to make a mistake, because you just don’t know until you try, and there is nothing that is guaranteed." – Palazzo

FlexibilityLEARNING/ADAPTING

“The way that I constantly learn is I push myself into positions where I’m not comfortable, or I try things I don’t know.I constantly disrupt myself – constantly derail whatit is I’m comfortable with because I know thateventually I will get to a point where I’vederailed myself so many times there isn’t aconversation that I can’t have.” – Strauss

“I guess for me, failure would be, if I felt strongly about something and I didn’t try it, in other words if I was afraid to say my thought, my truths, or my feelings, because I was afraid, and then go with the group. So failure to me is being afraid to do it differently, try it differently or speak up with things that are completely different from what other people are saying.” – Palazzo

“Not succeeding doesn’t equal failure to me. In my perspective, the only time I have failed is when I have not had a strategic vision of what might be.” – Strauss

Failure

“It’s hard because there’s failure you’re responsible for,and failure that is completely out of your control.Obviously that’s a level of failure because therewas nothing you could have done to prevent it,and again failure is failure to meet thoseexpectations you set for yourself orthat other people set for you.” – Perry

“You can say ‘I gave it everything I had and we still didn’t make it’ and you can at least feel good about that knowing that you gave it everything you had, but unless you hit the goals then I can’t really say it is a success." – Altieri

“I define success as meeting or exceeding the goals you set for yourself, however high or low they are.” – Perry

“I define it as someone who has ambition and works to that. Really, it’s about having ambition, driving to a goal, and pushing the thinking forward.” – Hsieh

“[I define success] as when people you lead succeed without you present.” – Strauss

Success

“Because I’m the boss, if you will, and the ‘creator’ of the company – I’m not just the one in charge, but I was the one who figured out how to do this to begin with – all the hit falls on me. I’m the one who has to fix what’s broken. So when we have a bad day, all of it falls on me; when we have an awesome day, my employees get the credit. It’s part of the gamble of being the boss. It’s why not everybody is destined to be the boss.” – Strauss

Managing PoliticsPOLITICS

“Sometimes good leaders have to have difficult conversations, and I think that it‘s really important to speak honestly and to share. Sometimes leaders are going to make mistakes and to be able to say “hey I made a mistake,” because what that does is let’s people know #1, that a leader is human, but also show’s that it’s important to speak the truth and stay in integrity.” – Palazzo

“It is what it is. I make the decisions as I need to.” – Strauss

“I am always very honest with people, to a fault sometimes. There have been times as a boss or a manager where I have been completely honest with someone because I felt it was the right thing to do, and in all honesty it hurt my relationship with that person… but I also felt that I stuck to what I believed in that the way that person was going about their business was wrong.” – Altieri

Integrity and HonestyPOLITICS

“What I try to do more than anything is treat everyone with respect and understand what everyone is trying to do.  We are all people, I am not better than anyone else, but I do have a certain

level of responsibility that I am accountable to." – Altieri

“My intention is to be the leader that I would like to work for, that means that I feel like I’m very honest, I’m very open, I love to

delegate, meaning I love people to do what they’re good at, I’m not a micromanager at all, I have a high level of trust, I like to see

people succeed, I like to set people up for success.” – Palazzo

DiplomacyPOLITICS

“The most important thing that I strive for is balance. I know that the job can be demanding but I make balance a priority.  If I keep it as the number one thing, then I can be successful.  I look at some of the really successful executives in our company, and I think that they have not strived for the same kind of balance and it has benefited them in their careers.” – Altieri

“I’m much nicer to be around when I have balance.” – Palazzo

Importance of BalanceBALANCE

“All the successful people that I have met in my life – and these are some really, really successful, well-known

people – none of them really have balance. They have clear priorities and clear expectations that they

communicate well to people …and they stick to it… Telling everybody that your life can be balanced – ‘Yes, I

wouldbalance between this and that’ – that’s unrealistic.

Not if you want to be truly successful.” – Hsieh

“I don’t think that you can be successful in any kind of creative work

without your mind working many more hours than the guy who

punches in, hits a roto-rooter and at five o’clock goes home to

play baseball with his buddies or hang out with his kids and

doesn’t think about work till the next morning.” – Koch

Importance of BalanceBALANCE

“So what I need to do is set things up after work, commit to them, and go to them. So just be as efficient as I can throughout the day and know that not everything’s going to get done.” – Palazzo

“Sometimes you do have to say, ‘If I were to schedule a dinner at home, I’d have to think about it as meeting with a client’ and commit to it. So once and a while I’ll do that.” – Perry

“No, my work and home life are not balanced. But my wife is a regulator on that. I love what I do though, so it doesn’t really feel like work.” – Strauss

CommitmentBALANCE

Meeting

Call wife

Lunch with client

Conference call with NY office

“[To be remembered as] someone who’s not

afraid to take risks and was able to motivate and inspire people.” – Hsieh

“I want what I create to become such a part of the way that people live that they don’t actually even

know where the idea came from.” – Strauss

Effective LeaderLEGACY

“I think people really are influence by positive thinking… They don’t want cynicism, sarcasm

or negative thought, they want to think that they’re apart of something good, and that will

make them feel better about themselves.” – Perry

“I just heard somebody say that their dad gave them advice that everyone they meet

throughout the day should feelthat their lives are improved because they met

you, so Ithink it’s a nice idea, that there’s no reason to

spread anyill-will around.” – Perry

“I want to learn how to be a leader, a strong leader, but a loving leader. So that’s what I’d love my legacy to be, and how I’d want to be remember. Strong leader and a loving leader,

they don’t have to be mutually exclusive.” – Palazzo

Well-rememberedLEGACY

1. Leadership style2. Learning/adapting3. Failure/success4. Politics5. Balance6. Legacy

Themes

Thank you.