The Anomaly of Long Tenure

I come to work this morning wondering if I am the longest-tenured editor of a national magazine currently active in the industry.

On this day in 1981 I joined Directors & Boards as a senior editor, and within months took on full editorship of the journal. Thus I begin my 30th year with the publication.

When I am asked about my career, I whimsically describe it in one word: "Preposterous."

How many people have the opportunity in this era to spend that kind of time with one organization? Rare. And especially in publishing, how many editors have that kind of tenure atop one masthead? The rarest few.

In the modern media business, editors are a high-turnover lot. Many editors have the kind of tenure that CEOs have — five or six years being a good run (Mark Hurd, e.g., who joined HP in 2005). Case in point in publishing: the Harvard Business Review, which has had eight editors of that august journal during my tenure here.

I have a few years to go before I reach the lengthy reigns of my two idols:

• In the business magazine category, Jim Michaels (top) was editor of Forbes for 38 years, from 1961-1999.

• And in the general magazine category, William Shawn (bottom) was editor of The New Yorker for 35 years, from 1952-1987.

On my tenure milestone, let me note with admiration a few others in this rare breed:

• George Plimpton, editor of the Paris Review, with a tenure record that likely will never be equaled, having co-founded and edited the literary journal from 1953 until his death in 2003.

• William F. Buckley Jr., founder of the National Review and its editor for 35 years, from 1955 to 1990.

• Paige Rense Noland, editor of Architectural Digest for 35 years, from 1975 until her retirement earlier this year.

• Helen Gurley Brown, editor of Cosmopolitan for 31 years, from 1965-1996.

• Lewis Lapham, editor of Harper's for 28 years, from 1976 to 2006 (taking a two-year hiatus from 1981-1983).

• Stephen Shepard, editor of Business Week for 21 years, from 1984-2005.

• Art Cooper, editor of GQ for 20 years, from 1983-2003.

• Walter Anderson, editor of Parade (the newspaper magazine supplement) for 20 years, from 1980-2000.

I know of one long-tenured active contemporary: Anna Wintour, editor of Vogue, who has been the guiding force of that magazine for 22 years, since 1988. There may be others, but certainly not many.

What is the secret to being a long-tenured editor? I again have a one-word answer: "Publisher." You don't get to enjoy a lengthy run as editor unless you have the backing of the publisher.

I have been blessed to have the equally long-tenured father and son ownership team of Milton and Robert Rock, who purchased Directors & Boards right before I came aboard and who have had the confidence in me all these years to produce this "journal of thought leadership in corporate governance," as our tagline goes. (Or, as the New York Stock Exchange once said of us in its own nyse magazine: "Directors & Boards is to the field of corporate governance what Variety is to show business.") Simply put, Milt and Bob have been the most supportive publishers that any editor could hope to have.

Just as I now embark on this milestone year of 30, Directors & Boards is entering its 35th year of publication, which will culminate in a special 35th anniversary edition in fall 2011. More news forthcoming on that. Right now all I can do is think back to that 21st day of September in 1981 and be astonished at the anomaly of it all.

Bob Rock, at 60 . . . and at 22

Directors & Boards Publisher Robert Rock celebrated one of those seminal birthdays this past week — the big 6-0. Our congratulations to him on his achieving this milestone with his usual cheerful aplomb and hearty humor.

Bob became publisher of Directors & Boards in 1988. It was the smoothest of executive successions — from father Milton, who spearheaded the purchase of the journal in 1980 and became its publisher at that time until son Bob's transition into the publisher's seat. With this new role came a new responsibility for Bob: to pen the "Letter from the Publisher" column in each edition. This is the publisher's chance to opine on the big issues of the day that may be vexing the country and its corporate leaders, and to point the reading audience to the higher ground.

For his first "Letter," in the Summer 1988 edition, Bob took on no less ambitious a topic than the state of American competitiveness. "Declarations of the decline in U.S. competitiveness have been echoing throughout corporate boardrooms, university classrooms, and Capitol Hill hallways," he noted. But he would have none of it.

With a forthrightness that would mark his succeeding Pub Letters, as we call them around the office, he identified the immediate need ahead now that the big purge of mid-1980s restructuring (often instigated by takeover types) was behind Corporate America: "The next round requires U.S. firms to enhance their competitive position in world markets by investing in education and training."

Then came the challenge. "The board of directors," he declared, "must make certain that appropriate, even aggressive, investments are made in the corporation's human resources. What will separate the leaders from the also-rans — companies as well as nations — in the world order of the 1990s is clear: the ability to marshal the best-trained and most highly motivated people, from the factory floor to the boardroom."

That was a darn good call for his first outing as pundit. (Think of the Internet Age that was just about to dawn.) And Bob certainly followed his own advice. In the 22 subsequent years in which he has topped the masthead of Directors & Boards as our publisher, he has invested much of himself — his time, talent, enthusiasm, support, and commitment — to ensure the journal's success and to make sure that Directors & Boards continues to play a seminal role in the education of corporate directors.

On behalf of all the staff and his many colleagues in business and boardrooms that he has touched through the pages of the journal, we salute him on this milestone birthday.

The specially designed mockup cover of Directors & Boards, pictured above, was crafted by the journal's longtime art director, Bill Cooke, for this celebratory occasion.

The First Woman Director

March was Women's History Month. Before the month comes to a complete close, let's add one last entry to the history books — the first woman corporate director.

Directors & Boards Publisher Robert Rock had occasion to track down this milestone in board composition last summer. He had just received an invitation from "Vision 2020" — a group that is preparing celebrations for the 100th anniversary of Aug. 26, 1920, when the 19th amendment gave American women the right to vote — which then peaked his curiosity about the first woman to join a corporate board. Drawing from various references, here is what several sources have concluded.

There were a handful of women who upon the death of a husband or father came onto the board of an American corporation, most notably Marjorie Merriweather Post, who in 1914 joined the board of the frozen foods and cereal company started by her father.

Other business historians point to Lettie Pate Whitehead (pictured) as the first independent woman to serve on the board of a major U.S. corporation. An Atlanta business, church and civic leader, she joined the Coca-Cola Co. board in 1934. This was a year after President Roosevelt appointed Frances Perkins as Secretary of Labor, the first woman to hold a Cabinet post. Ms. Whitehead served on the Coke board for 20 years. Her philanthropic legacy continues to this day to benefit charitable initiatives.

Perhaps her legacy also continues to benefit the Coca-Cola company and its board. I just took a quick look at the Coke board today and was pleased to see that three highly accomplished women serve as directors: Cathleen Black, Alexis Herman, and Maria Elena Lagomasino. Three is good, at a time when many companies still have no women directors and many others feel that having one woman is a sufficient nod to board diversity.