Mr. Magazine

“Consumers and women still love the printed format to turn to for inspiration and for more of that lean-back experience. And what we look for more with digital is as a utility to help them to do something in the short-term. So, inspiration versus utility, as I like to say.” Tom Harty…

“When you type into a Google box or a Google search, and you’re specifically looking for chicken dinners or chicken tacos, or swordfish, you know what you’re looking for, at least to start. You’re looking for a recipe around something, but there’s still an inspirational part of curation that our editors can form. So, we started Allrecipes Magazine, where we could curate all of that great content that we have in the back of the database online and bring it forward to inspire. Now, you have an extremely successful magazine built out from a digital-only brand.” Tom Harty…

“You’re going to see us continue to make organic investments, especially in our digital products into next year. We’re also on the acquisition trail, and we’re looking for both organic growth, where we’re making investments in growing organically in the brands and the product lines that we have, and we’re also looking at opportunities to grow our business through acquisitions. And that could be print products, digital products, or broadcast products on the other side of the business.” Tom Harty

From Eating Well to Allrecipes, Martha Stewart Living to Better Homes and Gardens; and more recently, Chip and Joanna Gaines’ The Magnolia Journal, Meredith has been serving their readers with great content for 115 years. And of course, with many, many titles in between. Tom Harty is president and chief operating officer of the company, and under his leadership has played a key role in the development and execution of Meredith’s strategic initiatives, helping Meredith increase its connection to the American consumer through growth in magazine audience, online traffic, brand licensing and marketing services.

Tom’s career in magazines and magazine media is rich with experience, having been senior vice president, general manager for The Golf Digest Companies, a division of Advance Magazines. His broad media company experience includes key leadership positions with TV Guide, where he served as vice president and publisher; and Reader’s Digest, where he was advertising director. So, Tom knows a thing or two about magazines.

I spoke with Tom recently and we talked about his strategic vision for the company. Tom’s plans include continuing to gear great content toward women and to give them that content in whatever way they want to consume it, from the legacy print format to all of their new digital products. He said the demand for print from the consumer was still very strong; and of course, one shining example of that is Better Homes and Gardens, which is still living up to its 7.6 million copy circulation that it had 20 years ago. And from organic growth to acquisitions, Tom is committed to continuing the robust present and very bright future that Meredith works very hard to maintain.

So, I hope that you enjoy this interesting and informative conversation with a man who uses his vast experience to propel Meredith forward in both print and digital, and strives to expand the company’s vision even more, the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Tom Harty, president and chief operating officer, Meredith.

But first the sound-bites:

On his strategic vision for Meredith in today’s 21st century: It really hasn’t changed from what we’ve done in the past. We create great content that’s geared toward American women, and we’ve been doing that for 115 years. And that’s our strategic vision. I think that what we want to do as we change is create that content however she wants to consume it, so obviously that is both in a legacy print format and in all of our new digital formats.

On how he strikes a balance between Meredith’s digital approach and the reality of print today: What we’re seeing is the demand for print products from consumers is still very strong. We like to say that 20 years ago we printed 7.6 million copies of Better Homes and Gardens each month, and today we print 7.6 million copies per month too. And not a lot has changed from that perspective. About 90 percent of our circulation is subscription versus newsstand, so as the newsstand troubles have been going on out there, we’ve been less affected by that. Consumers and women still love the printed format to turn to for inspiration and for more of that lean-back experience. And what we look for more with digital is as a utility to help them to do something in the short-term.

On whether they’re looking for a new strategic model when it comes to digital advertising that isn’t similar to the print model: From an advertising perspective, where we’ve been having success digitally is that we have some proprietary products digitally that are digital-ad products. A company called Selectable Media a few years ago, that enables us to gate content, where you might have to watch a video to completion to get our content. So, we’re asking the consumer to do something.

On how he shows his love, or tough love, to both his legacy magazine brands and those products that were already brands before they joined the Meredith team: That’s a good question, and I think it’s a good point. We’re always evaluating where we’re putting our resources for growth. That’s the struggle that people at the top of the house of media companies have to make, and have been making for long periods of time. You can’t treat every single brand, or child, as you put it, always equally. That’s not to say that this doesn’t change all of the time.

On what he hopes to accomplish one year from now: I think you’re going to see us continue to make organic investments, especially in our digital products into next year. We’re also on the acquisition trail, and we’re looking for both organic growth, where we’re making investments in growing organically in the brands and the product lines that we have, and we’re also looking at opportunities to grow our business through acquisitions. And that could be print products, digital products, or broadcast products on the other side of the business.

On a Rolling Stone acquisition: I wouldn’t say that Rolling Stone would fit our current strategy, that’s what I would comment. It’s a great brand, it’s been around for a long period of time, but it probably would not fit our strategy to look at that brand.

On whether he thinks the recent partnerships many publishers have made with celebrity brands is a new business model or one that began in the ‘80s with Martha Stewart and Time Inc.: I wouldn’t say that it’s a new business model. When Martha, or whoever, starts things from scratch, they’re looking to find the experts that are out there to help them. So, I think there’s an opportunity maybe to do some more of these types of things.

On whether he thinks the future for magazines is a more targeted approach, or there is still a desire from consumers for large, mass magazines like Better Homes and Gardens: I think that there’s a place for some of these large-scale magazines to still exist. I see the demand for Better Homes and Gardens and it’s astonishing. But it really strikes at a strong brand; it strikes at consumers who are looking for that type of content on a broad scale. So, it exists. I don’t know if we’ll ever see a magazine from scratch reach that kind of scale again, I just don’t know. That’s a good question, if there will ever be new brands that will come out and do that.

On the question someone asked him once when he was publisher of TV Guide on why he provided the TV listings free online: When I was the publisher at TV Guide and I was getting the furnace replaced in my old house that I’d bought, and the oil sales guy asked me if I was the publisher of TV Guide, why was I giving the TV listings online for free. That was a moment in time. I’ll never forget that; it was a very strategic question. And at the time, I don’t think we had the answer.

On whether he believes they have the answer now: The utility has changed for a magazine. I think that was more of a technology change. I think the utility of finding what’s on television has changed, and I believe that was something that TV Guide saw coming, but yes, I think we have the answer now.

On what he would have tattooed upon his brain that would be there forever and no one could ever forget about him: When I think about people that I’ve worked with and what they will think about Tom Harty, I believe that it would be that he was a decisive, fair leader during a time in the media business of great disruption. That’s what I think about myself. That I make decisive decisions and I’m very fair about it in my leadership style. And I think that’s what people would say about Tom Harty.

On what someone would find him doing if they showed up unexpectedly one evening at his home: You’d probably find me winding down with my wife and I in the kitchen preparing dinner, and doing it together. And me doing all of the cleanup, just helping her out and enjoying a nice evening together.

On what keeps him up at night: What keeps me up at night is what’s kept a lot of people up at night and that is, as this business goes through tremendous transformation and change, what are the new things technology-wise or competition-wise that I’m not thinking about? That’s what keeps me up at night. You can address the things that you know about, but it’s harder to address the unknown.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Tom Harty, president and chief operating officer, Meredith.

Samir Husni: Congratulations on the many successes that Meredith has been having with its magazines this year. I see from your bio that Meredith gives you much credit for your leadership when it comes to those successes and your strategic vision for the company. Can you tell me about that strategic vision you have for Meredith today, in the 21st century?

