Four Questions for the Disrupted at Time Inc.

Time Inc. said this week it was eliminating 300 jobs at its top magazines in order to invest more in its web businesses.

Cuts will occur at many of the highest-circulation magazines in the country, including People, Time, Sports Illustrated and others. Another 18 smaller-circulation titles will be sold.

John Huey, editor in chief of Time Inc., said in a memo that the cuts were being made to help “move quickly into a future of flexible, multiplatform content.”

Given that Time has cut staff annually for three years and its titles generally have suffered declines in ad pages from -3% last year at People to -10% at Money, the plan for the future has clearly come a few years too late.

Across traditional newsrooms Time's layoff announcement is received with the common sentiment that anybody and everybody is next.

When an industry or company is disrupted, that is to say, it has been commoditized or marginalized by a change in the basis of competition, it shows a clear failure of the management leadership of the company or industry. But does it also represent a failure on the part of individual employees?

Questions arise about how managers must take control of their businesses in industries or companies that face disruptive threats. But I suspect similar issues hold for employees who must take control of their careers when they work for companies that face disruption.

This may seem harsh, but managers and employees are better off if they face these tough questions before their organizations and employees are disrupted:

• Are some of your or your company's skills transferable to new growing industries?
• What can you or your organization do to acquire skills that are in demand from new customers or from growing industries?
• If you had to create a new business from scratch, what would customers require it to be in terms of employees and skills?
• Does denial seem like a better idea than planning for the future?

Lastly, do these same questions apply in other commoditizing industries: Telecom, broadcasting, packaged goods, office software?

**Other sources**
Gawker reports on the details of the Time Inc. layoffs.
Time magazine switches to Friday publication.
Time.com beefed up its blogs including "The Ag" a daily aggregation of news from around the world compiled by one person, as well as blogs on Washington politics,  China and nerd culture.
Time Warner launches interactive TV.
New York Times media reporter Richard Siklos says big media is in love with social networking, the latest fad of the industry and earlier wrote that Times' woes are symptomatic of the industry: "They're amputating in order to save the patient."

Comments

[Mark Evans]

Mike,
I found it interesting that the Time news wasn't bigger news. It's almost as if the media industry has accepted the fact it has to become leaner and meaner. As someone who left traditional media to join a blog network, I think there will always be jobs for good journalists and there will be room for traditional media properties that generate high-quality content. The reality, however, is these organizations will use fewer people to generate their content so they can stay competitive.