Lessons for small business from NBC, Jay Leno & Conan O’Brien

Ever since the whole disaster with NBC-Jay Leno-Conan O’Brien started, I have been thinking about how the situation applies to small business or just business in general. Mistakes a lot of businesses make, but here are just a few of the glaring red flags and something to think about when setting your own business strategy and making decisions.

Five years ago, NBC announced that Conan O’Brien would start hosting The Tonight Show in June 2009. I remember think, “wow that’s odd announcing that 5 years in advance”. I was never clear if Leno had asked to retire or was asked to “retire”, but the timeline seemed really long and why announce it. If Leno was asked to retire, think about the awkward 5 years he and Conan have had. What was the point of putting out that information and signing contracts 5 years ago? This was NBC’s first mistep - it is good to have a strategy and a 5 year plan, but companies need to keep somethings under their belt until they are confident there won’t be a change in strategy. I have made the mistake a few times saying I was coming out with a new product line, then in the end because of budgets and rethinking strategy put it on hold. Not an expensive mistake, but not helping to build my brand and strength of the existing products.

After the announcement 5 years ago, not sure about you, but I kinda forgot when the actual handover would take place, until NBC started promoting when it was all happening and after they announced Jimmy Fallon would take over Late Night. It seemed to be all moving along as planned, players were shifting, then NBC announces that Leno will have a 10pm prime-time show (essentially an earlier Tonight Show). My husband and I were like, that’s dumb, what’s the point? Why would NBC give up all that prime-time space for a show like that (at the time, knowing the network has been floundering, we chalked it up to a cost-saving strategy - Leno’s new show was cheaper than producing 5 dramas or a new Law & Order). This decision by NBC  was a sign that executives were not fully committed to the change of guard (maybe 5 years was too early to make that announcement?). Maybe since they were already going down this path, instead of just changing their minds and keeping Leno on The Tonight Show, they decided to hedge their bets and keep him with the network (just in case) - maybe because they had signed contracts, who knows.  Sometimes hedging too many bets is the downfall for small business owners. Splitting a strategy, can diffuse the impact and confuse your customers (in this case, viewers).

Before the mess began.

NBC invested millions - $50 million alone on the new Tonight Show studio that was used for just 7 months (and then breaking the contracts with Conan cost an additional $45 million). Someone at NBC must of had an inkling that maybe adding a 10pm show with Leno could affect the viewers of  The Tonight Show (in general, people don’t like change, it is uncomfortable, Leno fans may have just shifted to his new show).  I think NBC split their own audience - the purpose of having these two shows was confusing and unclear. It was a muddy strategy, it didn’t seem long term, and in hindsight, it wasn’t.  Fully commit to ideas and people you believe in or you will waste time and money on projects that go nowhere. Really think about the costs (financial, image, relationships, etc.) of going forward with a decision. It may have cost NBC less to have broken the contract with Conan when they decided they wanted to keep Leno.

Even though the whole situation has been visibly uncomfortable for both of the talk show hosts, I think in general they have handled themselves well (Leno a little more biting and smug - but that is just his style. Interested to see his interview tomorrow with Oprah!). You may not like a decision a business or business partner makes, but once the decision is made (or announced!), it is hard to get a take back. A good general policy is to take the high road. Don’t go with a knee-jerk reaction. Especially if your industry is small, burning one bridge can mean burning them all. Conan did his last show and he didn’t completely bash NBC, and did thank the network for the time he had been there (like 20 years). The end result wasn’t nice for him or his staff, but he wasn’t going to become cynical. A good lesson.