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August 2004 Rock Throwing EncouragedOne of the men at the heart of the AOL-Time Warner merger, Jeff Bewkes, MBA '77, says he believes openness—including honest internal discussion with opportunities for real criticism—is necessary for a successful merger. "Many books are being written about why the AOL-Time Warner merger didn't work," said Bewkes, chairman of Time Warner's entertainment and networks group. "And my conclusion is that if you can't have an honest conversation in your company about what you are doing, and invite everyone to come in and criticize and throw rocks, you will fail. It's as simple as that." Blunt-spoken and witty, Bewkes described how he has always been puzzled that so many high-powered, highly educated business people spend their entire careers "managing up" to get to the top. "If you think about it, you realize how illogical that is," he said. "They are working and working to get to a place where the one thing that they have been practicing won't work any more." What business leaders really need, said Bewkes, "are skills managing out and across as much as up and down." |
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