If You Don't Have Obvious Talents, That May Be a Very Good Thing

Self-knowledge is a valuable commodity. Demand always outstrips supply.

Meredith Kopit-Levien, EVP and Chief Revenue Officer, New York Times, is one of those refreshing people whose professional (and personal) achievements are fueled by a clear-eyed view of self.

“I literally had no talent at math or reading, but I realized I could sell.”

Kopit-Levien is the subject of Episode 11 of the Disrupt Yourself Podcast and she reveals that she gleaned this insight while working at a health club late in her teens. On her first day on the job she sold a lifetime membership to the first customer through the door, a membership package that no other employee had sold—ever.

“I always refer to my life as basically a story of a person who had no particular talents. I didn’t play a sport, I can’t sing, I can’t dance, I wasn’t good in theater. I did relatively well in school, but I wasn’t the valedictorian. I wasn’t particularly good at math, science or reading. I literally had no talent and that was the first moment of my life that I thought there might actually be something I’m good at.”  

Obvious talents aren’t the only ones; they’re not even always the most desirable ones.

It’s likely that each of us has a gift or two, but many of us will find Kopit-Levien’s sentiment relatable. Our talent(s) is hidden perhaps, awaiting discovery and excavation; a distinctive strength that can be leveraged to advantage in our careers and otherwise in life.

Tasked with helming the revenue side of one of the world’s greatest media institutions during a time of epic disruption in the industry, Kopit-Levien is empowered by her gift, “There’s always value in being able to persuade, or sell something.”

Her self-knowledge is coupled with great passion for the Times and its unique and precious position in the news world. She is passionate about the Times obligation to inform, educate, entertain, and most particularly to act as a guardian and bastion of society, speaking “truth to power…without fear or favor.”

“I…maybe get one shot in my career to do the things that I know how to do… and apply that to something that really matters in the world.”

This is it.

That sense of mission underpins her energetic leadership and efforts to sell the constant reiterations required to keep the Times fresh, relevant and financially viable on the carnival ride that is the modern media industry. The Times is a venerable institution: old, established, deeply entwined in the lives of individuals and families; fundamentally important in communities near and far and in the cultural landscape of the nation as a whole. Change is not easy. Buy-in isn’t cheap. Persuasion is a skill Kopit-Levien keeps honed through constant use.

Because the change has to happen. The Times has to keep up with the times; stay ahead of them, if at all possible. The quality of the business enterprise has to be maintained if the quality of the journalism is to be sustained. For many, the New York Times equates to the newspaper of that name; not so for Kopit-Levien. “The company is not in the business of saving newspapers. It’s not in the business of saving its own newspaper; it’s not in the business of saving newspapers generally. It is in the business of creating the world’s best, most consequential, important journalism and storytelling and…that is the value on which everything else is built….We are still in the print business because we still have a good print business.”

If—when—the print version of the New York Times ceases to exist, the company will roll on, if Kopit-Levien has anything to say or do about it. Proactively creating and embracing the path that will make that possible is her goal, and the goal of the 3500 other employees of the business. Their efforts are made more urgent because they have accepted “the possibility of our own oblivion.” Kopit-Levien doesn’t believe it will come to that; a world bereft of the Times doesn’t loom. On the other hand, who imagined that Sears would simply fade away?

Disrupt or be disrupted.

“We’re doing so much… self-disruption at the Times now while we’re running a very important business. We say it’s not quite like changing the engine on a plane in midair; we’re changing the fabric on the seats and the way the cabin is designed and moving the passengers around the cabin while we’re doing all those things at the same time.”

No offering peanuts and plumping pillows; no sitting in comfort through the in-flight movie. It’s a bumpy, unsettling, exhilarating ride. And the Times has enemies in places of power.

It’s not possible, Kopit-Levien acknowledges, to speak truth to power and always be loved.

That’s something else she knows about herself: she can live without universal affection, as long as she can help the Times survive and thrive to fight the good fight for years to come.

Whitney Johnson is one of the world's leading management thinkers (Thinkers50), author of the critically acclaimed Disrupt Yourself: Putting the Power of Disruptive Innovation to Work and host of the Disrupt Yourself Podcast. You can sign up for her newsletter here.