Interview with John Young - local TV journalist, news
presenter and business owner of John Young Media
Chimera Communications' Managing
Director, Jill Woolf, met
up with John just after his first Newsroom Business Bootcamp in the city, and
chatted to him about how and why his business John Young Media came about.
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| John Young on TV |
Jill: Great to see you, John. Tell me more about how
your career has developed and how your Newsroom Bootcamps came about.
Like so many people, I found that after many years working
for the same employer (a quarter of a century at the BBC, in my case!), I
wanted to step outside of my own comfort zone. My Editor at BBC South East
Today knew I was interested in schools and educational stories — so when
teachers sometimes asked if he could send anybody in to talk to pupils, he
would send me in. I would go to a lot of trouble to make the talks fun and
interactive — the kids loved it — and I spotted a business opportunity: for a
fair price that state schools could pay, create workshops that used the buzz of
live TV news reporting to give pupils an in-your-face experience of deadlines,
decision-making and getting things done.
Jill: What prompted you to bring your already
well-established Newsroom Bootcamp into the business arena?
Word spread — and I found business-owners and team-leaders
asking if I could run the same sort of workshop for them. They, too, wanted to
test themselves (and their teams) with the pressures all employees face:
confidence in a meeting, dealing with change, trying things differently. After
three successful pilots, I’m now finding it a wonderfully rewarding experience
to bring the same sense of energy and humour to an adult audience.
Jill: How do you feel the first one went in terms of
translating from a school and college environment to working with business
people?
It was a joy. Young people can be great fun to work with,
but part of the challenge can be getting them to trust you at all. They may all
enjoy it, but half of them may be silent, the other half boisterous. Adults are
more giving and trusting from the word go! (And the coffee from an office is
generally much, much better than from a staff room …).
Jill: What specific skills areas do you bring to the
Bootcamp, and how did the business delegates’ responses differ from those the
students?
I bring energy. I don’t use jargon. The games we play are
in-your-face, sometimes challenging, but I make sure there’s a lot of laughter,
too. Business delegates are often more confident and prepared to ask more
questions as we go along, which gives me a chance to constantly refine the
sessions to ensure it’s achieving the goals business owners want.
Jill: What were the important take-aways for delegates
to put into practice when they returned to their offices?
If you think you’re the only one in the room believing
something, you’re probably not. If you’re worried you’ve been too succinct in a
report you’ve written, your report is probably spot on. If you think you’d
never dare to do something you’ve not done before (like reading off an autocue
in front of strangers), you’re probably wrong. If you hate change, you may find
it’s not as painful as you think.
Jill: Having worked with you on the first one, I know
we’re hoping this will be the start of a series of Bootcamps. What key messages
would you like to get across to those who might be thinking of joining us for
the next one?
We can all learn from each other. My 25 years in live
broadcasting don't give me a single academic qualification in team dynamics —
but that’s probably a good thing, because it means I’m not going to drown you
in a PowerPoint riddled with industry jargon. But those 25 years do give me a
lot of hugely exciting experiences to share with other people, giving us all
new ideas about how to be effective in the workplace.
Jill: What inspires you, John? What makes you get up
in the morning and look forward to the day?
A ‘thank you’ letter I received last month sums it up for me
— from a 15-year-old girl who struggled at school. She had actually sat down to
write it to thank me for giving her confidence during my Employability Express
workshop. Here’s what Georgia wrote:
"You taught me so much, such as
getting out of my comfort zone, how to talk in meetings and how to present
yourself and you kept on pushing us to work harder and to challenge ourselves.
The part I found the most challenging was getting chosen to read off the
auto-cue when I didn’t want to. It freaked me out as I don’t like standing up
in front of everyone and reading aloud. Although I found it hard to do that, it
really helped me and now I feel more confident in myself.”
Jill: What are the best and worst things about your
news presenting job, and have these influenced the way you put together the
Bootcamps?
Worst thing? There are very few — I’m lucky enough to love
the whole process. What we call a ‘quiet news day’ can be frustrating — we like
to go on air with compelling news stories, and let’s face it … not all days are
as busy as others! The best thing? Knowing that reporting people’s stories can
often help them … and knowing that, even if the day hasn’t gone the way you’d
hoped, tomorrow is an entirely new news day …
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| John Young in front of the camera |
Jill: Do you have three top tips for those who didn’t
attend the first Newsroom Business Bootcamp?
Less is more — when you’re writing a report, think about a
‘headline’ for it first … because that may be the only bit anyone
remembers.
Don’t be afraid of changing something at the last minute —
it can be easier than you think, and nobody’s going to know what you didn’t do
or say anyway.
You have a right to believe what you believe — and you may
be surprised how many other people are thinking what you’re thinking, even if
you’re the only one that says it out loud.
Jill: I’m inspired! Thanks so much, John.
John: My pleasure.
This piece was
originally published on the Brighton & Hove Chamber of Commerce website. Jill Woolf is Lead Ambassador and a Vice-President of the Chamber www.businessinbrighton.org.uk
