Friday, Katya and I were greeted by the priestess, Tanya, whom seemed very excited to see us and informed us The owner/editor in chief Marianne was running late. We took this opportunity to make a cute little sign saying "thank you" from Katya and Monica next to the cookies that we had baked fresh that morning for everyone at the office.
Some points: Marianne has been sick for a month and is meeting with us on her first day back, when actually she isn't starting officially until Monday.
She asks us whom we have met and how much history we already know so that she does not repeat herself. She laughs when we admit to seeing Todd's office which she decides as a "bunker" and agrees affirmatively when we say Tanya is dubbed our "priestess", she laughs that she would dub herself that too.
She has an impressive background of having worked in the industry since her twenties. First for smaller papers, at that time she explains, Village Voice of New York, and Rolling Stone both of which she served as managing editor. She continued in this line of work also working for Forbes before finally making her way to Santa Barbara where her husband's family has lived for generations.
She says that with all her experience, as a human being, she knew that working in counter culture press wasn't best for her. Since her early twenties she had worked up the chain to gain all her experience and saw how people suffered under certain behaviors, she knew what worked best for her and was determined to lead and manage in that way.
She began at the N&R at 40 years of age. She was used to working directly under Directors/Founders and usually took the leadership role as they were not very involved.
She compares her way of business to the dot.com industry in which the end product is what really counts. She says that she brought and continues to bring that to the organization she now owns.
Her vision for this organization has always been to be first and foremost progressive and then liberal. She wants it to be not just a paper but a voice that doesn't just "speak to the choir".
She states that she felt local Santa Barbara citizens always viewed and view themselves as being on the "inside". She wanted the paper to be a source to defeat the modern "industrial revolution" way of thinking. She wanted the paper to be a political player. She gives credit to the angry poodle, Nick whom brought stature to their credibility. His status maintained it's strength as long as a strong new base was also maintained.
She says the the N&P was a clown show during it's time of turmoil, she couldn't believe how many people kept leaving and protesting. At her organization they are such a small group, she was in disbelief at how many employees they had and how dysfunctional they could be with so much mind and man power.
She states that at her organization they are constantly dissatisfied. But that this is them being hard on themselves and knowing that they can also be better and improve. She is glad to be back after a long month of illness but is so confident in her staff that she knew they would make her proud in absence.
She says that her job is to keep balance. Her most important role is to honor her staff's products. To ensure that they feel pride for their accomplishments and hard work. Her second most important role is to be the reminder and keep everyone in the mode of thinking that just because they did something well or brilliant once doesn't mean that they should ever do it the same way ever again. They need to stay new and fresh, cutting-edge, moving with the times. She states, "you can't get confident or you're going to get hit sideways".
She expresses that right now she is most focused on improving, "re-vamping", their daily online paper. She wants everyone to be just as comfortable online as they are with print.
She says that the online press came about during the big Santa Barbara fires when daily news was needed by the public. She says that it was a "heroic period". She states that she wants the editors to "own it" more, that they need to become much more involved with the online press than they are now.
She laughs at the notion of change. She states that so many people and organizations go about it the wrong way. That you need to re-design not change. "Nobody likes change, people don't like to be told how to think or what to do." She continues that often fortunes are spend on "change" and that "we never spend a fortune on anything".
A current re-design she lets us in on and asks our opinion about, making the listing section which is currently 4 to 5 pages down to 3. They would do this by having the editor choose their listings of choice and mention that a complete listing is always available online. She states that this would make the listing section more meaningful rather than make eyes dull over, then there is more space for articles rather than fluff.
She notes that there org. always tries to be different like putting obituaries in the front of the paper.
She tells us next about Michelle the managing editor, now 7-8 years at the org. She began as an intern then became her assistant to where she is now. She credits Michelle to really changing how the org. functions. She said to her, "Look" you need to change how things are going on here. She made Marianne realize that everything could not revolve around her, that the paper was getting bigger and the demands heavier and that she could not physically and mentally keep up. She made Marianne realize that the staff needed to take responsibility for their own part of the paper and relieve Marianne of this responsibility.
This was a huge change for Marianne whom had never had a managing editor to work with her. She wept at the suggestion. She said that though her organization is not regimented she needed to have staff take more responsibility. She would still have the final approval on all significant decisions and she agreed the transition was much needed and extremely successful and now their current way of doing business.
She explains that her org. adjusts in order to have a talented and dedicated staff member stay if they really want them. They allow for extensive time off and accommodate to personal life situations. Staff bring in their pets and children, go off on personal assignments, and pursue part-time careers all while working at the org. She quotes Robby's common phrase of "were all human", if people have dreams we help them pursue them, we work with them not against them for selfish reasons.
She says at her org. she has staff, not employees. This concept is foreign only to their suit man, their CFO.
Her detour in mention to her CFO spurred her to mention that his current assistant, Brandy, has been one of the orgs. best hires. This is due to her vocabulary that speaks to everyone in the office. She has been successful in having staff fill out timecards and complete paperwork, a difficult and nearly impossible feat before she came on board.
Marianne admits that when hiring she tries to select individuals that will "fit in" to their way of doing business. She doesn't even look at resumes and never reads personal clips. She says, "I have to make an educated guess."
She explains that the internship program at the org used to be sloppy. She continues that they made it more clear and structured but that created a disconnect between the interns and their communication with office staff. She said it was a feeling of "were so good, so organized, and we suck now!"
I re-channel the dialogue to inquire about challenges the org. faces. She asks if I know about the lawsuit. I am in the dark but Katya knows about from her husband. She Marianne explains that Randy is her counterpart and that a lawsuit has come between them.
When Marianne and Randy came together it was like Marianne described it the Church and State coming together and she admits that keeping them separate has been amazingly maintained.
This press has always put more money into editorial than other presses. It has been beneficial and brought more money in for the org. by paying for high quality.
She states that often their can be conflict between the two main structures in her org: editorial side and sales side. She admits that for the most pare her sales staff has been really good about not taking their investments in their clients too seriously. Still, there is often tension when the editorial staff writes and prints material that is offensive or not in favor of the sales staff clientele.
Marianne says the key is a cooperation on information. There is always the complaint of, "Why didn't she tell me!" Marianne admits they are very open but not open to, "This is critical to a client of mine!"
She tells us how the paper is expanding on celebrating the community. She tells us about the Indies: awards for theater. They are a way of doing more than reviews, being a part of the community even if it does't reach everyone. They have also recently begun Foodies: honoring chefs in the community.
She explains that if she ever offends someone in the community whether through rumor or special circumstance, she will personally communicate with them offering her personal lines of communication to make sure that bitter or hurt feelings are healed as much as humanly possible.
Marianne explains that because her staff is so small and so talented she works with very strong individuals. They are not afraid of challenges" she says and explains that this is a reporting characteristic. She goes on to say that they are not afraid of authority either and that's why they are able to stay fresh and capture important stories. She says that her sales staff live on the edge, that they are gamblers.
So says that everyone in her org. is extremely talented and hard working and she must be in tune with their own personal and collective efforts and praise and award accordingly. She admits that with her long absence she senses a time for tan org. "pick me up". She and the office are planning an "Irish Parade" on St. Patrick's Day to celebrate and bring everyone together with good foods, drinks, and all the merriment that comes along with dressing up and parading to a favorite local bar. Katya and I have been invited :)
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