Hiring for Publishing's Relationship Business

Jay Lauf

Friday, July 30, 2010 At the risk of appearing to use my inaugural Minsider column as a pitch for my own magazine, I have to admit that The Atlantic’s cover story in July/August, entitled “The End of Men: How Women Are Taking Control of Everything,” has been on my mind consistently over the past weeks.

At first I took a particularly sanguine view of Hanna Rosin’s look at the fact that 51% of the American workforce is now female and 10 of the 12 professions expected to grow in the coming years are dominated by women (only engineering and janitorial fields are among male-dominated professions expected to grow). My reaction no doubt stemmed from the fact that I am happily married to a successful woman and that we have two daughters who will step into this bright, female-friendly landscape in the not-too-distant future.

I also noted with a twinge of pride that I may be ahead of the curve: 80% of my sales and marketing team are women. And 66% of those in management are women.

But then it got me thinking more deeply about why my staff was predominantly female and whether it was a trend in our entire industry. According to Forbes, it might be. According to the article "Top 20 Industries Pursued by MBA Women," marketing and advertising was pursued by 22% of MBA women and 9% of MBA men. And if that is true, what might that mean about the way we men approach this business?

The answer boiled down to one of the most important words/notions I’ve identified in the hiring process—“care” (as in, will this person care about the mission we’re on, care about the brand, care about the success of the entire team, care about clients, care about themselves). My sense is that women tend to care about these important things a little bit more than men. And this little bit matters.

I believe that we, in publishing, are in the “relationship” business, as our success hinges so deeply on the relationships we have with readers, clients and agency teams. Happy clients, solid teamwork, people who go above and beyond are what I find lead to long-term success, and women seem to be genetically more wired to foster these elements within a company. Men tend to care about making money and advancing their careers.

Again, the piece in Forbes backs me up on this: “In the Universum survey, women reported wanting a creative and dynamic work environment in which they were intellectually challenged. While men also want a creative environment, they prioritize leadership opportunities, a competitive salary, the possibility for rapid promotion and performance-related bonuses much more than women.”

Advancement and making more money, in themselves, are not negative things, but when they become a main focus on the job they are not always best for my business.

Now, before my brothers-in-arms start attacking this admittedly subjective feeling, let me say that I certainly try to look at each job candidate as an individual, not a statistic, and that I do trust my “Blink” (thank you, Malcolm Gladwell) impressions of people, so this is not intended as a scientific statement of fact or an indictment of the men in our business. In fact, most of my mentors and many of my team leaders have been men. But perhaps it can serve as a wake-up call to those in the man-camp who are often so inwardly focused on money and job title to think a little more outside themselves. Because I believe that when we focus on the others—clients, teammates, bosses—and what they need, we’ll end up with that other thing all of us, both male and female, strive for: rewarding, secure careers.

Minsider columnist Jay Lauf is publisher of The Atlantic.

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