Profile: Cathleen Black '66
President, Hearst Magazines

The First Lady of American Magazines

By Peggy Lewis '77

The New York headquarters of the Hearst Corporation's magazine division is located in the heart of Manhattan on the 42nd floor of a skyscraper. The large reception area is quiet with dark wood paneling, soft lighting and long hallways leading to doors of power and influence. There are overstuffed chairs and couches and doors are actually hidden in the wood paneling. Huge paintings adorn the walls looking more like a gallery or library instead of the hub of one of America's leading media companies. It has the feel of old money - of a gathering place for gentlemen smoking cigars and toasting brandies just before going out for a round of golf or the annual fox hunt. But this is no longer exclusively a man's world. In this very staid, speak-in-soft-tones atmosphere I expect a very proper assistant to greet me. But like her career path, Cathleen Black breaks the usual executive mold. She pops into the lobby herself, a smiling, attractive woman full of light and air and greets me, "Hi, I'm Cathie Black." That's the first surprise, Cathleen Black, president of Hearst Magazines, dubbed "The First Lady of American Magazines" who serves on the boards of IBM, Coca-Cola and the Advertising Council, greets and sends off appointments herself - something you don't expect of presidents of companies.

She is smartly dressed in a suit that could be on one of the covers of the many magazines she oversees. It is a tiny black and white check with dashes of pink and that fringe that's all the rage this spring. It is matched with more conservative black pumps and dark opaque hosiery. There is not much make-up and no-fuss hair. She has on antique drop jade earrings that could be on an inside magazine page under the title 'must-haves.' She is down-to-earth confident, disarmingly charming and easy to talk to. She laughs easily and often.

Her office is large and bright with a breathtaking view of Central Park and the Upper West Side. One wall looks like an enlarged replica of a New York City newsstand, showcasing the 18 magazines she oversees. They include Good Housekeeping, Town & Country, Marie Claire, O, The Oprah Magazine, Redbook and Popular Mechanic. All of which she says she goes through monthly. When we met, Black was planning an upcoming trip to Beijing to oversee an important meeting about one of the seven magazines they have launched in China. In addition to the 18 magazines in this country, Black oversees 133 international editions of Hearst magazines in more than 100 countries. Hearst is the world's largest publisher of monthly magazines and Black says she loves her work, especially the diversity of it.

"Every single hour is different," she said. "I've always loved that. It's why I've always loved being in the media business."

Cathleen Black graduated from Trinity in 1966. She and her husband Tom Harvey have two children, a 12-year-old daughter in the sixth grade who has lately taken a fancy to playing drums and dreaming of having a girl-band (with the full and enthusiastic support of her mom), and a 16-year-old son who is in boarding school. They live in Manhattan and have a weekend home in Connecticut. Given their very busy schedules (he's a lawyer), Black says they realized they could spend more time with the children and their activities by living in the city. On the day we met, she had had breakfast with her daughter and had taken her to school. It brings up the issue she is asked to talk about often - balancing work and family - especially with a demanding work schedules like hers.

"There are some women who really absolutely want to be home with their children and I say then that's your answer, that's what you want, that's who you are and that's your make-up.

"And there are other people who work who feel okay saying 'my children are going to be raised in a larger context. Other people are going to have to help me in this in a more significant way," she continued. "And I've just always been very comfortable with that. But I'm not saying it's for everybody. And I think it's fantastic for the women who today say they want to be at home. But the truth is, as we all know, that most women work because they have to work. But I've always liked what I do."

But work does not mean being a work-a-holic, a term she emphatically rejects.

"No, I've never considered myself a work-a-holic...I work a lot...but I think the difference is that work-a-holics don't want to take time off, don't really want to be with their families and I think very often are insecure about their own status within an organization and are almost afraid to be away from it. I feel like I've always had a very healthy approach. I work a lot of hours but if you're going to have this job, that's what it's all about.

She continued, "It's not like overnight I had to add another 15 hours to the work week. It's always been like that. You travel and there's the entertaining and it's not for everybody. And I've always said that. If you want this" - she holds her hand up high with fingers straight out pointing toward the top of her head - "here's what this takes. And I'm not of the school that says maybe in 20 years it will be different. And I'm not of the school that says 'well, we should change the work place' or 'we should change the definition of what it is to be a CEO, or a president, or a senior executive so that I can have a better balance.' I think that that's very difficult, that's what these companies demand and it's what the expectations are. I am completely empathetic with somebody who wants more flexibility, perhaps not a five day week schedule, I think that's great; but then you have to say 'okay, for this moment in my life then that [the big job] is not going to happen.' And I think that's fine."

Black started her career right after Trinity selling ads for Holiday magazine and moved on to Travel and Leisure and New York before landing at the brand new Ms. magazine.

"My first real managerial job was when I was 28 and I was the first advertising director for Ms. magazine and it was just launching," Black said.

"You know, most of what I have done has been baptism by fire. But that's how you learn and I really do believe that you can learn to be a more effective manager. I think that there have been many things pointed out over the years between how different men are from women as managers. I think that women instinctively tend to be more collaborative, they look for more opinions; it is not that we hesitate to make a decision - I don't think that.

"I've known as many women who don't like to make decisions as I know men who don't like to make decisions. I think that decision-making is gender-neutral. But what I do think is that we are not hung up on ideas only coming in a very hierarchical fashion. And as one of my old bosses once said, 'Democracy takes longer.'

"And it's true," she continued. "If you want to hear more people and hear what they have to offer to the conversation, to the strategy or whatever it is, it will take longer, but I think you end up with a better product, as a result, or with a better decision as a result."

