3 lessons from Michael Quigley, EVP of WarnerMedia Content Acquisitions on MBA, Career, and creating richer stories in media entertainment.

A month ago, I had the opportunity to host a fireside chat with Michael for a group of Stanford GSB students. Sharing 3 of my favorite Q&As below (with permission from Michael).

As Executive Vice President, Michael leads WarnerMedia’s direct-to-consumer business and content acquisitions, and played a pivotal role in launching HBO Max in 2020. Michale comes from 20 years of experience in Media including Time Warner, DMX Music, and Turner.

Just to give you a flavor of Michael’s personality and character, here’s a short excerpt of his response in amplifying diverse voices in entertainment:

2020 marked the importance of representation in our industry. While in front of the camera / shows / movie / cast gets a lot of attention, the behind-the-scenes talent (writers, show runners) is getting just as much attention. Having more people with more diverse backgrounds and interests lead to long-term sustainable change.

I buy finished shows, movies that have a theatrical release. If i just buy more stuff, that lasts as long as i’m sitting in the seat. If people take my job then it may change the direction. If we build up the supply chain, then the whole system is more sustainable.

1. How has your MBA degree played a role in your career?

This is where I give my tip of the hat to Stanford. An old boss of mine said to me that Michael, when we talk about issues, you bring a perspective that other people don’t bring. You bring up how the board would think, what would be the press’s reaction? What are the implications to the employee? Not a lot of people think in that multi-dimensional way. I was not thinking that way before I got to Stanford. I definitely think about that now.

Another colleague of mine put it differently. He said that I have the ability to speak the language of the audience that you’re talking to at the time. I’m not the smartest person in the room but I try to ask the right questions and I try to think from my audience’s perspective. I want to make sure I understand each person in the room; what their interests are, what their concerns are, why would they care for what I’m talking about?

The ability to work in teams and come to some consensus, those are the kinds of skills that an MBA provides and I think that for our business and our industry, they’re more critical now than they were before.

2. I’m looking around and exploring what I want to do in my career. What is exciting to you? And where do you think the startup entertainment space is going versus the mid larger companies?

Am I from the boring space? Is that what it is?

No listen, I understand the crux of your question and I’m going to give you the worst possible answer. I’m sorry, but really, it entirely depends on the person. It really depends on you. What I hear you saying is there’s some things that get you fired up and excited and other things that are less exciting for you, and I totally understand that.

What I’d offer to everyone else in this call is, find your thesis: What do you think is going to happen to this business?

Where do you think this industry is headed, and based on that, where do you see the opportunity. Let that lead you to the job that makes sense for you. When I go and look for jobs, and my goal of interviewing with people and say, hey Michelle, here’s my thesis for I think the business is headed. Michelle either says, I absolutely agree with you. You’re right. We’re doing the same thing at this company. We should join up or she says, politely, that’s interesting. Not really how we think about it. And if it falls into the second category, it doesn’t matter what the company is, it doesn’t matter how nice of a person Michelle is, it doesn’t matter how compelling the offer is. That misalignment and vision is ultimately going to be frustrating and unfulfilling for me, because I’m gonna be working in a place saying, I know that they don’t think the way I think but I’ll kind of get them to change. No. Unless you’re brought in to be a change agent, you’re not gonna get them to change. So, find a place that thinks like you think, has the same vision that you have, and yes, opportunity for you to grow your career, and yes, opportunity for your build your network and yes, opportunity for you to learn in advance for sure, but develop your thesis where you think things are headed and find a company whose thesis is similar to yours. Whether it’s a big company or small company at this point is irrelevant. It’s the thesis that matters.

3. How do you balance on selecting the type of content that the audience wants? I’m a 90s child and I miss a lot of the old school movies that’s not being done anymore. Where’s the way forward?

A couple of things I try to keep in mind. As a male black executive in our business, I try to make sure that I don’t allow my filter to be the filter for my audience.

Things that are interesting to me may not be interesting to [Katherine] and that’s okay. I don’t need her to have my taste. My job is to channel her taste. That’s my job. And so, part of what I try to do is ask myself: Does this show or does this movie have an audience and if so, who’s the audience and will it resonate with them?

I want to make sure that we are bringing, to your point, stories of love and romance with black characters and black protagonists and that we’re bringing horror and sci-fi with black characters and black protagonists. The most exciting thing I’ve seen in terms of content development in the last year and a half has been the exploration of this. What Jordan Peele is doing, which is essentially creating horror films but saying, let’s cast black people in the lead, you know. Yeah. There are some racial components to that but in the end it’s still just a horror film. I want to see more of that happen because I think that’s going to create a much richer diaspora, much richer stories to be told.

And then the downside I really try to avoid is stuff that is truly offensive. And what is offensive now, the line is different from what it was even a year ago. What is pushing the line? What is being provocative? What is being provocative in order to make a point versus you’ve gone too far, and you put a group of people at risk? It’s tough, and we struggle with it. And I always tell folks that if it were easy, we’d all know it.