Tom Harty: It really hasn’t changed from what we’ve done in the past. We create great content that’s geared toward American women, and we’ve been doing that for 115 years. And that’s our strategic vision. I think that what we want to do as we change is create that content however she wants to consume it, so obviously that is both in a legacy print format and in all of our new digital formats. I always like to tell people, it’s not one or the other, it’s combined for us, so we continue to focus on our great heritage of print products, which women still enjoy thoroughly. And we’re also focused on the new, emerging digital properties and digital utilities that we can format for her going into the future.

Samir Husni: You’re still investing a lot in print. This year alone we’ve seen the reengineering or refreshing of Parents, Martha Stewart Living, Family Circle, and Better Homes and Gardens. And you’re moving forward with digital as well. How do you strike that balance between the digital approach you’re taking and the reality of print today in this digital age?

Tom Harty: What we’re seeing is the demand for print products from consumers is still very strong. We like to say that 20 years ago we printed 7.6 million copies of Better Homes and Gardens each month, and today we print 7.6 million copies per month too. And not a lot has changed from that perspective. About 90 percent of our circulation is subscription versus newsstand, so as the newsstand troubles have been going on out there, we’ve been less affected by that.

Consumers and women still love the printed format to turn to for inspiration and for more of that lean-back experience. And what we look for more with digital is as a utility to help them to do something in the short-term. So, inspiration versus utility, as I like to say.

But to your point, the headwinds that we’ve been facing are that advertisers have a lot more places to spend their money and there are a lot more impressions being created out there in digital and mobile. That’s the issue that we’re facing. At Meredith, we don’t see a tremendous consumer issue, when it comes to demand for our magazines. We have an advertiser issue that we’ve been facing, and we’ve been planning for that and figuring out ways to grow around that.

And we’ve talked about this years ago; when we launched Allrecipes Magazine, I don’t think there were too many people out there who thought it would be successful, taking a digital-only brand that was started online as allrecipes.com, where it’s user-generated content that we obviously give back to consumers online, and give them that utility of finding a recipe that they’re looking for.

But we also felt like when you type into a Google box or a Google search, and you’re specifically looking for chicken dinners or chicken tacos, or swordfish, you know what you’re looking for, at least to start. You’re looking for a recipe around something, but there’s still an inspirational part of curation that our editors can form. So, we started Allrecipes Magazine, where we could curate all of that great content that we have in the back of the database online and bring it forward to inspire. Now, you have an extremely successful magazine built out from a digital-only brand.

A year ago, one of the most exciting things that I’ve seen in my 30+ years in the business is the Magnolia Journal. We had the opportunity to have a discussion with Chip and Joanna Gaines, of the “Fixer Upper” and the Magnolia brand, and in 60 days we put out a newsstand-only test and when it came back, we had to go back to press in the first week and double the print run. We sold over 75 percent of the copies in a short period of time at $10 a pop.

And that’s when we knew we had a runaway success, and now we’re selling subscriptions and now we’re going to have a one million circulation magazine in less than 12 months. It’s the most profitable magazine launch in the history of the company in 115 years. So, there’s a great print product, great brand, great editors working with that celebrity to put together a product that consumers would react to and you can’t argue with the success and demand for that print product.

You asked about the balance; we’re not giving up on the print products because the utility of print is still in demand from consumers. But at the same time we’re building out a digital business that creates a great utility in finding tools to help consumers do that also.

Samir Husni: Recently, I heard that the chief brand officer at P&G said that the average digital ad viewing is 1.7 seconds, and he’s challenging the industry to find another way for digital advertising. As you develop your digital footprint, are you also trying to find a new, strategic model that isn’t similar to the print model?

Tom Harty: From an advertising perspective, where we’ve been having success digitally is that we have some proprietary products digitally that are digital-ad products. A company called Selectable Media a few years ago, that enables us to gate content, where you might have to watch a video to completion to get our content. So, we’re asking the consumer to do something.

And we’re able to take our proprietary data and overlay that with other things. We bought a company called Couponix that enables us to target at retail prices, because half of our traffic for allrecipes happens in retail stores, as people are searching for recipes. So, we’re building out proprietary ad products that give advertisers more value. I think some advertisers are questioning some of the traditional banner advertising; were they getting the best bang for their buck.

So, as we aggregate these great audiences and give them this utility to get at our content, how can we really engage these advertisers in that conversation, where they can get a return for the dollars they’re investing in that. The digital industry is still always evolving and looking for the right mix of , where it’s not interfering with the user experience, but getting those advertisers’ messages across.

I’ve been in this business for a long time, whenever we did unaided research with editors and our subscribers over the years, we’d do focus groups, and this goes back 25 years ago. I used to sit through these and the editors would be behind the glass and the readers would be on the other side, and the facilitator would pass out the magazines and they’d tell the readers to point out the editorial that they really loved, and it used to drive the editors crazy, because they used to point at advertising. The advertising was part of the experience. That is a great part of the form factor of print for advertising. And I think digital is still making strides to get that same connection with consumers, where it’s not interfering with their experience.

Samir Husni: I feel like you may be the father of too many children, and some of them are very well known children, such as Martha Stewart Living, Rachael Ray, and the Gaines couple. How do you show your love, or your tough love, to legacy brands, like Better Homes and Gardens, Parents; and then all of these brands that stand on their own?

Tom Harty: That’s a good question, and I think it’s a good point. We’re always evaluating where we’re putting our resources for growth. That’s the struggle that people at the top of the house of media companies have to make, and have been making for long periods of time. You can’t treat every single brand, or child, as you put it, always equally. That’s not to say that this doesn’t change all of the time.

We’ve been able to build out a great brand portfolio in recent years, and made some great additions like, as you mentioned, Martha Stewart, Shape, Racheal Ray, and Eating Well. We’ve been able to take advantage of the efficiencies of Meredith, from being what we think is one of the best, if not the best, operators in the business, and take advantage of the efficiencies of a bigger media company with our back office based in Des Moines, Iowa.

But we can also allocate some of those savings, as you would call it, being part of a bigger company, where they’re independent on their own, and reinvest in the brand. So, it’s always a battle, but we always have to keep an eye on where we think we can get the best return for our investment and for our shareholders in the future. We’re constantly waging that kind of allocation battle.

You’ve known in the past where we’ve made tougher decisions on brands like Ladies’ Home Journal or More, or we combined Fitness with Shape, where we make a bigger bet on what we think is a different way to allocate it, and stop allocating to certain brands. It’s not an easy decision to make, but we’ve made that in the past.

Samir Husni: When we look at the Meredith portfolio today, under your leadership, if you and I are speaking one year from now, what would you hope to tell me that you had accomplished in 2017?

Tom Harty: I think you’re going to see us continue to make organic investments, especially in our digital products into next year. We’re also on the acquisition trail, and we’re looking for both organic growth, where we’re making investments in growing organically in the brands and the product lines that we have, and we’re also looking at opportunities to grow our business through acquisitions. And that could be print products, digital products, or broadcast products on the other side of the business.

There are a number of things that we’re constantly looking at, so we’re not shying away from any area, but I always say that it has to, number one, fit our strategy for an acquisition, and then it has to be for sale; you have to have a seller that actually wants to sell something, and it has to be the right price. There’s a sifter that we put things through.

I think that throughout the industry, from print to digital to broadcast, all are ripe for consolidation, and as Meredith has stated, we’re going to be a consolidator, and you’ve seen us look at that and do that over the last few years. And we’re going to continue to do that, while at the same time, making investments in our core organic business.

Samir Husni: Without going into what’s up for sale now, can you rule out a Rolling Stone purchase?

