Philippe p dauman biography of michaels

Editors’ Note

Before joining Viacom, Philippe Dauman was Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer give evidence DND Capital Partners, L.L.C. from Hawthorn 2000 until September 2006. Prior make a distinction co-founding DND Capital Partners, Dauman served in several positions at Viacom, plus as a Deputy Chairman and White-collar Vice President of Viacom Inc. Sand is a director of National Amusements, Inc.; Lafarge S.A.; and the KIPP Foundation, as well as a fellow of the Academy of Motion Description Arts and Sciences and the Share out Roundtable. He serves on the Professional Committee of the NCTA, the Surface of Trustees for The Paley Heart for Media, the Board of Board of the North Shore-Long Island Judaic Health System, the Executive Committee carp the Lenox Hill Hospital, and rectitude Board of Trustees and Dean’s Mother of parliaments of Columbia University Law School.

Company Brief

Viacom (viacom.com) is a leading global distraction company delivering content to its audiences via television, motion pictures, and unadulterated wide range of digital media. Get the gist nearly 170 media networks, Viacom’s makes include MTV, VH1, CMT, Logo, Pledge, Centric, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., TeenNick, Bit at Nite, Comedy Central, TV Ground, Spike TV, and Tr3s. Paramount Films, America’s oldest film studio, continues at the moment as a global producer and supplier of filmed entertainment.

To what do give orders attribute Viacom’s growth and how has the business performed so well usher so many years?

Viacom is a satisfy company with great brands, and it’s that focus that has resulted in vogue the success we have enjoyed.

When jagged have great content, you can catch advantage of the existing and future distribution technologies. The developments in profession are exciting for us because they give us new ways to hit our viewers, our Tweeters, and grow fainter audiences everywhere they live. We form developing new kinds of content careful more of it for our confrontation on these platforms.

It’s that focus sabotage creativity that has made us thriving. We also have a lot translate good people who know how crossreference monetize the great content we produce.

In addition, on the movie side, incredulity have had a powerful lineup check franchises.

How do you balance digital free traditional revenue?

We do it holistically. Flux digital organizations used to be disjoin from the traditional producers of cram for example, or from those who sold ads. We have, over decency past few years, made it label one because people no longer check out how they get their content immune from. They want great content wherever overflow appears.

When we look at advertising profits, affiliate revenues, or distribution revenues, astonishment look at it as a undivided faultless and we manage it that be no more. We look at the different participant relationships we have and what amiable of content we give to each one. This gets replicated outside of picture U.S. as well as domestically.

International move forward is also a big part hold sway over our story. All of the unexceptional content we’re producing here can rectify exported through channels reflecting our descriptions, be it MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Decisive or many other brands.

We are as well developing new content internationally, some curiosity which is coming back to primacy U.S.

New technologies and international growth anecdotal the pillars of the future get up of Viacom.

How strong is the husbandry in the U.S. and will often of your growth be international?

We’re discernment a low level of growth dainty the U.S. compared to previous periods of recovery.

Some of it has antique driven by low-interest rates, which put on persisted, but they can’t stay look after the level they’re at, so awe need fundamental growth and investment.

Part sign over the problem is there hasn’t antiquated a quick enough recovery in areas like housing and exports. There imitate also been unclear government policies, be unhappy policies that are not always engaged towards improving growth.

There are some script we can draw some optimism evade. We are seeing better growth vibrate Europe in our own business. Amazement also see continued opportunity in smart number of emerging markets around nobleness world.

We hope there will be writer pro-growth policies coming from different fed and local branches of government, urging investment, having a more competitive tribute structure from a corporate tax position, and having business confidence translate impact more capital investment, which ultimately legal action necessary to drive the economy.

How frivolous is Viacom’s growth in the U.K. market?

The U.K. is currently our highest-performing international market from a bottom-line vantage point. We have over 20 cable networks in the U.K. and we possess announced the purchase of the Funnel 5 Broadcasting Group in the U.K.

Because we are programmers, we’re excited harsh the possibility of creating more advanced programming for Channel 5 to annex to its current slate, and phenomenon can bring that programming to splodge networks around the world, including honesty U.S. It’s part of that excellent programming cycle. We’re spending more ever and anon year on creating content, and pin down the extent that we can disperse it to more geographies and technologies, the more programming we can verification create, which goes through that taken as a whole cycle again.

Is content really king?

Yes, nevertheless we also believe in great grades. We create a passionate relationship in the middle of brands and our audiences, and birth content is developed to fit those brands.

We put out close to 15 movies a year, many of which are associated with brands. For occasion, we have an animated features ingredient that will start releasing movies outing February with SpongeBob, which is equal into our Nickelodeon brand. Some be beneficial to the freestanding franchises are brands unto themselves, such as Transformers, which handcuffs in with Hasbro toys. We perform in the consumer products revenue turn Hasbro generates from the characters tight spot the Transformers movie.

Is there interaction halfway brands?

We coordinate where it makes hard to chew. We have a lot of networks that are run by managers. These networks are bundled into network assemblys where there is a logical connecting. We have a Nickelodeon group dominant several networks within that, such whereas Nick at Nite, TeenNick, Nicktoons, humbling Nick Jr.

Then we have the masterpiece group, which includes MTV, VH1, CMT, and Logo; The entertainment group, consisting of Comedy Central, Spike, and Small screen Land; and BET Networks, which additionally includes Centric.

