Investing in your people is the surest way to ensure your brand’s legacy.
Securing the next generation of leaders is not simply a crucial step for healthy corporate succession in business or media. It is a crucial process for any media company’s long-term growth, stability, and future.
No company walks the legacy-planning journey like Ramsey Solutions, the company led by financial talk-show host Dave Ramsey. In fact, one of Ramsey’s lesser-known yet highly influential books, “The Legacy Journey,” teaches individuals to think financially past today and build something lasting for the future.
And in terms of building a legacy of financial media, Ramsey has always had an eye on the future.
Take, for example, talented host Anthony O’Neal, who for years with Ramsey Solutions helped spearhead the company’s effort to help college students emerge from school without burdensome student loans. With Ramsey’s leadership, O’Neal went into communities to share the truth about the predatory student loan industry, educating and imploring students and families that there are alternatives to the traditional model involving the financial handcuffs of college loans.
O’Neal, a black American, helped Ramsey extend his reach to a more diverse audience, one that was also younger and more rooted in popular culture. For O’Neal, it was a chance to speak to audiences across the country, both in person, through books, and on Ramsey’s nationally-syndicated radio program. A true win-win until O’Neal left Ramsey Solutions late last year to continue building his platform on his own.
Contrary to first thought, however, the change was welcomed and perhaps planned for by both parties. No drama and no hard feelings, at least publicly.
Across the media industry, grooming the next generation of leaders is more difficult than ever before. And it’s not unique to Ramsey and O’Neal. It holds true for on-air talent, to production crews, to the editorial staff, and the corporate boardroom. In all cases, a proactive approach helps develop the next batch of professionals to grow a brand or sprout the branches of a company’s ministry into the future.
“A lot of these pathways into becoming the Program Director or the brand manager just don’t exist anymore,” said Jeff Sottolano of Audacy at the recent Barrett Sports Media Summit in New York City. “The college internship, the Promotions Director, the APD in some instances. We’ve made very specific and intentional investments in restoring some of those positions and making sure we’ve got a pathway inside of our organization to grow and develop the next major-market brand manager, maybe in a secondary role in another market.”
So it becomes a two-part framework – invest into your future stars and, if necessary, help them spread their wings and fly. For O’Neal, the timing of his move was a welcomed one, both for himself and the Ramsey organization.
“Me and Dave recognized that my brand was going in a different direction than what we saw it was going while I was at Ramsey. And so we both just agreed that it’s time for you to just step out on your own,” O’Neal said on the Nicky and Moose YouTube show last month. “It was such a smooth transition to where this guy was so into it. He said we love you; we want to support the route that you’re going when it comes to really serving that market that you want to go after. And it wasn’t like this was a better situation, or this was a bad situation. It was like, hey Anthony, go do your thing. I said yeah, I’m going to go do my thing. It’s so funny, because when people see people separate, they automatically think it’s drama. And I’m like, no, there’s no drama there. That was a season. I’m a Christian man, and God just shifted the season.”
And when it comes to investing in future leaders, Dave Ramsey puts his money where his mouth is, often without much fanfare.
“Because I honor Dave, because I honor that place, I’m going to love that place. Dave was one hundred percent supportive of it,” O’Neal said. “I’m going to be real with you all. He even gave me some money to go out. It was like a church plan; we’re gonna go allow Anthony to do what he was called to do.”
But that’s not to say it’s been all rainbows and lollipops for Ramsey when team members have departed. Over the years, there have been others who, through their actions or the company’s philosophical approach, left under much less amicable circumstances. Sometimes it just isn’t the right fit any longer. Sometimes the investment doesn’t pan out for either side. And sometimes, as Ramsey’s “Entreleadership” hosts have said over the years, the loving and caring thing to do is to push a team member to their next challenge, recognizing that their success is limited, or has ended, in your organization.
Many listeners and industry insiders might be shocked at Ramsey’s approach to help grow and build an on-air personality’s brand, only to help him take off on his own. But that may be one of the true secrets to the company’s success – truly investing in people who will give their all to your brand and spread your message. There is an integrity to the approach, which helps attract the best and help them fulfill their potential, both for your organization and, ultimately, for themself.
But it starts with the right person, with the right attitude. And with Ramsey, O’Neal was the right fit. A person of integrity who had the qualities any successful team would desire.
“First and foremost, you want self-starters. Anybody that sits across my desk talking with me about a job, the first thing I say is, you better believe in you before you ask me to,” said Don Martin of Fox Sports Radio during the Summit, while talking about grooming the next generation of media executives. “I mean, bring the game. If you walk into that room and you don’t have passion for this game, and you don’t have enthusiasm, then don’t come in the door. At the end of the day, it’s not up to us to make them care and make them want. We want hungry people. We need young people, and as society life has changed.”
For Ramsey, O’Neal embodied those attributes – a ceaseless passion that connected with a new, younger, and more diverse audience. O’Neal’s addition brought years of energy to the network, a benefit to both the organization and the talent. Dave Ramsey and his leadership team presumably saw what they lacked and sought out a professional who could fill in a weak spot. Their self-awareness and humility allowed them to chart the path toward company growth, seeing an addition rather than a threat.
“Your team needs to have someone on it that can replace you,” Sottolano said about running a sports media organization. “We’ve got to be more judicious about, when we have those spots, whether it’s the late-night host in terms of talent development, or its in the programming ranks, we’ve got to be invested in people that demonstrate potential. And not be afraid of someone who’s going to challenge us in that seat. I’m not afraid of somebody challenging me in my seat. That makes me better, that makes me better, that makes the organization better.”
And when this is your approach, you cultivate not only strong, talented leaders and talent for your team but also raving fans and advocates of your mission and brand. These people emerged from inside your four walls and can’t wait to share the truth about your wonderful company culture.
“I am so grateful. So grateful to the team behind the camera, to the team in this building, to Dave Ramsey, to the board, the leadership, to every single person who has poured into me and loved me, and truly shaped me into who I am, even as I leave this season and enter the next season,” said fellow Ramsey personality, Christy Wright, who joined the company in 2009, and announced earlier this year that she, too, was stepping out on her own. “The gifts and skills that I’ve cultivated in this place are unbelievable, more than anything that I could ever ask or imagine. I’ve learned from the best of the best.”
That is the power of a brand that does what it preaches. That is the power of legacy.
For Anthony O’Neal, for Christy Wright, and for Dave Ramsey.
And also for media organizations who care enough about their team and their audience to build the next generation of voices and leaders while living their mission today.
Rick Schultz is a former Sports Director for WFUV Radio at Fordham University. He has coached and mentored hundreds of Sports Broadcasting students at the Connecticut School of Broadcasting, Marist College and privately. His media career experiences include working for the Hudson Valley Renegades, Army Sports at West Point, The Norwich Navigators, 1340/1390 ESPN Radio in Poughkeepsie, NY, Time Warner Cable TV, Scorephone NY, Metro Networks, NBC Sports, ABC Sports, Cumulus Media, Pamal Broadcasting and WATR. He has also authored a number of books including “A Renegade Championship Summer” and “Untold Tales From The Bush Leagues”. To get in touch, find him on Twitter @RickSchultzNY.