Tom Harty: I wouldn’t say that Rolling Stone would fit our current strategy, that’s what I would comment. It’s a great brand, it’s been around for a long period of time, but it probably would not fit our strategy to look at that brand.

That’s not to say that we wouldn’t look at making investments in men’s brands. If you look at our portfolio, we’re more dominant on the women’s side of the business. I think the current number is we reach 112 million women in the United States on a monthly basis. I believe there’s somewhere around 1,920 million adult women in the U.S., so we’re fast approaching a saturation of how we reach women. So, we might look at more men-focused titles in the future.

Samir Husni: When you look at that portfolio and everything you’ve done so far, do you think that with Meredith, Hearst, and recently, Condé Nast, starting partnerships, such as Meredith and the Gaines couple, Hearst and The Pioneer Woman and Dr. Oz; do you think that’s a reinvention of a business model, or is it something that Martha Stewart actually introduced in the 1980s with Time Inc.?

Tom Harty: I wouldn’t say that it’s a new business model. When Martha, or whoever, starts things from scratch, they’re looking to find the experts that are out there to help them. So, I think there’s an opportunity maybe to do some more of these types of things. It’s us and Hearst that’s kind of really active in that.

We did something with Condé Nast with House & Garden. We’re able to produce content very efficiently and House & Garden is a brand that we think is fantastic, and so does Condé Nast. They decided to stop the print brand, and we’ve come back with it and have our second issue on the newsstand, and it’s been successful. So, there are always models that we’re looking at, even helping each other. Here we are working with Condé Nast on a licensing and profitability share for House & Garden.

So, it’s not a new concept, but I think in this day and age launching a magazine for an independent celebrity or independent company, is more difficult. It makes it much more efficient for a bigger media company to help them do that.

Samir Husni: In your career, you’ve worked at three of the largest magazines in this country: TV Guide, Reader’s Digest, and Better Homes and Gardens. So, you’ve seen the huge magazines and their huge circulations. And you just shared that Better Homes and Gardens is still the largest, non-membership magazine in this country. But do you think the future for magazines is a more targeted approach, or is there still a desire from consumers for these large, mass magazines?

Tom Harty: I think that there’s a place for some of these large-scale magazines to still exist. I see the demand for Better Homes and Gardens and it’s astonishing. But it really strikes at a strong brand; it strikes at consumers who are looking for that type of content on a broad scale. So, it exists.

I don’t know if we’ll ever see a magazine from scratch reach that kind of scale again, I just don’t know. That’s a good question, if there will ever be new brands that will come out and do that. I don’t know if the Magnolia brand will ever reach that kind of scale; I’m just not sure.

Samir Husni: I remember meeting you once and you told me a story about your furnace in the basement of your home and the guy who came to fix it. I think at the time the story took place you were at TV Guide. Do you remember that?

Tom Harty: You’re exactly right. I used that example of when I was the publisher at TV Guide and I was getting the furnace replaced in my old house that I’d bought, and the oil sales guy asked me if I was the publisher of TV Guide, why was I giving the TV listings online for free. That was a moment in time. I’ll never forget that; it was a very strategic question. And at the time, I don’t think we had the answer.

Samir Husni: Do you have the answer now?

Tom Harty: The utility has changed for a magazine. I think that was more of a technology change. I think the utility of finding what’s on television has changed, and I believe that was something that TV Guide saw coming, but yes, I think we have the answer now.

Samir Husni: If you could have one thing tattooed upon your brain that no one would ever forget about you, what would it be?

Tom Harty: That’s a good question. When I think about people that I’ve worked with and what they will think about Tom Harty, I believe that it would be that he was a decisive, fair leader during a time in the media business of great disruption. That’s what I think about myself. That I make decisive decisions and I’m very fair about it in my leadership style. And I think that’s what people would say about Tom Harty.

Samir Husni: If I showed up unexpectedly at your home one evening after work, what would I find you doing? Having a glass of wine; reading a magazine; cooking; watching TV; or something else?

Tom Harty: You’d probably find me winding down with my wife and I in the kitchen preparing dinner, and doing it together. And me doing all of the cleanup, just helping her out and enjoying a nice evening together.

Samir Husni: My typical last question; what keeps you up at night?

Tom Harty: What keeps me up at night is what’s kept a lot of people up at night and that is, as this business goes through tremendous transformation and change, what are the new things technology-wise or competition-wise that I’m not thinking about? That’s what keeps me up at night. You can address the things that you know about, but it’s harder to address the unknown. And that’s what keeps me staring at the ceiling at night, the things that I’m missing.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

The Story of Highlights Documented in the Movie 44 Pages

“I think my son at age 12 is pretty engaged across the spectrum of technology, but it was eye-opening to hear him say there might not be print when he becomes an adult. But I’m convinced there will be for my lifetime, particularly for kid’s magazines. I think we face different issues in some types of adult titles and different issues in current events and news than in true audience-based magazines. But at Highlights, we’re believers in print.” Kent Johnson…

Highlights has been around for 71 years, educating and entertaining children throughout generations. It is a legacy brand, certainly, but it’s also a brand that believes in creativity and innovation, evolving perfectly with the times, becoming globally successful, while remaining the beloved companion of children across the U.S.

A 90-minute documentary entitled “44 Pages,” chronicling the history, process and philosophy behind the Highlights brand has been released and the film premiered on the national film festival circuit earlier this spring and is now touring across the country making stops in select cities for screenings and events. It’s a poignant look at the family who brought us this great children’s educational tool, exploring the rich and tragic history of the magazine and brand.

Kent Johnson is the CEO and the great-grandson of the founders of the company, Garry Cleveland Myers and his wife Caroline Clark Myers. I spoke with Kent recently and we talked about the past, present and future of the brand. We even discussed the controversy surrounding the company’s diversity values and how they handled the situation. It was nothing less than you’d expect from a man who grew up on those same values; ones that are enveloped with ethics, fairness and the firm belief that children are the most important people in the world.

So, I hope that you enjoy this glimpse into a brand that has been around for a very long time, and has found that with age, not only does wisdom come, but also a layer of commitment and ethical truth that the company’s CEO is in perfect step with, the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Kent Johnson, CEO, Highlights.

But first the sound-bites:

On his then 12-year-old son’s question of will there be print when he is an adult, which was highlighted in the new Highlights documentary: Well, I had asked him what did he think it would be like when he was an adult, and he had the reaction that he wasn’t sure there would be print magazines. And so they took that quote from me during the filming where we talked about that because I think they liked the way that worked as the lead-in for the section they were going to do. It kind of portrayed some of the tension that our company and our digital partners have had about the role of print versus the role of digital.

On whether, at 71-years-old, he feels the magazine is still relevant and needed in these digital times: Yes. Our belief is that as we look out into the world, many of us feel that we’re living in times that are filled with some contention, trouble and challenges in our society. Our belief is that the conditions in the world today, the pace of change and the disruption, makes Highlights even more relevant than when we were founded.

On having a Ph. D. in physics and whether it’s the scientist in him or the passion for the brand that makes him believe it’s still relevant today: I think it’s both. But I think it’s also the data that we see, and maybe that’s the scientist side of me. We see and measure positive reaction; we see millennial parents; we see parents looking for meaning and connection, and we listen to the feedback. We don’t have advertisers, so the people we listen to, in terms of relevance, are our readers and our subscribers.

On the magazine’s rocky start: There was a rocky start from a business perspective, and I think that if it weren’t for my great-uncle getting involved and having an entrepreneurial inspiration, as well as many others. People who believed in their vision and invested money, and printers and vendors that were critical, the sales team; we probably wouldn’t have made it through the first half dozen years.

