The One Thing Missing from Morning Show Bootcamp (And It Isn’t You)
Early August brings the tradition of the Morning Show Bootcamp. This year in Austin. A few hundred personalities who believe in radio gather to improve, grow, and network. As I reflect on the many I’ve attended, there’s one thing always missing that you should know. Before I reveal that, an admission…
When I’m working with a show, I never set as a goal ratings success. I won’t let the show do it nor will I. We don’t control the vagaries of Nielsen nor market conditions so it’s impossible (and even dumb) to say #1 is where we’re headed.
What I do set as our only goal is: excellence. If we work on everything associated with being excellent, then the ratings happen. I’ve lived this too many times in my many years coaching shows.
When I started this work in the early 2000s, my mentors did a terrific job teaching me strategy. Great radio is about conquering content and creating connection. I knew this was central to earning images that compelled more listening and deeper loyalty from fans. Philosophically, that hasn’t changed much over the years.
The conversation I felt I’d have more than any other back then was about leadership. I needed to understand leadership better and be able to teach it.
Living in Raleigh, I became a Duke fan and Coach K had written a book in 1999 called Leading with the Heart. I re-read it last week and its message of leadership is more salient now, given where we are in the industry. It might be the single best book I’ve ever read on leadership. I quote it often and always note what Coach K preached is why Duke always wins.
In the book, he talks about The Fist. The five attributes of every winning team – each finger that makes an impenetrable fist. He worked on these five items before he taught how to play basketball. This is also something I work on before ever talking radio:
- Building trust amongst the players. I ask everyone if they believe others on the team will make a decision in their best interest before their own. Every single ounce of success comes from trust. Is it there? If not, how do we get it?
- Is there a sense of collective responsibility amongst the team. Do I accept responsibility for what you do and is that reciprocated. No team wins if it’s every person for themselves.
- Can everyone have honest communications? You can never build trust if you can’t be honest. You must always tell the truth. There is this ongoing pulse many believe that we can only be positive with talent. Why? If I am going to make a full commitment to your growth, then you must accept that the positives come with the negatives (delivered properly). I’ll never quite understand why we must always be positive. When it’s earned, yes. It might sting in the moment to hear when we miss the mark, but talent respect you more when you’re completely honest. And they know if you are.
- Do we have pride in what we’re doing? Excellent radio can change lives and make people less lonely. Do we have pride for our show, our station, our cluster, our co-workers, and our community?
- Finally, do we care about one another as people? This ain’t just about what we do when at the station. If I know you really care about every facet of my life (especially outside of the station), then you can truly have an impact on who I am as a person. If I reciprocate, we all elevate.
Do all of that, and you will build a culture that gets growth. Then get the radio part right on top of that and you achieve excellence.
What’s missing from Morning Show Bootcamp? Fear. It’s a creative gathering where talent leave empowered to do more. There is no fear at MSBC. Fear is a crippler for creatives. And there’s lots of it right now. The lack of fear is what makes it most exceptional. The single biggest thing I do besides talk about strategy and build the team’s leadership is communicate that I believe in them. I take fear away from the room and they get very productive. Confident players slay every day. Then the magic happens. They conquer content and create connection unlike anything else and do the kind of radio that has impact.
Taking fear away and reducing all the anxiety so many in our industry have because of where we are, is how we get to the only goal in our control: excellence. And when we do this, we get to that other goal I never set – ratings success.
Before you chat with your creatives about the break topic, its length, prep, the tease, how they got into it, etcetera, reduce the fear. Be the calm in the chaos and watch what happens.