A few weeks ago, one of LINK’s Managing Board members looked me in the eye and said, “You know, the success or failure of LINK is 100 percent your responsibility.”
Talk about a reality check.
The part of me that values collaboration, teamwork, and a flat(ish) hierarchy wanted desperately to protest – to say, no, it takes all of us, so no one person is ultimately responsible for if this works or doesn’t. But the part of me that has been leading organizations for the past 20 years recognized that this board member was right – it is my responsibility.
Good or bad, I’m accountable for everything that happens at LINK. I don’t sell most of the ads, but I hired the people who do, and helped develop the sales strategy. I don’t write the stories, but I’m responsible for making sure our reporters and editors stay true to our Guiding Principles. And I am directly responsible for the overall strategy and financial success of our organization – to ensure that we are a sustainable, long-term presence in the community.
But most of all, I’m accountable to you – LINK’s readers, listeners, viewers, and supporters. (Heck, I’m even accountable to our detractors.) My job is to make sure that LINK nky is serving the NKY Metro as a transparent, independent source of news, information, debate, and conversation that helps our community come together and make decisions on the issues that YOU think matter most.
I take that part of my job very seriously. I understand how critical it is to know what’s going on behind the scenes at the companies you are trusting to bring you daily information. And since trust in media is such a hot topic in our country these days, it is even more important to me that LINK be as transparent as possible.
And that’s why I’m here, writing this column. I want to make myself available to you, our readers, so that you can ask questions. Any questions. Want to know how we made a decision about covering or not covering a story? I’ll share the internal decision-making process we go through. Wondering how we assign stories to our reporters? I can explain the editorial team’s process. Curious about how we spend the money we receive from advertising sales, or donations, or investors? Happy to tell you. Wondering where Michael Monks got that fabulous sweater he was wearing on The Frankfort LINK Live last week? It was probably Nordstrom, but I’ll confirm and get back to you.
I’ll be here every week, either answering your questions, or explaining something I think is important about how we do things. If you want to ask me a question, it’s easy. Just email me.
I’m looking forward to our conversation, and to helping the NKY Metro better understand who we are, what we’re doing, and why we’re doing it.