On whether he thinks that Highlights’ business model is still just as valid today as it was years ago: Our model includes extending well beyond magazines. And we tend to think of our magazines as products, but there’s also an audience associated with each of our magazines to the progression from infant and toddlers, up to preschool, and then our Highlights readers. So, we’re constantly working to think about new ways to serve those audiences and that might be with digital products that we hope our subscribers would buy, and we do sell digital subscription products. Or it might be with our clubs, where we have people join who want to go deeper into a specific content area or really want to get into puzzling as opposed to something else. To move beyond and extend from a general interest magazine.

On his role (other than CEO) within the company: I’m a relatively humble leader. I try to spend as much of my time as I can talking about our mission, our values, and what we’re trying to do. I think it’s critical that as a leader I’m working to ensure that we’re bringing really talented, skilled people into the company, but also making sure that people who come to work here share our beliefs and our mission. We want to have employees who in addition to being happy and successful in their jobs, we want them to gain an extra sense of satisfaction because of what we do for children. Because they tend to be happier here and more successful.

On the diversity controversy the magazine faced last year: We tend to focus on and think about how does a child see themselves in our magazines. What was interesting when we came under criticism around the issue of same sex, same gender parents, was when we really looked at our magazine, we don’t have many depictions of parents. We tend to focus the content from the kids’ point of view. In some ways, we may have been a little surprised that an adult issue was coming with such strength to us. On the other hand, I think what we learned was that the world has changed pretty quickly on these issues. And Highlights has tended to evolve and change with society and this may have been a case where we were slower than some would have liked to evolve.

On whether it’s easier or harder to take a centrist’s point of view in the magazine with the divisiveness that faces our country today: I’m not sure whether it’s easier or harder; it certainly feels like one can be criticized more readily today. I think for us when we did go through the controversy, one of the things that allowed us to not be too distracted was once we decided what we wanted to do, what was consistent with our editorial point of view, our values, and how we wanted to execute it, we were able to shut out the inputs from the outside world. We have an incredible staff, who’s judgement and decision-making I have complete trust in. So, once we knew what we wanted to do, we knew we were doing it with our audience, with children in mind, and we knew there was no way to make everyone happy.

On whether it’s easier or harder to remain ethical these days: I don’t know if it’s easy or hard, it’s just the way we’ve done things from the beginning. And it’s not really a daily choice, it’s the air that we try to breathe as an organization. And I think there are many organizations like that. It can be hard if you’re not rock solid in understanding your commitment to integrity and ethics. It can be difficult in a highly-pressured, highly-competitive world for some organizations.

On the four key values of the company: Our four key values as a company are teamwork, creativity, excellence and integrity. We also have a primary value, which is that children are the world’s most important people. And we carry that along as our primary value to remind everyone that when we look at our values or talk about them, that one is our primary value.

On anything he’d like to add: One thing that I’d like add is we’ve been having some neat success internationally. And a lot of our international success is related to English-language learning and content and products. So, it’s not all magazines. But I found it neat that I got to visit our magazine partner in China back in April. And we are now, I think starting next month, we are simultaneously publishing with our partner in China, both Highlights and High Five, the same issue in China in English, but we also record all of the audio and we print a special layer on the magazines. So, they have a talking pen. The kids in China are reading Highlights and High Five at the same time kids are reading them in the U.S., but they will have a pen where they can touch on anything and it will read them the article, because we’re trying to help them learn English.

On any plans to bring the magazine with the reading pen to the U.S.: Innovative, global partners; every time they do something different that surprises us or often inspires us, we do ask the question: is that something we should bring to us? Or how would that idea work in the U.S. market? And that is often digital, because we feel there’s a lot of great innovation with technology in our foreign markets. We don’t have a distribution approach associated with the talking pen for the U.S., but it’s on our minds to think about whether that would be a retail or a direct to consumer, or something that we need in our market. We don’t have any specific plans yet, but we’re always thinking.

On what he would have tattooed upon his brain that would be there forever and no one could ever forget about him: If it’s about me personally, I just hope people would read that I have had a positive impact on those around me. A positive impact on the world and a positive impact on the company I’m part of and positive impact on my own family. That would be my ultimate goal for someone to see on that tattoo.

On what someone would find him doing if they showed up unexpectedly one evening at his home: I’m a bit more of an introvert than my job typically requires. I like to try and unplug in the evenings, so you’d see me with my kids. You might see me reading with them or playing a computer game with them, or doing homework. You would probably see me with a glass of wine. If it’s hockey season, you might see me watching a hockey game. And I like to read a lot. If it’s late enough, you might catch me in my bed reading a book, trying to stay awake because it’s interesting or not.

On what keeps him up at night: It’s a good question, because I’m not the best sleeper. Mostly, I’m up at night thinking about all of the opportunities and all of the changes and pressures. So, I’m up a lot thinking about work and how do we adapt to the world that’s changing so quickly, and how do we deliver for our customers on the potential we have, just because of the Highlights brand’s heritage and our ability. We have more opportunities than we know what to do with, and that keeps me feeling a level of pressure and urgency and excitement that does interfere with my sleep.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Kent Johnson, CEO, Highlights for Children.

Samir Husni: I just finished watching the new “44 Pages” documentary about the creation of Highlights, and I was struck by the question your son asked you, “Dad, will there be a Highlights in the future when I’m an adult?”

Kent Johnson: Well, I had asked him what did he think it would be like when he was an adult, and he had the reaction that he wasn’t sure there would be print magazines. And so they took that quote from me during the filming where we talked about that because I think they liked the way that worked as the lead-in for the section they were going to do. It kind of portrayed some of the tension that our company and our digital partners have had about the role of print versus the role of digital.

I think my son at age 12 is pretty engaged across the spectrum of technology, but it was eye-opening to hear him say there might not be print when he becomes an adult. But I’m convinced there will be for my lifetime, particularly for kid’s magazines. I think we face different issues in some types of adult titles and different issues in current events and news than in true audience-based magazines. But at Highlights, we’re believers in print.

Samir Husni: The magazine is now 71 years old, and from the days when I was working with the company, I’ve always heard that you’re a mission-driven, family operation.

Kent Johnson: Yes.

Samir Husni: So, do you think that Highlights today, at 71, is still relevant and needed? And is it still a reflection of our times in this digital age?

Kent Johnson: Yes. Our belief is that as we look out into the world, many of us feel that we’re living in times that are filled with some contention, trouble and challenges in our society. Our belief is that the conditions in the world today, the pace of change and the disruption, makes Highlights even more relevant than when we were founded.

And I think part of that at 71 years, Highlights, even though the majority of people know us for our magazine and know that we’ve had the magazine for that entire time, we tend to think of ourselves as you said, as a mission-driven company, but we also think of ourselves as a company that’s focused on serving children and families. And we have a philosophy and a set of values that we think resonate as much today as they ever have with the aspirations that parents have for their children.

We think that people want to try to raise children to become their best selves, and that’s really what we focus on trying to do with our magazine, but also in our digital products, and across all of our other products throughout the company. We even like to talk that we’re not ultimately trying to create a magazine, it’s the experience that’s created when a child engages with the magazine that we care about. I like to think that what we’re doing is creating experiences that help children grow in positive ways.

Samir Husni: I know that your great-grandparents started the company, but something very few people may know is that you actually have a Ph.D. in physics. So, is it the scientist in you or the passion in you that makes you believe the magazine is still relevant?

