Bonnie Hammer
Appearances
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
I think of almost everything we're talking about in terms of the present and future of media, of AI, of television versus film, all of it, doing less content for more money, doing more content for less money, all of it is a double-edged sword.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
If there's so much of a bulk of content that everything feels the same, why should people tune in as opposed to have fewer greater series that you're almost back on a schedule? You're definitely going to tune in when that show comes on at Peacock or wherever because it's quality as opposed to, eh, just feels like another show. Same thing with blockbusters.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
If there are fewer to go to a movie theater, why bother? Why just not wait till it comes to the screen? All double-edged.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
It truly worries me because when you think about the legality and everything else with taking content, taking a talent, using AI to replace them in a song, in a movie, in a television series, in re-editing or whatever, It is very scary to me because it will take away jobs. It's illegal.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
It is already being used in illegal ways that there's conversations about where it's just trying to fix something on screen or in an audio track, and it's AI-fixed. How far they take it to me is a bit dangerous in terms of, again, where are the controls? Where are the filters to know when it's good and usable and right and saving some money and time versus just wrong?
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
In terms of creating those characters digitally, I want to see live people doing shows with live performances, even if recorded, taped, filmed, whatever, or digitized. But are human beings doing those jobs as opposed to AI generated? It's a form of art, yes, but I'd like it to stay art, not get in the way of jobs.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
To me, media and entertainment is only about great content. And it's the younger generation coming up, creating the next batch of content of great ideas that relate to today's world, today's society, today's characters to see what they will bring. There are some amazing young people out there right now who are super creative. And I kind of want to see where this generation goes.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
It's all about content, no matter how you look at media. The only thing that counts is a great content.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
People always talk about the change in media and that they look at every single change as the end of an era or the end of a form of content or a form of distribution and that it's going to change a whole world fortunately and unfortunately i've been in the business a very very long time and what you learn is that change is a constant there's no way to stop it in any way shape or form
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
But it never destroys anything. It just moves on, tweaks things, changes things. But again, within media, the only thing that will count at the end of the game is great content. So embrace that change because it's the only thing you got.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
With all the changes in the media world, when you think about box office to streamers from cable broadcast to streaming, the only thing that really counts is great content. And great content has all to do with great characters and topics that people can relate to, that they can feel, that they can emote.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
So in my mind, the only thing that matters as we move forward with whatever distribution of media is creating great content. The other thing I would say is it doesn't matter about your age or your stage, creativity is creativity and not to be afraid to use it and try to move into whatever media world you want and use your thoughts, use your ideas and try to figure a way to put them forward.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
The third is people always say, don't sweat the small stuff, but when you're in the media world, you have to sweat all stuff in order to create great things. Nothing is too small to think about or worry about for great product.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
One of the reasons TV shows are more popular are they're simply more accessible, that people can be home, they could be on a plane, they could be anywhere. And these days, thank you to technology, they could watch them easily, tune in, tune out without having to worry about losing continuity for two, two and a half. And sometimes movies like today, again, where there's an intermission.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
So there are a couple of easy reasons why TV shows are so popular. One is that, the other is they're addicting. Years ago, we used to produce TV shows that were 20, 22, 28 episodes a season. Now they're shrinking to six episodes, eight episodes, 10 episodes as you stream them. They're addicting. People can watch them. They can choose when they watch them.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
They can watch two, three, or one at a time. And it's easy. But shaping content is really what's important, whether it's a big time movie or a television series. It's about character. It's about substance. It's all about content. and know where wherever the media industry goes, you know, started with broadcasts and got into cable. Now we're streaming.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
The only thing that's important is great content. That's what people need and want to see. That's what makes the industry.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
great characters, people that others can relate to. We started many, many years ago at USA, which oddly now in 2025 is the buzzword. We came up with something called Blue Skies Programming. And Blue Skies Programming was about upbeat drama with a dollop of humor and characters that you could relate to. They were imperfect, but they weren't completely negative or bad characters.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
And it was about really great content that was relatable to everyone. And you could understand them, get into their thinking, get into their mindset,
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
And I take a look at what's happening right now with Suits, which we've developed and produced and started in 2011, launched in 2011, 2012, nine seasons worth, has just come back in the past year and has been a top 10 series on Netflix after 13 years. which is pretty incredible.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
