Fabulous advice. Was going to write a long comment here and hope it got many likes and replies. Instead I’m finally going to take you up on that letter writing offer and spill my thoughts there.
And here I thought I was the only one that slept with a tiny jet pack attached to my penis. I'm rooting for Mr Johnson, he's definitely an optimist. Live forever? So far so good!
The numbers won’t save you, but they can certainly help you if you use them right. The #1 story on the Washington Post most days is a cooking story or a lifestyle story. That doesn’t mean that Marty Baron (or Sally Buzbee or Jeff Bezos or Katherine Graham) fires all the Pentagon reporters! It just meant that they understood their audience better. They understood what they liked and what the audience liked and didn’t like. I don’t know if they showed the Pentagon reporters the numbers (my guess is probably not), but somebody at the top has to be looking at the numbers to make sure they are carrying out the vision of the publication.
The problem with the folks you mention (Maven, etc) is that they have no inner purpose other than making money. So if you put one of them in front of the WaPo’s numbers they would say “oh, people like Bundt Cake today, fire all the Pentagon and White House Reporters and hire a bunch of cooking people.”
And I don’t think that College Football’s problem is that “they are looking at the numbers.” The problem with College Football is that the multi-headed mass that controls it doesn’t give a hoot about anything other than making money (like Maven, etc.). Given that, they’ve convinced themselves that they have to grow outside of the core locations, which is so dumb. I grew up in NJ and no one will EVER care about Rutgers football. No one grows up wanting to play for Rutgers, they grow up wanting to play for the (NFL) Giants, which means they have to go to Penn State or Ohio State or Michigan or even BC or Syracuse b/c they get people to the NFL. If you put a Czar in charge of College Football who knew what they were doing, they would stop all of this nonsense (just like Marty Baron didn’t turn the Post into a cooking magazine). But there is no Czar, there is just a weird money blob with no accountability.
Thanks for featuring me today. A Jersey guy who doesn’t care much about college football who watched the 1st qtr of Oregon whooping Colorado. But i agree college football is headed to ruin.
Loved this post. Applies both to my attempts to write and my daily efforts in disability workforce development. Thanks, Will.
Thank you ... I think about this stuff way more than I should ....
Fabulous advice. Was going to write a long comment here and hope it got many likes and replies. Instead I’m finally going to take you up on that letter writing offer and spill my thoughts there.
Sounds like a good idea to me!
And here I thought I was the only one that slept with a tiny jet pack attached to my penis. I'm rooting for Mr Johnson, he's definitely an optimist. Live forever? So far so good!
Yep, looking great for me so far too! (The living forever AND the jet pack.)
The numbers won’t save you, but they can certainly help you if you use them right. The #1 story on the Washington Post most days is a cooking story or a lifestyle story. That doesn’t mean that Marty Baron (or Sally Buzbee or Jeff Bezos or Katherine Graham) fires all the Pentagon reporters! It just meant that they understood their audience better. They understood what they liked and what the audience liked and didn’t like. I don’t know if they showed the Pentagon reporters the numbers (my guess is probably not), but somebody at the top has to be looking at the numbers to make sure they are carrying out the vision of the publication.
The problem with the folks you mention (Maven, etc) is that they have no inner purpose other than making money. So if you put one of them in front of the WaPo’s numbers they would say “oh, people like Bundt Cake today, fire all the Pentagon and White House Reporters and hire a bunch of cooking people.”
And I don’t think that College Football’s problem is that “they are looking at the numbers.” The problem with College Football is that the multi-headed mass that controls it doesn’t give a hoot about anything other than making money (like Maven, etc.). Given that, they’ve convinced themselves that they have to grow outside of the core locations, which is so dumb. I grew up in NJ and no one will EVER care about Rutgers football. No one grows up wanting to play for Rutgers, they grow up wanting to play for the (NFL) Giants, which means they have to go to Penn State or Ohio State or Michigan or even BC or Syracuse b/c they get people to the NFL. If you put a Czar in charge of College Football who knew what they were doing, they would stop all of this nonsense (just like Marty Baron didn’t turn the Post into a cooking magazine). But there is no Czar, there is just a weird money blob with no accountability.
This all seems right to me. I actually do think we need more czars!
Thanks for featuring me today. A Jersey guy who doesn’t care much about college football who watched the 1st qtr of Oregon whooping Colorado. But i agree college football is headed to ruin.