Kent Johnson: I think it’s both. But I think it’s also the data that we see, and maybe that’s the scientist side of me. We see and measure positive reaction; we see millennial parents; we see parents looking for meaning and connection, and we listen to the feedback. We don’t have advertisers, so the people we listen to, in terms of relevance, are our readers and our subscribers.

I am passionate; we really try to recruit people to our company who are passionate about what we’re doing, who are believers when it comes to the impact that we have on children, and the positive impact that we have in society. But we’re also a group of data-driven, analytic folks who are looking at the data to say that we think we’re still relevant.

Samir Husni: Very few people, including myself, who thought that I knew the history of Highlights; I did not know that it had a rocky start. That after four years, they were losing money and getting ready to close shop. And then your great-uncle came into it. And the tragedy when your family was flying to New York in 1960, and the planes collided and everyone died on that flight. So, it wasn’t always a walk in a rose garden for Highlights.

Kent Johnson: I think that’s true. And I think that the founders started this company as their final chapter. They were 59 and 61 years old, and they were passionate about the mission. And they were exceedingly knowledgeable about parenting, education, literacy and children, but as we like to say when we’re looking back on history, maybe they weren’t as skilled as businesspeople as they were in child development and as educators and editors.

So, there was a rocky start from a business perspective, and I think that if it weren’t for my great-uncle getting involved and having an entrepreneurial inspiration, as well as many others. People who believed in their vision and invested money, and printers and vendors that were critical, the sales team; we probably wouldn’t have made it through the first half dozen years.

And then to be, as they show in the documentary, to be at the stage where, really at that point in 1960 being at half a million subscribers, it had become clear that this was going to be a viable, long-lived company. And to have a tragedy, which was a tragedy for the Columbus community and many, many families, but to have a tragedy where we lost three of our five senior executive, including two family members, was the kind of blow that I think you could easily imagine would do a company in and cause a family to falter.

But I think the reaction, as I look back, the non-family executives, the family members, our founders, who were living and still in the business, but now had lost their son and their president of the company, everyone decided that the company had to go forward. I think that level of commitment to the mission is what allowed us then to get through crises, but it is the kind of commitment that I was brought up in thinking, believing and understanding that we ought to have at Highlights. And it gives us a bit of resilience to get through whatever the crisis of the day, or the difficulties are. We kind of believe that we can and will keep going, no matter what.

Samir Husni: The magazine has never had advertising, so your source of revenue always depended on circulation and subscription. And for years, you were the most expensive children’s magazine on the marketplace. But now with the slew of new children’s magazines coming out, some with cover prices of $12; do you think that the business model that you follow at Highlights is still as valid as it was years ago? Or do you have any plans to change it or do something different?

Kent Johnson: That’s a great question. I think we have often been relatively high-priced compared to some competitors. But we are a mass market magazine, and it’s part of our mission, we want to reach as many children as possible here in the U.S. and around the world, so we try to price in a way that is a good value, given the quality of the content and the investment of the content, but is also enough that we’re able to continue to invest in the content. So, we believe that content has value and the experience we create with magazines justifies the expense. And that it’s a good investment for the quality of time it creates in a family and for a child.

That being said, our model includes extending well beyond magazines. And we tend to think of our magazines as products, but there’s also an audience associated with each of our magazines to the progression from infant and toddlers, up to preschool, and then our Highlights readers. So, we’re constantly working to think about new ways to serve those audiences and that might be with digital products that we hope our subscribers would buy, and we do sell digital subscription products. Or it might be with our clubs, where we have people join who want to go deeper into a specific content area or really want to get into puzzling as opposed to something else. To move beyond and extend from a general interest magazine.

And we’re also trying to go into retail, because we know that in addition to our subscriber base, many people are familiar and have positive emotional connections to the Highlights brand. And to be there in retail with Highlights’ branded products, books and activities, and a variety of categories gives them another way to engage with us. So, I think our business model is evolving, and will continue to evolve, but is evolving to try and really shift from people thinking they are a Highlights subscriber; we want people to say they are part of the Highlights family, and we want them to say they engage with Highlights products beyond the magazine.

Samir Husni: I understand that now Highlights is platform agnostic. What role do you play, besides CEO, when we look at the theme that Highlights will always be an evangelist for children, helping kids be happier and healthier; are you the high priest or are you the altar boy? (Laughs)

Kent Johnson: (Laughs too) I’m a relatively humble leader. I try to spend as much of my time as I can talking about our mission, our values, and what we’re trying to do. I think it’s critical that as a leader I’m working to ensure that we’re bringing really talented, skilled people into the company, but also making sure that people who come to work here share our beliefs and our mission. We want to have employees who in addition to being happy and successful in their jobs, we want them to gain an extra sense of satisfaction because of what we do for children. Because they tend to be happier here and more successful.

I go in and out of a lot of different things with the company, but mostly I try to fertilize and cross-fertilize aspects of our mission and values, and keep us all energized on the things that we’ve been doing for 71 years. We have an incredible energy right now about magazine publishing and I think that’s what you see in the documentary “44 Pages.” The passion and energy for something we’ve been doing for 71 years, but it’s new with every issue. And we’re having a blast on international, on digital, and doing apps. So, I try to keep the excitement and enthusiasm up, because I think that makes it a much more fun place to work. And it ultimately means we’ll create better things for kids, if those things are true.

Samir Husni: I have to ask the question about the diversity issues that took place last year, and some of the criticisms you received in the press regarding the LGBT community. Those who don’t study Highlights; I rarely look at an old issue of Highlights that I don’t see a white child, a black child, a woman, a man, a boy, a girl. Why do you think that for the magazine that has diversity as part of its DNA, you were in that maelstrom of controversy? How did you deal with it? And was it a big surprise to you that someone thought Highlights wasn’t diverse?

Kent Johnson: I do think that a sense of tolerance and a sense of inclusivity and the idea that as humans we always share more with each other than we differ; those have been core tenants that we at Highlights have always tried to focus on. These are human values that we believe in, and we’re proud of our heritage. We have had a lot of diversity within the pages of our magazine over the years. Actually, someone wrote a paper looking at our representation of women and minorities in roles related to science. And it was rewarding for me as a scientist to see the report card that we had been well ahead of the curve, in terms of going against stereotypes, with respect to math and science, because we do have a problem in the science industry with the diversity of folks who are successful and advancing in those careers.

We tend to focus on and think about how does a child see themselves in our magazines. What was interesting when we came under criticism around the issue of same sex, same gender parents, was when we really looked at our magazine, we don’t have many depictions of parents. We tend to focus the content from the kids’ point of view. In some ways, we may have been a little surprised that an adult issue was coming with such strength to us. On the other hand, I think what we learned was that the world has changed pretty quickly on these issues. And Highlights has tended to evolve and change with society and this may have been a case where we were slower than some would have liked to evolve.

We were surprised at the level of intensity of feedback. And I think it all happened at a time, and I think we’re still in this time, but at a high level of contention or divisiveness in our society. And the digital means of communication allow people to pour a fair bit of emotion or intensity in their communications. So, we were a little surprised at the intensity when that all happened.

Samir Husni: One of your editors told me once that Highlights tried to be like an island of clarity in the world that kids are living in. That reminded me of what the former CEO of the Wall Street Journal told me once, that the WSJ had been referred to as an island of clarity in a sea of madness when it comes to business. As we live in this, not only digital age, but with everything that is taking place in our country today, is it easier or harder for Highlights to take that centrist’s point of view and try to provide this island of clarity in a very divided country today?