And that's because it was relatable characters who were imperfect, but you were rooting for them to succeed and stories that related to your own life in one way or another, even if it was a stretch.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
Well, the truth is I wish we had bought Netflix really early, early in the game because they had the right idea in terms of growth and what they wanted to do very early on before any of us really believed that streaming would be the future. I think they are incredibly well done and organized entities that are producing bold content and getting it out there.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
Amazon is amazing simply because the media business is one of its smaller parts. The marketplace supports everything that's happening on Amazon. So the amount of funds going in there gives that team a lot of possibility. Netflix is basically based on content. only content. And I give them a lot of credit in terms of what they've been able to do since the inception and where they've taken it.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
Hits and blockbusters will win more at the box office. They are produced so they can be seen on big screens that have big effects and they need to go globally in order to get their money back. But I would say they're fewer and relatively speaking from years ago, far between because they cost so much money and there's no guarantee what they're going to do with the box office.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
When you think about a box office movie, it's great to be able to go to a theater and have that option. But these days, they always have the back end to depend on, whether it's the company's own streamer or selling it to a Netflix or an Amazon or whoever else they're going to sell it to. Years ago, they couldn't quite get the same amount of money from back end sales as they do now.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
But blockbusters are meant for the big screen. And that's why they're done with the hope that they would bring in top dollar globally.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
For blockbusters, I do believe it's fewer, bigger, better. Spend on fewer entities, but do them well and do them big. I think for television, for streamers right now, it's kind of the opposite. And I'm slightly worried about that as somebody who grew up in content, loves content, that it's more producing more for less.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
almost going back to the old cable model, where instead of looking at certain series for nine seasons, 20 plus episodes per season, it's trying it out as a six, eight or 10 episode entity.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
Not spending as much as you would have years ago, seeing where it goes and then going to season two, going to season three doesn't often last away old cable and broadcasted where you can go into season eight, season nine or the Dick Wolf series, go into season 15, 16, 17 and onward.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
So I think the model for blockbuster movies for theaters is one way, more investment, fewer, but for series, more serious, less expensive.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
I don't know how it's affecting stars right now or developing stars right now. I think, as you probably believe, I would assume you do, there's a great upside and a huge downside to digital media and technology. Digital in general, it's based on how it's being used. If it's used for the good, if it's positive support, that's great.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
But when I see how, unfortunately, certain digital, not media so much, but how digital is being dealt with with the younger generation and the kids right now, I worry about it. I worry about it for them. I worry about it for the future. I worry about it in terms of credibility at large. So can it be a fabulous support? And has it changed my life in a lot of positive ways? Yes.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
But do I worry about it in terms of the effect it has on the younger generation and their addiction to it? Absolutely.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
I think it's a supporter of the stars and can help make stars, but could also help break stars. I think it's a double-edged sword, depending on how it's being used by them and their representatives and their press people. But I also think it can turn in a really ugly direction when social media goes astray because of what influencers do who are not supportive of them.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
I think it has some interesting upsides and some scary downsides. As an aid, a support, a degree of helping research or play with characters or play with writing, there's a fair amount of positivity connected to it. But I think that if it is exclusive and trusted and not double and triple checked, it's extremely dangerous.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
And I also think it's a crutch where when you think about creative from my generation, our generation, it was all inside the head, working with others, using your own creativity. Yes, you did research, but the writing and everything about it was yours or your team's. Now it's hard to tell whether something comes out of chat GPT or whether it's really come out of somebody's brain.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
I've played with it recently just for the fun of it as I look at other book proposals. And it's both fun but scary what I got back. And it worries me unless they're the right amount of controls around it in terms of all of our businesses, of what the filters are, how it's used, not that it's used.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
I love the idea. I love the potential. It's been around for a long time. Years ago, we had these goggles that we would put in and you'd have a depth of field and you'd be seeing things around you, et cetera.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
And that was, I remember when we were doing Mr. Robot with Rami Malek, that was the first show where we actually experimented on a short piece for one of the film festivals where it was completely virtual. And it was truly interactive. And it took us a ridiculous amount of time to shoot and put out. I think we had like nine cameras to do less than six minutes of video.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
It was a fabulous, interesting experience. But it's been a long time since we even tried that for it to get to a place where it's common usage. Again, like everything, I think it has some fun, wonderful potential. But if it gets in the way of human beings having live interaction with other people, we're going to have problems.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
