In Episode #4 of Better Leaders - The Podcast, I'm talking to Hillary Frey, Editor in Chief at Slate. In this episode, we discuss how she approached her first few months as Editor in Chief strategically; that empathy has become a core virtue of leadership; how her focus on operations and processes helped her facilitate the change process at Slate; and why the pandemic has taught us some good things about work/life balance.
About Our Guest:
Hillary Frey is the editor in chief of Slate Magazine, an audio and online destination for smart analysis of news and culture, and the home of Dear Prudence and myriad advice columns. Before joining Slate in June 2021, Hillary was a creator in residence at the Newmark School of Journalism at CUNY, and a graduate of the school's Executive Program in News Innovation and Leadership. Previously she was executive editor of HuffPost, editorial director of news at NBCNews.com, and media and culture editor at the New York Observer (among other things!).
She began her career in the late ’90s in the advertising department of the tiny, award-winning magazine Lingua Franca. From there, she moved through editing roles initially focused on culture (The Nation, Salon.com), media (The New York Observer, Politico) and then into news (Adweek, Yahoo News, NBC News, and Fusion). Over the past decade, leading newsrooms large and small, she has focused on empathetic management, improving development processes, and building healthy culture, as well as collaborative processes with unionized teams. She lives in Brooklyn with her daughter.
About Your Host:
Anita Zielina is the CEO and founder of Better Leaders Lab. She's also an Executive in Residence at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, where she spent the last few years leading all continuing and executive education initiatives. Anita serves as the inaugural Board Chair of News Product Alliance (NPA) and is a member of the board of directors at the Austrian Public Broadcaster ORF.
For the past 15 years, Anita held senior executive positions focused on product, strategy and innovation in various media and education organizations as Chief Product Officer, Managing Editor Digital, Editor-in-Chief and Director Strategic Initiatives. She has worked with around 500 managers, leaders and entrepreneurs as a consultant, coach and educator.
She holds a Master in Law from Vienna University and an Executive MBA from INSEAD. Anita is an alumna of the Stanford Knight Journalism Fellowship and the Oxford Reuters Institute Fellowship.
About Better Leaders Lab
Better Leaders Lab is a Do and Think Tank for good leadership and strategic management in media and beyond and a boutique strategic advisory firm. BLL specializes in organizational change, strategy and scenario planning, leadership development and executive recruiting research. Its goal is to empower managers, leaders and organizations in the broader media, digital & innovation space to build successful, sustainable, modern and healthy businesses.
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