Kent Johnson: I’m not sure whether it’s easier or harder; it certainly feels like one can be criticized more readily today. I think for us when we did go through the controversy, one of the things that allowed us to not be too distracted was once we decided what we wanted to do, what was consistent with our editorial point of view, our values, and how we wanted to execute it, we were able to shut out the inputs from the outside world. We have an incredible staff, who’s judgement and decision-making I have complete trust in. So, once we knew what we wanted to do, we knew we were doing it with our audience, with children in mind, and we knew there was no way to make everyone happy.

But I think it’s easier for a company like Highlights, being privately-held and committed to the audience and the readers, when we make our decision and make our judgements about what’s in the magazine, we go forward with those decisions. So, we will never sit in the middle of any discussion and try to make the calculation of what exactly does that do to our subscriptions or our marketing, or did people cancel because they didn’t like that decision.

I think as a company, we feel we have a responsibility to be comfortable in our own skin and own our decisions and implement them in the way that we think is best for children in our society. So, I think it’s hard because there’s more external pressures, but it’s also, I think, something that is our obligation as magazine publishers to make and commit to how we want to do things based on the expertise and experience of the team we’ve put together.

Samir Husni: And is it easier or harder to remain ethical? Somebody mentioned in the documentary that you’re one of the few remaining ethical publishing companies.

Kent Johnson: I would never try to compare us to others, because I think there are so many ethical people in the world. Integrity is one of our four key company values. So, for us we have all bought in that being ethical is not a choice, it’s part of who we are. When we make that level of commitment to being ethical, you realize that you have to own up that sometimes that means you’re willing to sacrifice things to be and strive to always behave in the most ethical way one can.

I don’t know if it’s easy or hard, it’s just the way we’ve done things from the beginning. And it’s not really a daily choice, it’s the air that we try to breathe as an organization. And I think there are many organizations like that. It can be hard if you’re not rock solid in understanding your commitment to integrity and ethics. It can be difficult in a highly-pressured, highly-competitive world for some organizations. We try to take it off the table and just say that first and foremost we have to do the right thing.

Samir Husni: You mentioned integrity and ethics, what are your other two core values for the company? You said there were four.

Kent Johnson: Our four key values as a company are teamwork, creativity, excellence and integrity. We also have a primary value, which is that children are the world’s most important people. And we carry that along as our primary value to remind everyone that when we look at our values or talk about them, that one is our primary value.

Those values really came out of a process where we discovered those and engaged our whole organization to define them. What was remarkable is that we went through that process recently, I had my cousin, Pat Michaelson, who is a granddaughter of the founders, to look at it and she said that was exactly what we’d been about since day one. I thought it was neat that today’s organization reflects in an ongoing, consistent way the values that we’ve had for 71 years.

Samir Husni: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Kent Johnson: One thing that I’d like add is we’ve been having some neat success internationally. And a lot of our international success is related to English-language learning and content and products. So, it’s not all magazines.

But I found it neat that I got to visit our magazine partner in China back in April. And we are now, I think starting next month, we are simultaneously publishing with our partner in China, both Highlights and High Five, the same issue in China in English, but we also record all of the audio and we print a special layer on the magazines. So, they have a talking pen. The kids in China are reading Highlights and High Five at the same time kids are reading them in the U.S., but they will have a pen where they can touch on anything and it will read them the article, because we’re trying to help them learn English. And it’s been fun to watch that business grow knowing that audio recorded and content created in Honesdale, Pennsylvania is appearing across China at the same time every month.

We’re printing them; we send the audio and they print a fifth layer that’s readable by a sensor in the pen, so it knows where your touching. They encode it and we record the audio and we’re printing and selling them vinyl copies for their growing subscriber base. We’re somewhat non-traditional as a magazine by going international, so we’ve had to find our way. A lot of our applications have to do with our core identity as a kid’s company and an educational company, so reaching English-language learning in many different ways, a lot of time digitally, but also in print around the world.

Samir Husni: Any plans to bring that reading magazine here?

Kent Johnson: Innovative, global partners; every time they do something different that surprises us or often inspires us, we do ask the question: is that something we should bring to us? Or how would that idea work in the U.S. market? And that is often digital, because we feel there’s a lot of great innovation with technology in our foreign markets. We don’t have a distribution approach associated with the talking pen for the U.S., but it’s on our minds to think about whether that would be a retail or a direct to consumer, or something that we need in our market. We don’t have any specific plans yet, but we’re always thinking.

I’ve tried to say to our company that we should be, not only global, in terms of our sales and distribution of product, but we want to allow being a global company to accept how we think about everything. So, more and more we think about our systems and our ways that we tag our content, or even some of our decisions about product development. We think they all have to at least be looked at through a global lens to make sure we’re doing the very best we can and serve kids all over the world.

Samir Husni: If you could have one thing tattooed upon your brain that no one would ever forget about you, what would it be?

Kent Johnson: I’ll answer that two ways. One; what I used to weave into speeches, and I still do, if someone ripped me from my sleep and said: quick, you have to tell me about the identity of Highlights for Children or the company, what matters? I always say there are three things: we’re mission-driven and for-profit, two – we’re always balancing the short and long-term time horizons, we’re always thinking both short-term and long-term, and three – we’re an ethical company.

If it’s about me personally, I just hope people would read that I have had a positive impact on those around me. A positive impact on the world and a positive impact on the company I’m part of and positive impact on my own family. That would be my ultimate goal for someone to see on that tattoo.

Samir Husni: If I showed up unexpectedly at your home one evening after work, what would I find you doing? Having a glass of wine; reading a magazine; cooking; on your iPad; watching TV; or something else?

Kent Johnson: I’m a bit more of an introvert than my job typically requires. I like to try and unplug in the evenings, so you’d see me with my kids. You might see me reading with them or playing a computer game with them, or doing homework. You would probably see me with a glass of wine. If it’s hockey season, you might see me watching a hockey game. And I like to read a lot. If it’s late enough, you might catch me in my bed reading a book, trying to stay awake because it’s interesting or not.

Samir Husni: My typical last question; what keeps you up at night?

Kent Johnson: It’s a good question, because I’m not the best sleeper. Mostly, I’m up at night thinking about all of the opportunities and all of the changes and pressures. So, I’m up a lot thinking about work and how do we adapt to the world that’s changing so quickly, and how do we deliver for our customers on the potential we have, just because of the Highlights brand’s heritage and our ability. We have more opportunities than we know what to do with, and that keeps me feeling a level of pressure and urgency and excitement that does interfere with my sleep.

Samir Husni: Thank you.

“There’s room for it (print), of course, and if you’re in the relationship business, to some extent you’re agnostic. Your job is to really know the customer and how they want content experiences delivered to them. And if they’re raising their hands and saying they want magazines, then you provide magazines. And they still today provide fantastic and immersive lean-back experiences.” Dan Hickey…(on whether there is room for print in the magazine media world’s future)

A legacy publishing company, Kalmbach Publishing has been around for 83 years and has no plans to slow down now. A force to be reckoned with in the world of niche, with titles such as Model Railroader, Discover, Bead & Button, Classic Toy Trains, and Astronomy, plus many more, Kalmbach’s long dedication to its mission statement of putting the customer first is something that drew media veteran, Dan Hickey to the position he now holds as CEO.

Dan is someone who brings an array of skills to the top post at Kalmbach, from his tenure at Meredith, where he oversaw all digital businesses, to his executive position at AOL, and his editorial leadership roles at Walking Magazine and National Gardening, along with many other career experiences that will no doubt help him along this niche path he is now traveling.

