PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY | EXAMPLES | WORK EXPERIENCE | CREATIVE

LEADERSHIP EXAMPLE | NAVIGATING UNCERTAINTY

HULU ADS TPM TEAM MERGING INTO DISNEY TECH ORG

Scenario

• Situation
• In late spring/early summer 2020, Hulu was formally merged into Disney, into what was going to become Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution (DMED), now currently named Disney Entertainment & ESPN Technology group
• The main body of Hulu-proper was merged into the Streaming org, while the Ad Platforms division of Hulu was separated and merged into the Technology org
• This was a slow process over months, with bursts of sudden changes and confusion for teams as everyone was learning to navigate a changing environment
• I was the head of the Ad Platforms TPM team, with six TPMs reporting directly to me at the time of the merger
• Task
• Understand then guide my team through fluctuating org changes, new and shifting coordination protocols, and uncertain priorities
• Keep all active work in motion and on time for delivery
• Keep morale up, both for the direct TPM team as well as our peers and partners
• Actions
• Provided a space for increased connection and trust with immediate team, created a safe space to share fears and concerns
• Spent time with new Disney leadership to learn about the local org, culture, protocols, and expectations
• Spent time coordinating with previous Hulu partners to understand their new org, culture, protocols, and expectations
• Set expectations with leadership on what we were focusing on until new priorities were given (the work is the work until it isn't)
• Kept the team focused on what we knew and could control
• Took the lead on solving the open questions we didn't know how to answer
• Result
• Deadlines were met during transition
• Team morale remained positive despite individual fears and some frustrating collisions during the chaos of the org formation
• The TPM team successfully integrated into the new Disney organization, with minimal attrition, due to the amount of outreach and coordination

Business Impact

• The former Hulu Ad Platform group integrated into its new home generally smoothly and primarily intact, delivering legacy and new work with little interruption

Approach

• Focused on people over deadlines; gave time to listen to their concerns and challenges
• Collected the team's questions and blockers and cleared their path
• Networked across old and new channels to understand the new ecosystem and culture for connection and coordination
• Stabilized the team by staying focused on what we could see and drive

Communication and Reporting

• Human Connection
• Established frequent 1:1s with my direct manager and immediate skip-level leadership
• Set up regular 1:1s for my team with my direct manager (their skip-level)
• Remained directly connected to the former Hulu Ad Platform leadership (our former leadership line and the continuing leadership for our partner technical teams)
• Standard project status reporting

Challenges

• Heavily siloed culture
• Disney's existing culture was heavily siloed, cross-org coordination was often very slow and challenging to establish
• Hulu was split between major orgs, our legacy projects required tight coordination between orgs that had a vast ocean between them
• Heavily bureaucratic culture
• Disney had at the time a traditional top-down old school broadcast culture which at times could be very slow and even micro-managerial
• Hulu had been a rather flat organization that was smaller and more nimble, with a strong culture of collaboration and cross-team support
• Shifting priorities
• The time of the merger was chaotic, on the heels of other recent acquisitions (Fox, etc) and the reorganization from DTCI to DMED
• The new org needed time to settle and figure itself out, which led to frequent shifts in focus and priority in the interim

Key Learnings

• Focusing on people over work is a winning strategy
• Listening with intent builds trust
• Helping people feel safe lets them focus on their best work
• Connecting genuinely with people breaks cultural barriers and bureaucratic limitations
• Staying calm is infectious

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