It wasn’t your ordinary day at the office.
About 10 years ago, the editors at the publication where I worked had landed an interview with Dr. Sanjay Gupta. The neurosurgeon best known for his stints as medical correspondent on CNN, best-selling author, and former White House Fellow was going to grace the cover of our magazine.
A nervous energy filled the office as editors double-checked their questions, reread their background information, and tested every tape recorder.
This was a big deal.
But the coup didn’t come cheap. Not because money exchanged hands (at least I hope not, although I wouldn’t be shocked), but because it was made clear from the beginning that booking a rock star meant bending some rules. In fact, I’d say it meant bending over backwards.
Gupta’s publicity team dictated everything, from insisting on prescreening the interview questions to previewing (and editing) the layout of the article. I thought it seemed excessive, but as the publisher told us, that’s what you do when you have the chance to feature a celebrity doctor on the cover. And if it means you have to compromise some of your editorial policies, so be it. After all, he’s on CNN!
To his credit, the publisher still insisted it was worth all the hassle, even when publication was delayed several times while we waited for more revisions from Team Gupta. Having his mug plastered on the front cover gave the publication credibility, in his eyes, and would help increase ad revenue. Although I agreed with the latter, I couldn’t get on board with the former. I’d even go so far as to say when you ask editors to “bend” on their policies, the last thing you get is credibility.
A few months ago, I ran into a similar situation (albeit on a smaller scale) when I was pursuing an interview with the CIO of a large health system. Like my colleagues many years ago, I was thrilled at the prospect of speaking with a big name. And just like them, I was asked to bend some rules. The health system’s PR representative informed me that they would need to review the podcast before it was published. Otherwise, he couldn’t give me the green light.
But even though they weren’t necessarily asking to make revisions, I still balked at the idea of handing over a podcast before it was published. It definitely went against our policy, and if we gave in to this request, we’d have to be willing to do it for everyone else. Making an exception for a big name wasn’t something I was willing to do, and so I gave them the red light.
I respect the fact that the PR department wasn’t willing to break its policy, and I hope they respect the fact that I wasn’t willing to either. I’ve always been taught that without integrity, a publication, an organization, and an individual is nothing.
Perhaps the best part of the experience was that when I related the story to Anthony, he supported me 100 percent, just as I knew he would. When leadership has your back, it gives you the confidence you need to make the right decisions — for you, and for the organization.
The Gupta experience taught me a valuable lesson about integrity that I’m fortunate enough to be able to put into practice. And I can say with confidence that while it would have been nice to feature this particular CIO on our site, it wasn’t worth bending over backwards — or even just bending our policies.
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