As someone who's an old media type, literally and figuratively, it frightens me a bit. How do you react when somebody can get into the middle of something affect the thought process of many others live on something you've spent so much time creating and producing? I don't know. That makes me a little nervous personally, but again, I'm an old media gal.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
I think it will have a place and time for it. I mean, I look at data right now having only to do with lifespan, aging, dementia, things that affect age in people as we move along. And I realize how much I don't know yet and how much data is out there and how much all of those things, whether it's your heartbeat, what challenges the heart, what challenges the mind,
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
Hi, Lynn. I'm delighted to be here and I'm proud to be one of your guests.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
has already been developed and is out there to learn that I don't even have enough knowledge of at this point. Taking all of that data, all of that research, and using that as a tool to see how people react or interact with experiences, both live or mediated, is a pretty incredible thought.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer on AI Celebrities, Interactive TV & the Future of Content (#241)
I don't know how quickly we'll get there, but it is telling if you're watching something that is so dramatic and is action packed and somebody can actually check to see what that heartbeat increases and how quickly it decreases. That's an amazing tool to judge whether your action scene is working.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
If you're emailing back and forth to someone so very emails me and says it was better. four o'clock on a Friday saying, why would you have a psychic on the sci-fi channel? And I go back and forth saying, well, because it's an interesting topic. People are into psychics and there is a huge interest. And he sends me back an email. I get that. I accept that.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
But if psychics are real, why would they be on science fiction? And if psychics aren't real, why the hell are you in business with this guy anyway? So this goes back and forth and back and forth, probably every few hours till Sunday, probably late in the day, maybe even the evening. And I finally came up with the answer and I was able to write back and I said, Barry,
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
You cannot prove a psychic is real or not real. It's all in the eye of the beholder. So it doesn't matter whether you believe them or I believe them. It's out there in the ether and it's somewhere between fact and fiction. Let's call it friction, which is why it should be on sci fi. He wrote that. OK, your idea wins. Go.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
So it was always having some kind of argument that made sense, that had a form of logic. And if it was logical and smart, he would let you do anything. If I didn't come up with that last piece, I'm not sure I would have gotten it on the air.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
I don't know if there's one piece or just so many pieces of advice that I give people based on who they are. For me, advice is individualized. It's people coming to me with what they need at that stage of their life or their career that I then help them navigate through their situation.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
For example, I get constantly the question from so many people, particularly women, but everybody, it's how can I have it all? And my answer to them, there's no such thing as having it all. What we have in life is choices, and it's having the agency of those choices. So don't let somebody else's all define who you are, because my all and then your all
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
are going to be totally different so you have to figure out what you need and want out of life and then even once you isolate that you have to choose it can change over different decades or different times of your life but you do have to figure out what your all is for you at that moment in time and then move forward and know that everybody feels out of balance at some point and so will you and that's okay
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
I think that the only way to be happy and get through life is to maintain a sense of humility, not arrogance, no matter who you are, what you do, what you've achieved. And that humility and that kindness goes a long way and actually contributes to your own happiness, but also to success because people want to work with you.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
The first one is there's no such word as can't. If you can't do something, you're simply not trying hard enough. That is something my father said to me when I was very, very young, when I couldn't do mathematics and math problems. And it's something that has stayed with me for life.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
And the reason I think I've succeeded at life, because I don't believe there's any obstacle that you can't get around if you try hard enough. The second is the only thing in life that's constant is change. Change comes at you at any stage, at any wage and at any age, and you've got to embrace it in order to move forward in life.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
If you embrace it, you learn more, you do more, and it's a much more interesting journey. And the other is everyone in life should find a challenging mentor. It's the sparring partners, the truth tellers in life that are going to help you grow. It might not always feel good what you hear, but if you're open to it, you're going to be a much better person.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
I think I might have to use that in the next edition of the book because I agree with you. And in my mind, there is no obstacle. You can't get around. You just have to do a little bit more homework, figure out whether you have to go backwards, forwards, right or left. If you have the right attitude, if you are thinking positively, you will figure out a way to get around it at some point.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
So yet is 100% right.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
It is a conceit that came around when people were talking about stressing too much on little things that you lost the big picture. But I'm a believer that the details are in the small stuff and success is in the small stuff. If you ignore the little things around you, you're never going to get to think about the big stuff.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
