The media industry is an industry that is under constant change. What is relevant and current today may not be interesting and of value tomorrow. Therefore it is really hard to know how to handle the surroundings while being in this changing environment. It is hard planning ahead when you really don’t know what tomorrow might bring.

Luckily for us media students there are many books written on that subject by writers who tend to try and figure out “the Da Vinci-code” that the media industry mimics. Lucy Küng is one of those writers and her book “Strategic Management in the Media” strives to define the media industry, define different types of strategic models and the challenges these posses and refer to those strategic models that are current for the media industry.

The reason why the media industry is so hard to define and constantly being in a change is partly the different sectors, newspapers, magazines, books, television, radio, film, music etc, which together form the industry. Lately these sectors have started to evolve faster than before, forcing the media to change very rapidly. Largely it is the Internets “fault” but also the technical progress that has been made lately. As soon as some new high-tech gadgets reach the marketplace, the media has to adapt itself in new ways.

So how is one supposed to act as a leader in the media industry? Lucy Küng discuses different approaches to leadership and stresses the importance of ability to take chances and risks, and to plan strategically.

There is no longer some sort of “one best way”. Leadership is not any longer an absolute and measurable entity, it is rather viewed as something constructed through social interaction.

One can either be born a leader or become a leader. Personally I believe that anything is possible. I may be naive, but I feel that the world is a better place when you atleast can imagine that anything is possible. Therefore I believe that one doesn’t have to be born a leader in order to become a great one. Of course it might be easier if you happen to be charismatic and people have a tendency to like you without even trying, but through social interaction, constant networking and by striving in the right direction everyone has a chance to become a leader. One must simply learn technical skills, human skills and conceptual skills, and that is the point.

The book shows potential leaders how to lead, or at least it helps to realise what is needed in order to assume a leadership-role.

I must admit, however, that the book is rather “complicated” and somewhat hard to read. I had hard time finding a thread of consistency. This might be personal, maybe I am simply too confused myself, but I had no problem reading Lucy Küng’s previous book (“The Internet and the Mass Media” which she co-wrote with two other fellas). This is why I would highly and truly recommend the previous book rather than the “Strategic Management in the Media” if you want to read about by Lucy Küng. It might be wrong but this is simply my personal opinion. Thanks!

Källförteckning: