By Jesse Dillon
Today’s article is the inaugural and introduction of a monthly “Community and Leadership Development” message that will appear the first Thursday of every month throughout 2018. For the past four years, I have been the CEO of Beacon Media News located in Monrovia. Weekly, we publish the following hyper-local newspapers: Arcadia Weekly, Monrovia Weekly, Pasadena Independent and Sierra Madre, as well as, daily websites for each community. Our vision is “To be the leading provider of relevant local information that engages our community.”
I have more than 13 years of leadership experience working in the news media industry providing fiscal, strategic and operations in uniquely challenging situations while at the Pasadena Star News and Los Angeles Times, both prior to coming to Beacon Media News. In 2004, I received my Master of Arts degree in Management from Azusa Pacific University, and did an Executive MBA program at Claremont Graduate University, to provide me the quantitative skills that are not covered in a traditional leadership development degree program.
The purpose of the monthly article is to become more connected and involved in the communities we served. For example, just last week, I had the pleasure, along with other community leaders, of serving as a mentor at a local educational event hosted by the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce and Pasadena Unified School District at John Muir High School. The event focused on the growth of high school participants who were eager to learn interviewing and resume techniques. One of the students asked me, “What is the most challenging aspect of your job as a CEO?” My response was, “Leading people is the most challenging and rewarding aspect of my job.” According to Peter Drucker, “The most valuable assets of a 20th-century company were its production equipment. The most valuable assets of a 21st-century institution, whether business or non – business, will be its knowledge, workers, and their productivity.” Peter Drucker (1909-2005) was one of the most widely-known and influential thinkers on management, whose work continues to be used by managers today.
As a developed leader, I believe it is my duty in the service of humanity to develop and lead our team of leaders to publish and distribute a viable product that provides news and information that empowers our audience, engages our community and impacts other businesses and non-businesses. I hope over these next eleven months you will enjoy this monthly columns focusing on Community and Leadership Development. Feel free to reach out to me and let me know your thoughts.