You're judged on the tiny things in life that you clearly can put to the side because you don't think it's important enough to deal with on a daily basis, whether it's literally in a deck little typos or saying thank you or being kind at a specific moment. So I'm big on sweating all stuff.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
And I believe that one of the paths to success is being aware that everything matters, not just the big picture.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
That's absolutely true. But then it wasn't so much the small stuff, but that was really about attitude. It was about humility. It was about knowing my worth at that point in time. And there's a huge difference between personal worth, which we are all born with, and professional worth, which you have to earn.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
It was my first job, all the other production assistants, which in the media world is the lowest job you could possibly have. It's an entry level. It's even lower than the lowest of assistants. And everybody else had a kid. It was a television children's show about math because I was the newest and the youngest. I got the dog.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
Now, mind you, we were a union house, so none of the stagehands were going to follow around a dog and pick up its poop. I had to do it. But I did it with a smile because I realized that it's all about attitude. If I had a good attitude, if people wanted me around, if people knew I would deal with stuff that wasn't exactly pretty or pleasant, they would be there to help me grow and they were.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
What do you think about the advice of follow your dreams? That's another cliche we've all been brought up with. And it's interesting because when you think about where we got those dreams and when we got those dreams, we were kids. It was either our parents whispering them in our ear or a teacher or a kid's book that we read when we were young.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
But they weren't things we actually got exposed to and learned by example. In my mind, you can't be what you can't see. You can't dream what you don't know. It's not that I think people should throw away passions or dreams that they think they may want, but people have to concentrate on opportunities. My line to myself and to others, you don't have to throw your passion away.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
It just doesn't have to be your boss in life. If you follow your dreams, in my mind, you're going to sleepwalk through life. If you follow opportunities, it can get you to very, very interesting places. But those dreams can always stay in the background and you can play with them as a sideline.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
First of all, I think all of us at some point in life have felt like an impostor. I think it's just a given in terms of who we are, what we get exposed to, especially when we start navigating the corporate world.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
That's why I wrote 15 Lives to call BS or bullshit on these cliches.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
But I'm a big believer that the minute you fake it and the minute you get caught in a lie, it's kind of over because it's impossible to build back that trust from people once they've lost it in you. It's really about being open and honest and letting people know what you know and what you don't.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
And when you ask for help in a corporate world or in life in general, you're empowering other people to help you. So then they want to take you under their wing and help you grow. The minute you lie about something and you get caught in it, they're not going to want to give you the opportunity anymore. So take advantage of the people around you. Be honest about what you know, what you don't know.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
You're going to learn a lot more. You're going to gain a lot more friends and mentors, if you will, because you can admit what you know. So they're going to trust you the next time you say you do know something because they already knew that you were honest when you didn't.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
The WWE story was interesting. My boss at the time decided that he thought that I could help Vince McMahon and his team develop stories for the wrestling world. Now, mind you, I had never watched one of his shows in my life. I didn't even know really what it was. And it was just mind blowing to me. But I felt, OK, if it didn't work, I didn't like it.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
I could always quit, but I might as well try it. And I remember going up to the Stanford Connecticut offices and walking in this room with these big, oversized guys. I was the only chick in the room and I'm only just under 5'4". And I remember walking in and trying to figure out what am I going to say to these guys? You know, I was put into their world by my boss. They didn't ask for me.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
And I remember when Vince came in, he literally looked at me and all he said was, so? And I took a deep breath and I said, Vince, up until two weeks ago, I never watched one of your shows. I surely was never in a stadium to watch one of your live events. So I don't know anything about what your world is. The only thing I know is how to develop stories, how to create great characters.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
And that's how I can help you. And he just said to me, thanks for being honest. Let's go. And we worked together for over 20 years and had an amazing relationship in a world that was completely foreign to me.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
I have a saying that I've often said to myself, you don't have to and shouldn't be the smartest one in the room. You should surround yourself with great people, with smarter people, and always have the smartest one you know on speed dial. to pretend to be the smartest in the room or to act like that basically shuts down everybody else. And that's such an unhealthy world to be in.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
If you sit back, ask questions, let others have conversations around you, you get a much better project property show because you are inclusive. So you usually come out with the best idea.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
To me, you are only as good as the people who surround you. I don't think I would be anywhere near where I am now without the people who have surrounded me, who I've hired, or who have been given to me by others in terms of the professional world. Anybody who believes they can do it themselves, I personally think are lying.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
But the truth is, even if they are smarter and better, the journey is a lot less fun.
