Trailblazing Leaders Interview Series - Carla McCabe #1
This interview series features trailblazing leaders recently appointed to the C-Suite with the focus of getting a first look into their first-hand experience during the first year of their tenure as CEOs. PMWL will be checking-in with these leaders throughout the year to learn more about their role, how everything is going and leadership tips they’ve learned along the way.
In November 2020, PMWL’s Founder, Deanna Mackey, interviewed WVIA’s new President & CEO, Carla McCabe, on her experience as a new CEO, having started the role fourth months earlier.
Below we’ve provided an interview snapshot. Watch above for the full interview experience.
Interview Highlights:
What is your current title? President & CEO, WVIA in Pittston, Northeast Pennsylvania.
Previous role? Chief Operating Officer, Kansas City PBS
What would you say was a key challenge in engaging the new team when you’re starting as their overall leader and are unable to see anybody in person?
During the recruitment process I did a 120-day plan and part of what I wanted to do was use my first month meeting getting to know everybody. It’s a small enough staff, there’s 34 full time staff members. My goal was to try to get as much face time as possible. I started with those who were in the building and slowly managed to meet every single staff member, though it took a lot longer that I had hoped due to COVID.
Was there anything in the process that you learned, that surprised you? Was there something you didn’t know about the station and it’s maybe changing the way you’re going to move forward as you develop your plan past the first 120 days?
It was interesting when I had staff members in the office mentioning they had never been in the CEOs office. It was surprising because the culture I came from in Kansas City was that of an open-door policy. I tend to be more open to communication and try to over communicate almost.
I was thinking about communication and culture from the outset and we are now working with someone for culture training.
What has stood out to you, personally, about moving to a new community, and trying to figure out a move while also managing work-life balance?
Board members are always saying to me the honeymoon will last a lot longer because I can’t get all of the meetings and we don’t want to encourage people to go out for meetings at the moment until such times everyone feels more comfortable.
It’s been difficult not having the opportunity to meet with donors and engage more. We even did a series of events in small theatres to do sneak previews for Fall programming, but it was limited to 10 or 15 people. We’ve had to rethink community events and we’re working on strategizing doing something like that next year.
Moving was interesting, you just have to do what you can. As I say, going into the office was helpful for me. I always question myself in thinking if I am doing the right thing by going in, if its frowned upon, but as I say, communication is key. We have all protocols in place to ensure safety when going into the office, but I still always ask the leadership team how they feel, how their teams feel and what we can do to continue to ensure everyone feels safe. That’s been a big piece for us.
Stay tuned for next week’s second interview featuring WMFE’s President and CEO, Erika Pulley-Hayes.
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