I spoke with Dan recently and we talked about his vision for the company’s future, which consists of accelerating Kalmbach’s already very prevalent commitment to its customers, and to keep what he considers the core of the magazine business, relationships, revved up. It was a highly informative and interesting conversation, and one I hope you enjoy.

And now, the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Dan Hickey, CEO, Kalmbach Publishing.

But first, the sound-bites:

On his vision for the future as the new CEO of the company: The 83-year-old history of the customer coming first, a value that Kalmbach has embraced, is really the foundation of the future as well. I believe that the magazine business at its core is a relationship business. Great content, experiences that you find in magazines, that you find on websites and with other platforms, is the conduit that allows for those relationships. And ultimately, I think it builds the brand loyalty over time.

On his reaction when he learned the Kalmbach board had selected him as CEO: The reason I’m excited, and why I was so attracted to Kalmbach is after a number of visits to the company, I found out several things. First, they are a very proud company and it reminded me of my days at Meredith. Meredith is very similar; 100+ years-old, Kalmbach’s 83-years-old. Kalmbach was not shy about their history of values, they have put the customer front and center for 83 years. And simple things impressed me. They keep their building and campus immaculate, and I saw that right away. I said to myself, this is a company that really cares; about itself, about its employees, and about its customers. So, that was impressive to me.

On whether he thinks his editorial background prepares him better for the business side of the company or could it be a possible stumbling block: I think it prepares me well, and not only my editorial background, but my digital background as well. For the last 20 years, I’ve pretty much been on the digital side of the business, as well as marketing. So, it’s not just editorial. It’s editorial, marketing, circulation, and ad sales. I’ve touched all of those sides of the business and I feel that I have a deep enough understanding of how to weave all of those things together in preparing for the future. I’ve see a lot of silos in my day; I’ve seen editorial silos, ad silos, consumer marketing silos, so I think my background will really help me bring those functions together in an harmonious way to really prepare for the future.

On whether he believes those silos are being torn down quickly enough: I think that as a whole, the industry isn’t clear enough as to where the puck is going. And I really believe we’re in the relationship business and I think there is a shift mentally from companies that say they’re a magazine publisher, to they’re in the relationship business, because once you can shift mentally into that relationship faction, you’re less focused on a particular form factor. And you’re really focused on the relationship itself and the needs of your customers. In my view, the slowness of the industry is embracing that. Once everyone embraces that and ask themselves how they can super-serve their customers, then the silos will naturally break down.

On whether he believes there is still room for print in the future, for our children and grandchildren: Of course. The customer is going to determine that, right? There’s room for it, of course, and if you’re in the relationship business, to some extent you’re agnostic. Your job is to really know the customer and how they want content experiences delivered to them. And if they’re raising their hands and saying they want magazines, then you provide magazines. And they still today provide fantastic and immersive lean-back experiences.

On whether he believes there will ever come a time when people will pay for digital in the same way they pay for print: Yes, and it will be easier. I do think that’s part of building a relationship platform. As you have an ecosystem of platforms from magazines to digital to social to events to potentially subscription boxes or other things that you deliver to your customers, and mobile products as well. Part of the strength of a company like Kalmbach is our circulation departments or consumer marketing departments are essentially very good at handling recurring revenue streams.

On something he looks back on today and wishes he hadn’t done: Ten or 15 years ago, when I first got into digital, I think most publishers, if they could rewind the clock, wouldn’t be giving away free content like they are today. It was the reality that we knew at the time. We thought that “search” was the great disruptor, that it was going to be a level playing field, and that anything behind a paywall was not going to get indexed and we wouldn’t get traffic. And if you could look at what we know today, I think most publishers would agree, we should have been asking for money right away.

On anything he’d like to add: I’m super-excited. We’ve got a great organization with a great legacy and a lot of talent; we have 187 employees and everybody is very proud of our company. They live their work and they work their lives. They’re all enthusiasts at their core, so I’m just super-excited to be here.

On what he would have tattooed upon his brain that would be there forever and no one could ever forget about him: I’m a big believer in show, don’t tell, in journalism. But if I had to have something tattooed, it would probably be something more aspirational for me. If people were going to remember it forever about me, I would love to be remembered as a kind person. That would make me very happy, and it’s something that’s, again, aspirational and something I have to work on every day.

On what someone would find him doing if they showed up unexpectedly one evening at his home: I’m probably binge-watching YouTube with fishing or boating videos. I’m trying to perfect my boat-trailering launching, and there’s an endless supply of videos showing, and sometimes they’re very humorous, showing what to do and what not to do with your boat when you’re backing into a lake.

On what keeps him up at night: Figuratively, as I mentioned before, it’s phones, and how we’re going to create and maintain the relationships that we have on that device. It’s already a real challenge for media companies and it’s not talked about enough, and that worries me. It’s something that I think about a lot.

And now the lightly edited transcript of the Mr. Magazine™ interview with Dan Hickey, CEO, Kalmbach Publishing.

Samir Husni: You’re quoted in the press release about your position as the new CEO of Kalmbach Publishing, as saying that Kalmbach has a long and compelling history of putting the customer front and center. That being said, what’s the vision that you bring to the company as you look toward the future?

Dan Hickey: The 83-year-old history of the customer coming first, a value that Kalmbach has embraced, is really the foundation of the future as well. I believe that the magazine business at its core is a relationship business. Great content, experiences that you find in magazines, that you find on websites and with other platforms, is the conduit that allows for those relationships. And ultimately, I think it builds the brand loyalty over time.

More and more this is happening across the brand ecosystem, so Kalmbach has very strong relationships with its customers through the magazine, the website; through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and we have a very robust email program. And it’s emphasizing the strengthening of each platform. Again, Kalmbach’s audience is engaging in print, digital, and events. For example, Kalmbach’s Bead & Button show is the largest event of its kind. So, we have the foundation for a relationship platform, and the vision is to really continue to invest in that platform and better allow the company to manage those relationships across the entire brand ecosystem, including print, digital, social and email.

The vision is a continuation of the nurturing of those relationships, and also creating new relationships. Once you have a relationship platform in place that serves the passion communities that they serve today, you can start looking at new categories and new communities, hopefully with younger audiences, and develop new relationships. And from those relationships, as they become trusted, you can serve those audiences.

And the expectation is that you’ll serve new products and services that enhance the customer’s experience, especially in these niche, enthusiast categories. We’re already doing this at the company, and we’ll continue to do more of it. An example would be premium video in the train category. We have 10,000 people subscribing to the magazine who already pay additional to subscribe to the video service. That’s an example of extending the brand, extending the relationship by providing more value to content in whatever form the audience wants it.

Samir Husni: When the board selected you as the new CEO, what was your initial reaction?

Dan Hickey: The reason I’m excited, and why I was so attracted to Kalmbach is after a number of visits to the company, I found out several things. First, they are a very proud company and it reminded me of my days at Meredith. Meredith is very similar; 100+ years-old, Kalmbach’s 83-years-old. Kalmbach was not shy about their history of values, they have put the customer front and center for 83 years. And simple things impressed me. They keep their building and campus immaculate, and I saw that right away. I said to myself, this is a company that really cares; about itself, about its employees, and about its customers. So, that was impressive to me.

And the second thing I saw was that because of the niche, enthusiast audiences, passion audiences or passion communities, I saw that they didn’t have some of the challenges of the mass market publications, because they’re serving these niche, enthusiast audiences that love their products, from trains and beading, to model cars and astronomy.

