For Episode #8 of Better Leaders - The Podcast I'm talking to Styli Charalambous, Co-Founder and CEO of South African media company Daily Maverick. We explore why bad leadership is responsible for a lot of the current problems the media world (and the world in general) has; dive into the importance of personal reflection and continuous growth as an entrepreneur; reflect on media startup sustainability pains; and talk about growing resilience in yourself and your team when you work under extrem pressure in a corrupt and dangerous ecosystem.
About Our Guest:
Styli Charalambous co-founded the Daily Maverick in 2009, while navigating massive industry disruption and South Africas turbulent politics.
As founding CEO and publisher, Styli helped grow Daily Maverick from a 5 person start-up to now more than 100 full-time staff, reaching 9 Million monthly unique visitors with 20.000 voluntary paying members.
He is passionate about leadership and innovation focusing on new revenue models, product, technology and membership in news. In 2021, he was awarded South Africa’s top journalism award for courage and integrity for his shaping role in Daily Maverick’s success.
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 smart 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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