To help maintain a balanced outlook, Black says she plays golf, tennis, enjoys skiing, running and exercising. She also putters around her weekend home, gardening, antiquing, and traveling; it sounds slightly like a life profiled in one of her magazines. So what's a typical day for a media powerhouse? Surprisingly normal except for some of the people on her appointment book.

"I get up, I exercise, and I think that's critical. I decided a long time ago that exercise was more important than another breakfast meeting. I have a trainer twice a week and I do something on my own two or three times a week. That was just going to be more important than another breakfast. I time it so I see my daughter - my son's in boarding school now - but I see my daughter when she's getting ready for school and having breakfast. I dropped her off at school today - I don't do that every day - and then I'm in here at about 8:00 and I'll have anywhere from eight to 10 meetings a day. So it's always non-stop, it's very rare for me to have an hour in between appointments - although I would love it, it would give me some time to do e-mails or think - but that's on your own time.

"And I usually have a lunch date, more often than not with a client. Today I am having lunch with the president of Chanel. I try to keep my lunch dates generally for our major advertisers. And then in the afternoon it's the same sort of thing. I usually leave around 6:30, sometimes 7:00 p.m. or I'll have an evening event, probably two times a week. Sometimes it's not the whole night but I'll drop by for drinks at some kind of charitable event or where there's a business context to it. Or I go home. If I can go home, I go home. I prefer to be at home."

We talk about the difference between young women coming out of college in the 1960s when she graduated and now. And how many young women, perhaps because of seeing their mothers work too hard, are opting not to climb the corporate ladder, at least maybe not so ambitiously.

"I think the younger women don't think there's going to be any struggle at all," Black said. "And I think it's really not until you're probably in your early 30s, when different decisions begin to take larger significance, where say you might have lost out on something that you just assumed automatically you would get. Or now you might have two children and you say, 'Gee, this is really difficult being a partner in a law firm or being a senior executive in wherever.' I don't think the reality hits most people in their 20s. But as that pyramid begins to narrow a little bit then there are the trade-offs. But I think you can know yourself well enough to say 'this is what's important to me.'

She talks about the influence of the great education she got at Trinity. She says she had great professors and praises President Patricia McGuire for "an amazing job" in keeping Trinity "relevant." But perhaps the best example of the value of a Trinity education is a story she recalls of being interviewed by a Trinity student. "She was a transfer student from a large university and I asked her why she left a large co-ed school for a small all-women's college and she said, 'Because at Trinity, I get to be the reporter and I get to be here to interview you.' And I thought that is such a good example of how Trinity builds confidence and teaches young women to be leaders."

So how does she respond to the criticism that there's a glut of magazines on the market and too much mindless fare in them with articles like, "How to satisfy your man" or "How to flatten your stomach in three weeks." Black is cool and opinionated.

"Look, there's something for everyone," she said. "If you don't like those articles there are plenty of alternatives. And many magazines are pure entertaining fantasy that people enjoy as an escape. Like it or not Cosmopolitan is the No. 1 magazine but if you prefer shelter magazines there are plenty of those to choose from." And she says magazines like the very successful O, The Oprah Magazine, came at a time when women were looking to feed their spirit.

"I've always said that women are inspired by Oprah Winfrey and they aspire in their own way to some aspects of her mission...and to her vision of life. Her whole mission is you can live a better life...live your best life. That's her whole kind of mantra...that's a very defining principle of the magazine." Black is also overseeing a test launch of a new magazine, O at Home.

And, yes, she went to Oprah's 50th birthday party. And not just the big party, but the smaller ones with only a few of Oprah's closest friends. I asked if it was the most fabulous over-the-top party she'd ever been too.

"Yes, completely and simply unbelievable and really great fun. She loves to party and they were all planned for her. They were all over the top and they were simply amazing, you really did feel like Dorothy from Oz.

"We started in Chicago and we continued on to Los Angeles where there was a luncheon for 50 women. Then we continued on to Santa Barbara where her home is where she had a big luncheon on Saturday at her amazing estate and then a big party at another person's home on Saturday night. We were partied out!

Yes, there are perks to being the president. And before taking over the helm of Hearst Magazines, Black was first president and then publisher of USA Today and widely credited for its success. She says the media business is a great career for young women to consider and that they'll never be bored.

"I've often said to young people when I am talking to them and they're talking about looking for what kinds of careers should they go into and I've said, you know, the thing that I have loved the most about the media business is that I think the media attracts really smart, committed, creative, probing kinds of people. I find that very stimulating.

"I mean not that I deal with creative people all day long, but I think that it just makes for a more interesting environment. If you're going to spend a lot of hours somewhere you might as well be around people that you find stimulating and people that you like to be with and that are innovators and are change agents. All those kinds of things I like a lot."

After she escorted me out, we said our goodbyes. As I was gathering my things I noticed a very elderly man come in the reception area. He was balding with wisps of gray hair, two hearing aides and moving very, very slowly - could he be an original Hearst family member? A receptionist says good morning to him but he doesn't answer.

I don't think he heard her; he is frail with a very unsteady gait, adding to an impression confirmed by Black, who had said "people don't ever retire from here." He moves painfully slowly down the hall and disappears behind one of the doors embedded in the wood paneling, a reminder that this is no longer an all boys club. I recall Black saying she plans to stay awhile.

"I'm turning 60 in a month and thinking about what I want to do with the rest of my life...there's nothing professionally I'm dying to do. This is the kind of place I could retire from."

So what will she do until then? "I'm thinking of leaving this place in great shape for the next generation," she said.