And again, it wasn’t just the magazines either; their audiences were already buying premium content in experiences above and beyond the magazine. So, that was super-impressive to me and I thought this was directionally and instinctively the way I would take the company as well, just really kind of accelerate it.

Third, they had a strong balance sheet and they’re very strong operationally. They’re set up for endemic growth, as well as acquisition, and finally I’m one of them. I’m an enthusiast; I have many hobbies and interests, from fishing and remodeling, to gardening and biking. And I understand the importance of passions and how they feed, at least my own, heart and soul. So, I thought that this is something bigger than just a publishing company; that Kalmbach really does serve an important service. Hobbies and passions will be around for a long, long time. And in fact, they may become even more important in the lives of future generations, especially when we see what’s happening with phone usage and the younger generation.

There was just this bigger picture thing there as well, and when they told me that I had been selected, I was super-thrilled. I felt like in some ways the job was just made for me.

Samir Husni: You’re one of the few CEO’s now in the media world with an editorial background. You’ve held a lot of editorial positions, from the days of Walking Magazine to National Gardening to newspapers; do you feel that your editorial background prepares you better for the business side or could it possibly be a stumbling block?

Dan Hickey: I think it prepares me well, and not only my editorial background, but my digital background as well. For the last 20 years, I’ve pretty much been on the digital side of the business, as well as marketing. So, it’s not just editorial. It’s editorial, marketing, circulation, and ad sales. I’ve touched all of those sides of the business and I feel that I have a deep enough understanding of how to weave all of those things together in preparing for the future.

I’ve see a lot of silos in my day; I’ve seen editorial silos, ad silos, consumer marketing silos, so I think my background will really help me bring those functions together in an harmonious way to really prepare for the future. The future is going to take a team. And not just an editorial team, or just a sales team; it’s everybody working together as one team. And I think my background prepares me for that.

Samir Husni: Looking at the industry as a whole, not just specifically Kalmbach, do you feel that we’ve been fast enough when it comes to destroying those silos and building a big brand warehouse for the product, or do you think we’re still taking our own sweet time doing that?

Dan Hickey: I think that as a whole, the industry isn’t clear enough as to where the puck is going. And I really believe we’re in the relationship business and I think there is a shift mentally from companies that say they’re a magazine publisher, to they’re in the relationship business, because once you can shift mentally into that relationship faction, you’re less focused on a particular form factor. And you’re really focused on the relationship itself and the needs of your customers.

In my view, the slowness of the industry is embracing that. Once everyone embraces that and ask themselves how they can super-serve their customers, then the silos will naturally break down. I think you have to understand where your vision and your future is, and then you’ll start to understand that you can’t have it with silo practices and functions within your organization.

Samir Husni: Being in the relationship business, what type are of relationship are you looking for with your customers? A one night stand; a love affair, or a long-lasting relationship? (Laughs)

Dan Hickey: (Laughs too) A long-lasting one, for sure.

Samir Husni: If someone asked you what the future of magazine publishing is, what would your answer be? We know we can’t be just print or just digital, we have to be in it all. But is there still room for print in the future, for our children and grandchildren?

Dan Hickey: Of course. The customer is going to determine that, right? There’s room for it, of course, and if you’re in the relationship business, to some extent you’re agnostic. Your job is to really know the customer and how they want content experiences delivered to them. And if they’re raising their hands and saying they want magazines, then you provide magazines. And they still today provide fantastic and immersive lean-back experiences.

So, to some extent I don’t know why we are a little obsessed with the question. To me, it’s a matter of what the customer wants. And what we do know is that they’re always interested in being immersed in great content experiences, whether that takes the shape of a printed magazine, tablet, or subscription boxes; it really doesn’t matter about the platform to some extent.

Tablets, for example, never exploded like they were originally forecasted to, some of the phone companies are actually giving them away, but no one is asking the question are tablets dead. Again, with the customer as your strategy, you’re going to say, I will deliver content however they want me to deliver it.

What worries me a little bit is the phone and how content is consumed on the phone. And how media companies and publishers are meeting some of the challenges to monetize and maintain the relationship on that particular platform. With most publishers, there is less engagement on the phone than on either desktop or print, or other platforms. And socially than more so. I think one of the challenges for us is to really think about how are we going to deliver on the phone in the future versus some of the other platforms.

Samir Husni: With your digital experience at Meredith, and acknowledging that the phone may be one of the stumbling blocks for magazine media and publishers, do you believe that we will ever reach a stage where people will pay for digital in the same way that they pay for print?

Dan Hickey: Yes, and it will be easier. I do think that’s part of building a relationship platform. As you have an ecosystem of platforms from magazines to digital to social to events to potentially subscription boxes or other things that you deliver to your customers, and mobile products as well. Part of the strength of a company like Kalmbach is our circulation departments or consumer marketing departments are essentially very good at handling recurring revenue streams.

And so, we want to make sure that’s a strength within the company going forward, so that across the entire brand’s ecosystem, our ability to transact with customers and provide those great products and experiences that get them into the recurring revenue streams happens easier and faster. And service those customers along the way just as well as we do today.

Samir Husni: What has been something that you look back on today and wish you hadn’t done, and maybe even promise yourself you will never do again?

Dan Hickey: (Laughs) Great question. Ten or 15 years ago, when I first got into digital, I think most publishers, if they could rewind the clock, wouldn’t be giving away free content like they are today. It was the reality that we knew at the time. We thought that “search” was the great disruptor, that it was going to be a level playing field, and that anything behind a paywall was not going to get indexed and we wouldn’t get traffic. And if you could look at what we know today, I think most publishers would agree, we should have been asking for money right away. We just didn’t know the future; we didn’t know that advertising in the digital space, although there’s a lot of hype around it, it has devolved, if anything. And it has become less valuable in some regard.

So really, it’s understanding that our business has all along been the relationship business and getting the consumer to pay us for great experiences. We somehow forgot that 15 years ago, and now the smart publishers and media people are all coming back to that concept of, what are the other products and services that I can offer to my audiences?

Samir Husni: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Dan Hickey: I’m super-excited. We’ve got a great organization with a great legacy and a lot of talent; we have 187 employees and everybody is very proud of our company. They live their work and they work their lives. They’re all enthusiasts at their core, so I’m just super-excited to be here. And looking forward to digging in, of course.

Samir Husni: If you could have one thing tattooed upon your brain that no one would ever forget about you, what would it be?

Dan Hickey: I’m a big believer in show, don’t tell, in journalism. But if I had to have something tattooed, it would probably be something more aspirational for me. If people were going to remember it forever about me, I would love to be remembered as a kind person. That would make me very happy, and it’s something that’s, again, aspirational and something I have to work on every day.

Samir Husni: If I showed up unexpectedly at your home one evening after work, what would I find you doing? Having a glass of wine; reading a magazine; cooking; on your iPad; watching TV; or something else?

Dan Hickey: I’m probably binge-watching YouTube with fishing or boating videos. I’m trying to perfect my boat-trailering launching, and there’s an endless supply of videos showing, and sometimes they’re very humorous, showing what to do and what not to do with your boat when you’re backing into a lake.

Samir Husni: My typical last question; what keeps you up at night?

Dan Hickey: Figuratively, as I mentioned before, it’s phones, and how we’re going to create and maintain the relationships that we have on that device. It’s already a real challenge for media companies and it’s not talked about enough, and that worries me. It’s something that I think about a lot.

And sometimes I literally wake up during the night with something that gets me excited for the next day, and once I wake up I usually can’t get back to sleep.

Samir Husni: Thank you.