Vivian Schiller, who heads the online NY Times operations, has been chosen as chief executive of the National Public Radio, the Times reports. A quick google search reveals she has already had a very distinguished career in the media, and the fraught NPR, whose last ‘permanent’ chief executive was forced out by the board after 18 months, certainly needs a good person in the job.
Here’s what the board chairman, Howard Stevenson, said about her:
“what we were looking for were leadership skills, sort of a quiet, tough humility, the ability to implement and an energy to carry us and the stations forward in a positive way,”
Well, maybe they’d praise a male chief executive for his quiet, tough humility, but the comment looks like a warning sign to me. I think they want her to do as she is told and not complain. Presumably they’ll learn it isn’t quite so easy.
What do you think?