Season Finale of Better Leaders - The Podcast! Today, in episode #19, we're mixing things up a bit: Podcast Host Anita Zielina, CEO and Founder of Better Leaders Lab, is being interviewed by her friend Shazna Nessa, formerly Global Head of Visuals at the WSJ. Anita shares candid reflections on her own career path; discusses her learnings about her own strengths and weaknesses as a leader; and explains how she strives to have impact with her own new entrepreneurial venture. She also explains why "Presence" is her 2024 professional/personal motto.

In Episode #18 of Better Leaders - The Podcast, I’m speaking to Candice Fortman, Executive Director at Outlier Media. We chat about the importance of understanding and prioritising the business side of running a news organisation; discuss how Outlier centers the needs of Detroiters who have been undervalued and underserved by other media; and why and how leadership also includes "ecosystem work" and stakeholder management to drive change.

In Episode #17 of Better Leaders - The Podcast, I’m speaking to Jane Barrett, Global Editor for Media News Strategy at Reuters. We talk about her exciting career path through a variety of innovation roles; how to craft jobs that haven't existed before and how new generations have different expectations regarding their careers. We also tap into the importance of deliberate culture change, and the need to preserve what is essential to journalism, but change many of our processes and traditions to make the media industry better. Finally, we hear Janes advice on the importance of building and fostering strong, diverse teams.

In Episode #16 of Better Leaders - The Podcast, I’m speaking to Gianpiero Petriglieri, INSEAD professor and a world famous expert on leadership and learning in the workplace. We discuss how the quest to become a better leaders is actually the quest to lead a more meaningful, fulfilled life; why and how leaders must be prepared to experience failure; how frustration plus care create the path to leadership; and the importance of friends in the workplace to build resilience.

In the 15th episode of Better Leaders - The Podcast, I’m speaking with Irving Washington, Senior Fellow at KFF (formerly Kaiser Family Foundation). Irving is focused on conducting research at the intersection of media and health misinformation. Together we analyze how to drive and sustain change in organizations. We begin by discussing what drove his relatively long tenure at ONA, what he learned from that experience and when he knew it was time to move on. Then we talk about curiosity and how it can be a beneficial trait that constitutes a good leader. We conclude by analyzing how fear can be used as a good tool to invoke change, and we also speak about organizational malpractice of using diversity and inclusivity initiatives purely as business strategies instead of actual methods of equity.

In Episode #14 of Better Leaders - The Podcast, I’m speaking with Ros Atkins, Analysis Editor at the BBC, about the importance of leadership communication in facilitating smooth change in an organization. We’re also talking about good, open communication and how it validates a leader’s trustworthiness independent of the information being shared or the audience. Finally, we speak about empathetic communication and why it’s important.

For this episode, I spoke with Reneé Kaplan, the incoming Director of News at ARTE, about what it means to lead your team and organization through transformational situations. We also talk about grit, serendipity, fortitude, resilience, and networking to ensure top-down support for lasting change in the newsroom. Lastly, we discuss ways to overcome personal weaknesses and the differing styles of management between older and younger generations.

This week, I am speaking with Raju Narisetti, Global Publishing Leader at McKinsey & Company, about his colorful personal journey on becoming a leader. We address the changes in work culture among the younger generations and what it means to think about work as an assignment role. Finally, we work out what it means to fail as a leader and how, often, success as a leader is more than a good bottom line.

On this episode of Better Leaders - The Podcast, I am speaking with Lisa Gibbs, the Vice President of Philanthropic Development at the Associated Press. We begin by talking about what it means to break down barriers and operating startup initiatives in legacy organizations. Next, we explored ways why it is important to understand the “why", how staying persistent can create impactful journalism, and took a look at the rewarding potential that can come from more collaboration. At the end, we touched briefly on AI changing the workplace and the traits leaders should have to make intersectionality fruitful.

In the 10th installment of Better Leaders - The Podcast, I spoke with Shazna Nessa, Global Head of Visuals at the Wall Street Journal about good leadership and mature managers. We first talk about what it means to be a good leader and what that looks like when leading a team. Then we identify the differences between leaders and managers, but also features that constitute a good leader in today’s transformational work environments. Finally, we discuss how organizations promote leadership with a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

For Episode #9 of Better Leaders - The Podcast, I’m speaking with Federica Cherubini, Director of Leadership Development at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford. We look at the problematic disconnections between different levels in organizations; how the meaning of work has changed over time and what that means; the responsibilities of a leader; and finally we explore how striving for diversity and inclusion lead to the organization’s long-term success.

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.

In Episode #7 of Better Leaders - The Podcast we'll dive deep into questions of education, leadership, media and transformation. I'm talking to my colleague Graciela Mochkofsky, dean at the Newmark J-School at CUNY, about her change efforts there. Graciela will share how she tackles transformation strategically; why the media industry needs a new generation of leaders; and how she experiences differences and similarities leading in academia versus a newsroom. We'll also discuss how it is to be the first Latina immigrant leading a major J-School in the U.S., and how she deals with expectations and prejudice.

In Episode #6 of Better Leaders - The Podcast I'm talking to Rafat Ali, CEO of travel media company Skift, about steering the organisation through the pandemic, and what changed in terms of culture and processes. We discuss how Skift emerged out of the crisis as a fully virtual company; the increased importance of honouring employees autonomy; how the business "metabolism" and pace in the U.S. is different from elsewhere; and how to respect and reflect cultural differences as a global organisation.

In Episode #5 of Better Leaders - The Podcast, I'm exploring leadership as a journey of constant learning with Paul Cheung, CEO at The Center for Public Integrity. In this episode, we talk about inherited and acquired resilience; how Paul pulls inspiration as a leader from his family's immigrant history; why women and BIPOC leaders are often brought in to fix broken organizations; and how to deliberately build culture through a series of 'micro alignments'.

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.

In Episode #3 of Better Leaders - The Podcast, we talk to Upasna Gautam, product leader at CNN. In this episode, we chat about having a mentality of high agency (as in - leading change even if you're not the boss); the concept of mindful leadership; fighting the inequities that exist in the media and tech industry; and her personal resilience strategy.

In Episode #2 of Better Leaders - The Podcast, we talk to Sara Weber, new work expert, journalist and bestselling author of "The world is ending and I still have to work?". In this episode, we talk to Sara about Gen Z's push to finally detox the workplace; what news companies can learn from tech companies about work culture; how to redefine what good leadership looks like; and the journalism industry's lack of honest commitment to equity,

Better Leaders - The Podcast is here! In Episode #1, meet Trei Brundett, Founder and former COO of Vox Media. In this episode, we talk to Trei about building a global media behemoth from his basement; his approach to deliberately designing corporate culture; the real risk of burnout and the responsibility to build equitable media organizations.