Mindsets, Magazines & Comics

The Day the Door was Chained

I’ve spent over three decades in the publishing industry.

The first decade mostly with magazines, and the subsequent two decades mostly with comics.

This was during some of the most challenging and disruptive years for publishing.

My early path included pencils, paint, and paste-ups, later evolving to Macs, Photoshop, production workflows, and digital editions.

I lived through times when innovations were labeled as toys, and even off limits, much like our current time.

I helped major magazine and comics publishers implement new digital production workflows.

I loved New York. Since my publishers were close, I could visit several in a single day, and more at night.

When I began in comics, Marvel was navigating its long transformation from bankruptcy to Disney buyout. DC Comics was forging its own similar, but different path.

I could literally look out of the window of DC Comics on Broadway, and see the office window of my trade magazine publishing friend across the street.

Comics publishers seemed to understand that innovation was survival.

Marvel up-ended its own strategy and began to create its own movies rather than rely on licensing as they had always done. That pivot spawned the MCU.

DC broke industry tradition with its winning weekly 52 series.

The vibe at the comics offices was focus, determination, creativity, business, and grit.

Then, I would walk down the street and ride the elevator up to another world—the magazine world.

Although comics and magazines were both publishers, I noticed distinctly different mindsets.

Marvel, for instance, had a “what if”, opportunity mindset. They identified potential opportunities and took action.

I found that some in the magazine industry had a “what just happened” problem mindset. The Internet and digital advertising had up-ended traditional business models.

As comics publishers spun up their winning flywheels, others in the magazine industry sat stunned, wondering what had just happened.

One day I left my friends at the comics offices and walked down the street as I had many times before. Unlike other days, when I reached the floor, something was different. The hallway was vacant and silent. The door to the offices was chained and locked.

That hallway was often bustling with fashion models lined up for auditions. Some days it was a challenge to make my way to the door. But not that day.

That publisher had been an industry flagship for over 100 years. I remember one of the executives reassuring me that they weren’t going anywhere.

But there I was, in an empty hallway, staring at a padlocked door.

The staff sat at home, wondering what just happened.

“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”

— George Bernard Shaw

These experiences activated my curiosity. Why did some embrace change and win again and again, while others chose stability and equilibrium, resulting in slump instead of streak.

That’s why I spent six years to create the MVP Framework for personal innovation.

The hidden aspect that is more difficult to identify is mindset.

My comics friends with an opportunity mindset perceived their problems as opportunities. They took action and won.

My magazine friends with a problem mindset perceived their problems as problems, and it ultimately took them down.

Your mindset is worth more than you know.

You may not own a publishing empire, but you do own your mindset, and it has a direct influence on your future.

Is your mindset future-focused, or past focused? “What if”, or “What just happened”?

Change doesn’t knock politely. It opens doors for those who recognize opportunity and take action, and chains doors for those who sit yearning for the good old days.

DC Comics is no longer on Broadway. They moved the party to Warner Bros. in Burbank.

Marvel Comics is preparing to relocate from New York to Disney in Los Angeles.

Comic-Con morphed into Movie-Con.

Change never ends, and neither does opportunity.

But you’re not a company. You’re an individual. Change happens to all, but mindsets belong to individuals.

Change is real and structural. It’s coming for you. But change opens windows of opportunity, and your mindset opens your eyes to see them.

Change your mindset, change your future.

“The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress.”

— Charles Kettering

Something to think about...

Which signs of change are happening around you? Name them.

Which circumstances are you waiting to pass before you can really move forward?

If you could move ten years into the future and give yourself advice for today, what would it be?