News organizations as ‘distributed idea engines’

Change is the theme of the day. Our president-elect made sure of that with his new web site.

Change can mean innovation. Or it can mean desperation. Many businesses are changing fast, forced to cut jobs and restructure because of the mortgage crisis or general economic downturn. That’s desperation.

Some businesses began the process of change years ago and now bear the fruit of their innovation. In the case of Cisco, the company “went from being the most highly valued company in the world to a cautionary example of the the excess of bubbles” in 2001. The global giant embraced collaboration and opened up the executive bottleneck that slows the process of innovation (and launching new products) at most companies. Today, Cisco is “a distributed idea engine where leadership emerges organically, unfettered by a central command.”

Journalism is changing, too, of course. But, unfortunately for mainstream news organizations, the business of journalism is not keeping pace. Steve Outing, in his 11 Points to Ponder as “crisis advice” for newspaper CEOs, highlights some of the specific areas of change to the business that will help speed this change, including publishing in print less often, broadening the scope of news and hiring a capable social media expert.

I would add one more: reinvent the advertising sales department as a digital arm of the newsroom. News and advertising should be working together on new product development. Working in silos has led to the imbalance between print and digital revenue. Collaboration is the key, along with a healthy dose of entrepreneurial thinking and willingness to experiment and fail. Fast.

If a huge company like Cisco can do it, surely the hometown newspaper can give it a shot.

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