Too far in front - in the 21st century?
I received a comment on my leaving the company that made me think.
An erstwhile colleague said that my problem was that I was “too far in front of the company”. Well, let that be a lesson to you, you far-in-front bugger!
I did go online to compare how the other media companies in the country are doing and to compare it with what we were doing. What I did, without spending any extra money, is here and here, and here What Caxton (my previous employer) does, here. Naspers is here. Independent Newspapers here and Johnnic here.
There are many in this situation and in this one and here. Many will stay behind in understanding that news delivery has become information provision. There will be many more . This may give some perspective
Here is something else
Koos Bekker, big honcho at Naspers, said this after returning from a visit to 22 countries: “The print media market will shrink as high-speed internet service prompts customers to obtain more material online, and newspapers will continue to lose advertising” Read his views at journalism.co.za and the complete interview with Moneyweb. (Update: Naspers is now the fifth biggest media company in the world)
And a Canadian perspective because people think it happens in the US but will not happen anywhere else. If you are one of those, you may get some perspective here.
Am I out in front? I don’t think so. I know that Naspers understands this, I doubt Caxton does. Is that why the share prices at the time of writing this post was Naspers 16300 , Caxton 1360?
I will leave it to the reader to decide because it does not matter any more. This blog evolved from a blog about my insights into a report about my retrenchment but is fast becoming more about how I deal with it. It may help others in the same position. But do not forget, it is about unimportant insights that affect our daily lives - what I (and the reader) learn from it.
It is way more fun to do new things and gain new skills than it is to blame and sulk.