Taking over
a top job from an admired veteran can be a tough assignment. Gina
Centrello discovered that when she was named president and publisher
of Bertelsmann's Random House Publishing Group after the abrupt
ouster of literary icon Ann Godoff in January 2003.
Unlike her
predecessor, Ms. Centrello hadn't risen through the publishing
ranks as a book editor. Her success at the group's Ballantine
imprint flowed from her marketing and sales prowess--and her relentless
focus on the bottom line.
Bertlesmann
had picked Ms. Centrello for the top job because of her strengths.
But, notes Stephen Mader, an executive recruiter in Boston at
Christian & Timbers LLC, "many times when a leader is
pushed out, the rest of the trees start to fall."
At Random
House, writers loyal to Ms. Godoff, outraged over her dismissal,
were following her to a rival publishing house. How could Ms.
Centrello keep top editors from fleeing, too?
Ms. Centrello
knew better than to try to replicate Ms. Godoff's editing talents
herself. "I was asked to direct the division and make it
profitable," she says. "I didn’t see why I should
change from being a publisher. It's what I am."
Instead,
Ms. Centrello moved quickly to hire a respected literary figure
as the editor in chief of Random House imprints. Her choice of
Daniel Menaker–a 26-year veteran of the New Yorker magazine
and a Random House senior editor before he became an executive
editor at HarperCollins--signaled that she planned to respect
the editorial independence of her staff. Meanwhile, she gave salary
raises and new titles to some of Random House's top editors.
"Gina
made it clear that she would be available when editors needed
her, but that agents would send us their big projects while she
set the group's priorities," says Jonathan Karp, who took
over Mr. Menaker's job last spring when the latter was given broader
responsibility. "She reads the books that we're most excited
about, which lets her make decisions without each one being a
referendum on her relationship with specific agents."
Meanwhile,
Ms. Centrello wasn't shy about asserting herself on business matters.
She told editors that more attention would be paid to profits--including
the size of book advances--and the various formats in which books
are sold.
Ms. Centrello
also had the tough job of convincing two rival imprints--Random
House, the home of John Irving, E.L. Doctorow and William Faulkner,
and Ballantine, best known for its paperback--–to break down
decades-old barriers and work together. In the publishing world,
editors at hardcover houses have always had more stature within
the industry. But Ms. Centrello told Random House subordinates
that their future at the book-publishing company depended on their
willingness to set aside old prejudices. Today the two staffs
hold joint editorial meetings, review acquisitions together, and
even put titles on each other's new-book lists.
Increased
cooperation throughout the group means that books that might have
once left the Random House umbrella can find another home. These
include a coming biography of Merian C. Cooper, a creator of "King
Kong," which wasn't right for Del Rey, a science-fiction
publisher, but will be issued by sister imprint Villard Books.
"It's a much more blended family than in the past,"
says Bruce Tracy, Villard's editorial director.
Ms. Centrello's
innovations are also allowing writers to reach bigger audiences.
This summer readers will be able to buy a cheap, rack-size paperback
edition of the Robert Kurson best-seller "Shadow Divers"
from Ballantine, in addition to a fancy paperback from Random
House. "We can sell it at places like Safeway and the airports,"
says Anthony Ziccardi, director of sales and marketing at the
group. In the past, Random House authors were primarily published
in pricey paperback editions.
Publishing
isn't the only arena where top executives in new situations have
found that playing to their strengths is smarter than trying to
re-create themselves.
Lawrence
Stevenson, a seasoned retailer who became CEO of auto-parts-retailer
and service-provider Pep Boys in May 2003, says he knew little
about the business when he took it over and still has a lot to
do. But instead of trying to master arcane details about brake
pads and radiator hoses, he hired a top merchant, added a new
chief information office, and focused on building the company's
marketing and merchandising strengths. The stock of Pep Boys has
about doubled since Mr. Stevenson took over.
"The
board's view was that they had a tremendous amount of industry-specific
knowledge about auto parts; what was needed was someone to challenge
the things they were doing and build a strong team," says
Mr. Stevenson. "I wasn't going to turn the company around
on my own, but I could build a team of senior executives who would
have the core skills needed to supplement the ones that existed
here."
Pat
Cook, the CEO of Cook & Co., an executive-search boutique
based in Bronxville, N.Y., applauds that strategy. "Being
who you are and recognizing you have talents that an organization
needs at a specific moment is the right approach," she says.
