30ANC – Blog

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Over an early morning breakfast, the honorees of Cablefax’s list of The Most Influential Minorities in Cable and other attendees of the NAMIC Conference quietly nibbled on pastries, fruit and coffee as they listened intently to the conversation on the main stage between Cablefax Publisher, Michael Grebb and NCTA President and CEO Michael Powell.

When Grebb prompted the former FCC Chairman for advice for TV executives coming up through the ranks, Powell responded with an ingenious answer, “You have to be like Leonardo da Vinci,” he said. “Observe, document and study…” 

As the political election may cause great change in the entertainment industry with the Presidential elect’s choice of a new FCC Chairperson which coincides with millennials transforming the market and workplace, Powell says you have to be a “renaissance person” who reads about what’s going on in order to understand context and possibly predict what will happen.  

Powell also advised the audience to master the art of simplicity. “Turning something complex into something simple is not easy”, he warned.  Yet, young people don’t want the burden of reading a manual, they expect to turn something on and it works without having to set it up.

Powell implied that you don’t have to be a genius but must be deeply committed to being a “lifelong learner.”

This guest blog was written by Terisa Thurman, be sure to follow her on twitter @sfterisa