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NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
Well, it's a really complicated question right now for a variety of reasons. I think kids need encouragement and you need to have them believe that if they work hard enough at something,
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
they can do pretty much anything they want to do but it takes work and they have to prove their worth by their hard work but what's happening in the work world right now and i think in life in general that the pendulum has swung so far out there that being able to critique
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
give criticism, tell somebody they need to grow or learn in certain ways doesn't exist anymore because of the fear of saying something that might hurt somebody else's feeling and therefore is a bad thing to do or say.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
So I think a lot of the younger folks coming into our corporate world right now don't understand the advantage of criticism, don't understand that in order to grow, you may hear things that might not always feel good, but are really useful in terms of learning if you're open enough to it. I grew up with some really tough mentors.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
I completely agree with him 150%. I may frame it differently than he does. But for me, if you really want to succeed in life, you need challenging mentors. You need truth tellers. You need sparring partners. Just having people who are cheering you on or who they're cheerleaders in life, it's really not going to get you. Maybe you feel good, but it's not going to help you get anywhere.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
I kind of divided into three different ways. You have supportive mentors. Those are the people who are your cheerleaders are going to tell you how great you are. Then you have what I call more active, supportive mentors who are your coaches. They'll help you get into the game because they're going to help build your confidence and help you get there.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
But then there are the challenging mentors, which are the drill sergeants. They're not only going to prepare you for the game but they're going to help you win the war so they're the ones who for me are the guys and gals but for most part for me they've been men in the world who've been my challenging mentors they've been the ones who've
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
said things to me that might not have felt good at the moment, but because I was open enough to listen and to hear their critiques, criticisms were the things that got me to move forward. They help you realize what you're capable of, even when you don't realize it yourself.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
Oh, yes. Barry was and to this day still is, believe it or not, my challenging mentor. He taught me how to think. He taught me how to take criticism. And he was, without doubt, my sparring partner. And I don't believe... I would have been where I am today without Barry, a part of my life. And not because he helped pull strings or get me anywhere. Trust me, he did not.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
Every rung of the professional ladder, whether you're new to the work world, on the cusp of a first promotion, or on the path to a dropped job, there are too many rules rooted in pithy dictums, mantras, and maxims that too many people continue to believe. They sound nice, they roll off the tongue, they seem like an easy enough script to follow, and they feel like a time-tested playbook.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
But it was because he taught me how to think. He taught me how to turn things upside down and inside out. And Barry, to this day as a person, he doesn't care if a great idea comes from a new assistant or a chairperson, you know, didn't care what shape, color, size, anything you were. A good idea was a good idea and a bad idea was a bad idea. And he let you know it.
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
And to this day, I have tremendous respect for him, even though it was really painful living through that era. And what was Barry's position or title? at that time it was a company called iac that owned usa sci-fi and universal films and barry was the ceo of iac and at that time i was running sci-fi channel working for barry
3 Takeaways
NBCUniversal Vice Chair Bonnie Hammer: Life Lessons for Getting Ahead (#236)
It's a funny example, but it's a very specific example that describes it. So I was running Sci-Fi Channel and I was about to put a show that had a psychic onto the sci fi channel. So it was in December and it was a snowy day and I was working from home and I was on a computer. And keep in mind, those days we didn't have our iPhones. Everything had to be sitting in front of a computer.