From PPE Major to Editor of The Economist
How does one go from 22-year old PPE major to Editor at The Economist
“A combination of luck and positioning, and determination, I suppose,” mused Bill Emmott, The Economist magazine’s Editor from 1993 to 2006, as we spoke in the Library of the Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies on October 15, 2012.
From his high school days continuing through his time at Oxford, learning about economics made Emmott focus on the question of “what made the world tick.” Looking at possible career paths, he realized it was in journalism where the work most closely resembles his “curiosity about why things happened and the way they happened.”
When graduation time came around, “I was applying to everything I could find, and succeeding with nothing. The closest I got was with two publications, one surprisingly was The Economist, which I thought was going to be the least likely.” At first, he wasn’t offered a job, but then, 18 months later, while working on a Ph.D. on French politics, he got a call from The Economist with an offer to apply for a position in Brussels, to which Emmott responded “Is the Pope a Catholic?” Soon, he found himself writing for The Economist in Brussels.
He was sure to note the importance of a recommendation letter from a professor who had previously written references for successful writers at The Economist, which “probably helped them to take me more seriously than they otherwise would have done.”In his path from the position of a reporter in his early twenties to Editor at The Economist, Emmott again gave luck its due, but also gave much credit to taking “a gamble in going to Japan” in 1983. Emmott was fortunate enough to witness a “blossoming subject for all international publications at the time.” He wrote many books on Japan, which with their commercial success raised his profile in the publication. Additionally, he sees his ability and experience in managing others as essential both to his selection as editor, and his success while Editor. Answering his own question: “So why does somebody get appointed to Editor-in-Chief?” as he said, “It’s not because they’re the most brilliant person on the team, it’s not because they’re the most outstanding writer. It’s obviously got to be a combination of things, but a big one of it is actually managing.”Part of that management comes from deciding how much flexibility to grant reporters, as “essentially journalists are anarchists, are people who want to break rules, and want to do their own thing, and indeed need to be allowed to do their own thing and come up with the most brilliant ideas possible.” For Emmott, “the job of the chief editor is to provide that discipline framework, and a sense of direction which then harnesses their anarchism, or their creativity.”So, why is The Economist so valued around the world today, with subscribership around 1.6 million? “It’s totally international, and that it keeps on growing because the world keeps on getting more international.” And The Economist appeals to people like former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who lauded it when he spoke at CMC’s Athenaeum in the spring semester because, as Emmott described, “it doesn’t compromise on its internationalism.” If you are reading the magazine in Washington, “we’re going to give to you the same as we give to someone in Beijing, and the same as to someone in Tokyo, and the same as to someone in Berlin.”
The former Editor spoke a little strategy, “I think that positioning as the magazine of globalization has been a key part of the growth, because obviously that has been the great trend of our times.” Also important for its strength was “not being American,” not only in making the publication more credible across the globe, but also since “all American publications, perhaps unavoidably, look at things through an American lens… Britain is unimportant.” Not being American even has its virtues in America, as approximately half, or 800,000 of its subscriptions come from North America.
In addition, he thought that the “third great strength is that it is not respectful of received wisdoms or establishment wisdoms or the powers that be.” Without prompting, he said that “it appeals to a surprisingly young readership because it is quite deferential, it is willing to be rude about people. It is willing to be humorous about people.” At CMC, there certainly is a strong readership among students, either through the print edition, mobile edition, or through website access. Stop by the mailroom on the day a new issue arrives and you’ll see how eagerly students flip through their copies.
Come back next Monday for Part 2 - Girlfriend in a Coma, where Emmott discusses not only developments in Italy in particular, but also in Europe as a whole.
