Saturday, November 16, 2013

Growing TWiT Beyond Leo Laporte

The number one reason I took a job at TWiT was because Leo Laporte wanted to grow TWiT beyond Leo Laporte.  Leo wanted to serve the tech community and planned to see the tech community taken care of long after he was gone.  In 2010 TWiT was Leo Laporte, at least all of the income generated by TWiT was from Leo's shows.

It is 2013 and based on the first nine months of this year Leo's shows are still responsible for 85% of the income generated at TWiT.  It was my professional goal to have Leo's shows responsible for less than half of the income generated by TWiT by the end of 2013 and to provide Leo with a more balanced life.  I have clearly missed both of these goals.  As CEO I am responsible for the business direction of TWiT and I own my work, my victories, my mistakes, and my missed goals.

Currently I am planning 2014 and it is essential I take time to reflect on my work, the direction of TWiT, and what I need to do to make TWiT successful.  In January of 2014 TWiT is launching two new shows and without Leo hosting them.  The first is a programming show starring Father Robert Ballecer and Shannon Morse.  The second is an evening news show starring Sarah Lane, Iyaz Akhtar, Jason Howell, Father Robert Ballecer, and Shannon Morse.  I have also modified TWiT's programming schedule to provide Leo with two days off in a row and shifted his hosting duties on The Giz Wiz to Chad Johnson and Before You Buy to Father Robert Ballecer.

We will see what 2014 holds for TWiT and what realistic goals I can set to move Leo's company forward and transform it into a network.