Trailblazing Leaders Interview Series - Erika Pulley-Hayes #2

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 February 2021, PMWL’s Founder, Deanna Mackey, checked-in with WMFE’s new President & CEO, Erika Pulley-Hayes, on her experience as a new CEO, having started the role 12 months prior.

Below we’ve provided an interview snapshot. Watch above for the full interview experience.

Interview Highlights:

Since it has been a month that you've been one year on the job, what have you learned? What’s surprised you? What things have worked? What things are you working on?

It was a whirlwind of a year. It went fast. It went slow. The pandemic came and everything, of course, had to be... We had to respond to that. I think maybe I had a benefit of not having been here for too long, so I wasn't committed to anything that was already here or in place so when we needed to pivot, I was able to do so.

When the pandemic hit, my first response was how are we financially? We knew that all underwriting or sponsorship was drying up in some places, especially from the arts community. There were questions around if we should do a drive or not in the Spring when the pandemic first hit. There were questions around okay well if we don't get any more money in the door, how much money do we have in the bank to carry us? How many months can we flow with what we currently have? That was a big challenge.

One thing that has been a pleasant surprise was that our membership program really didn't take a hit. People that love public radio, love public radio. And they are committed to supporting what we do.

My board has also been a pleasant surprise. I didn’t know what to expect. You never know, boards can be good or bad, and I have a good board. I am happy about that, they're very collaborative and supportive, while holding me accountable as well. But they recognize the world that we live in and that's been great.

It's been a very interesting year of highs and lows honestly. I'm choosing to focus on the highs because that keeps me going.

Let's talk a little bit about how the pandemic has impacted staffing and your experience leading. Next month will be one year that we’ve all been working from home. I’m hearing from stations that they’re dealing with tenseness in their organizations. Staff are frustrated about the virtual work, growing tension between employees, mental health issues, etc. Have you been seeing any of those issues and as a new leader, how are you managing all of that?

One of the things about a new leader coming into an organization is that they don't know me and I still don't know them very well. I think there's still a lot of uncertainty about me as a leader here that folks are still grappling with. What the future looks like under my leadership... Our future.

I had a similar conversation with Sally Kane at NFCB over the Summer. She asked me what have I had to tap into more since I've been here and certainly compassion. I'm trying to lead with compassion understanding all the challenges we all face. No one's challenges are any greater than anybody else's. They're just different.

To continue to be respectful to my staff, to be compassionate about their circumstances, to still require the work to be done, because business must continue, but to do so with soft strokes, and definitely give them an open ear for listening and help them find solutions that work for them.

You and I were talking a bit about this... What I feel, this is my opinion, this sensibility in the industry of everybody is a family. I think that we should be moving to a sensibility of we're a team and a team can still support each other, as you're doing, but a family connotates a whole bunch of other expectations, emotion, and disfunction, and so on. Talk a little bit about your thoughts there.

When I came here I was approached with the family sentiment that you speak about. I thought that was... Odd. I had never worked at an organization that referred to their colleagues and the folks there as a family.

I've had conversations with others that are in leadership roles, that were encountering the same thing at other stations and I, again, thought that was odd.

Like you I share the sentiment of being a team and not a family because when you're a team you have a goal that you want to accomplish. It's a goal that they're trying to achieve, and they know that they need each other to achieve it.

When you're in a family, people are accepted where they are, for what they are, who they are and are emotionally bound to them. You often even tolerate disfunction in families. That's the kind of thing we don't need in our station, or our system, because it impedes progress.

I'm trying to change the language around here from family to team, and not just teams, but to be a high performing team and a cross-functional team. I think we'll get there but it is going to take some time.

Erika, we were talking a little bit about staffing challenges and things you've learned from recent hires you've made in your first year. Tell us a little bit about the experience you had and what you learned from it.

The very first hire I made back in August turned out to be a bad decision. The person had a very impressive resume, had worked for a media organization outside of public media but understood our business to some degree. Maybe thirty days into the job I started to notice some shortcomings where I thought he was a little more advanced than he actually was.

I draw back on when it was time to interview him, I had some reservations, not necessarily around his skills level, but I had an instinct that he might not be the right candidate. My HR person at the time advocated for him so I went with him. A couple months later he is gone, his last day was in January.

Sometimes people make bad hires, it happens. In this case what I learned was to follow my gut. It was fail fast, learn fast and move on.

As you were talking the word that came to mind was ‘fit’. The person wasn't the right fit. Really celebrating fit helps you get a team that is going to work toward the vision you have and the goals you're setting, as opposed to going off on their own.

Right, right. It's been an interesting journey, that's for sure.

Stay tuned for next week’s second interview featuring WVIAs President and CEO, Carla McCabe.

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