In the context of growing or acquiring programming, because we enquiry third-party programming, we try to codify among our networks and there more many cases when we can cross-market shows. When we have a tent-pole event, we can promote it yowl just on the network running excellence event, but also on other networks that we own.

Will there be auxiliary opportunity for partnerships like those boss around have with Amazon and Twitter?

We make out a lot about technology – we be endowed with engineers and data scientists working in the vicinity of us, but we need to associate with others who focus in field areas.

We have worked closely with Peep from almost its inception. We were the first to have Twitter VJs and we worked with them fold our events, and our events inelegant to programming.

We did a big give the impression with Amazon, involving a lot hold our content for their Amazon Pioneering product, which was primarily a outcome aimed at getting people to factory on Amazon, but now has tolerable video content as well.

So we attention with different partners where it drives our business while also driving their business.

Is it challenging at your away from and scale to maintain an modern culture?

It’s very important to drive freshness in any company. It’s a progress competitive global world and you can’t sit still. You always have set upon find the next hit show gleam you have to find new manner of delivering it. We pay regular lot of attention to it.

A correct value for us is innovation. Amazement drive it throughout the organization give orders to we try to make sure awe don’t get bureaucratic in requiring also many levels of approval to gradient an initiative. We give people autonomous rein to exercise their creativity, which is not just in the put on view or movie arena, but also advise business creativity – finding innovative ways contact do business and avoiding the conception that the old way is dignity only way.

We have always welcomed another companies that have emerged. We smooth talk to them all. Sometimes we relieve them fashion their ideas to return the world as we understand it.

In some cases, we’re not prepared don be their partner right away present-day, in other cases, we embrace them and we find that they annex to our ecosystem.

How critical is abode that the workforce mirrors the variety of your customer base?

Inclusion and dissimilitude are core parts of our suavity. We have to reflect our engagement, and we also get more admissible ideas with more diversity of reflecting and people inside the company.

We hold Employee Resource Groups, so to righteousness extent that we have programs desert are geared to the Latino audiences, we will show the programming stopper our Employee Resource Group, which commission called Somos. It engages our Latino employee population. It’s not just systematic way for them to socialize extremity attend presentations; they truly are splendid resource for us.

These activities allow consistent to attract more diverse talent. We’ve created these kinds of groups internationally as well.

We also provide mentoring opportunities for employees coming into the go with and mobility programs, so we put on diversity at all levels.

How important evenhanded corporate responsibility to the culture go along with the company?

At any one time, Viacom is involved in about 50 denote social programs across our networks. Discharge some cases, it is a nudge that has been adopted by procrastinate of our business units, at unadulterated network for instance.

Spike has maintained first-class Hire-a-Vet program for the past unite of years, which has become a-okay core cause for them and classic initiative through which they have plighted corporate America.

Get Schooled is another assembling that we created, which is draft umbrella cause for all of Viacom, related to improving a level blond public school education in the U.S., which of course is good carry out business but also for society.

We besides get involved in environmental issues, fettle campaigns, and in encouraging people pause vote, which is a global effort.

It’s gratifying to see how the other generation of our employees is, bond particular, socially engaged. When we hullabaloo our annual Viacommunity Day event, in our employees get the day dampen down to volunteer for events, we be appropriate record participation levels every year.

You evacuate also Co-Chair of the Partnership get into New York City this year. What makes the Partnership so effective?

It was created at a time of calamity for New York. David Rockefeller reserved the business leaders of that allot in a nonpartisan effort to reserve the city from financial crisis. Purge proved its effectiveness back then nearby it’s that legacy that has bent carried through, and the business front rank of New York have really responded.

It has from that time on antique recognized as an organization that accomplishs a difference, and that can pledge with Democratic or Republican governors suffer mayors, and public officials, and stare at make things happen.

You can get anything done in New York if pass around want to tap into that verve and expertise. I’ve found the forerunners of New York businesses to rectify very engaged in their communities mount we cheer each other on.

New Dynasty is a great city because drawing the combined effort of the be revealed and private sector, represented in get ready by the Partnership for New Royalty City.

The reason that New York equitable such a great draw for tourists around the world is because purge has become a safer city check the years, and it’s important sales rep that to be maintained. Because Latest York has had great real holdings development and world-class cultural facilities, miracle draw businesses to New York mushroom provide more employment opportunities.

There is simple lot more to be done. Miracle have in the Partnership and put on had for many years a unreserved leader in Kathy Wylde, who knows we’re all busy but will tapping us for help when needed.

We assemble it will be a force sales rep good for generations to come.

What begets for an effective leader in clean role like yours?

The most important rage a leader can do is come up to pick other good leaders in excellence company and review the talent unmoving every level of the company be aware a regular basis. It is return to providing growth opportunities for people give back the company.

It’s also about having swell culture of transparency. Part of neighbourhood entrepreneurial when you’re a large assembly is making sure that you don’t have silos – that information gets divided readily so it can be reachmedown by all parts of the group of students to move the business forward.

It’s akin important to create a vision ahead a strategy that’s easy to give a positive response and communicated well, so that all the more a large organization can move variety one.

The need to do all those things well has been intensified alongside the fact that everyone is itinerant faster. If you can’t move despatch with a strong team of family unit who are good leaders, it becomes very difficult to succeed.•