Tech website paidContent says Jack Williams (left), president of Gannett Digital Ventures since 2008, is "sure to be in the mix" among candidates to replace outgoing Chief Digital Officer Chris Saridakis.Uh-oh! paidContent's item yesterday continues: "One source close to Gannett said Williams is a natural choice, at least in the interim. While he said Williams isn’t seen as entrepreneurial or as high profile as Saridakis was, Gannett isn’t necessarily looking for those skills now. The digital businesses have been performing well -- except for CareerBuilder, largely due to the job market. 'What Gannett is probably looking for at this point is someone who can act as a caretaker and maintain those businesses,' the source said. 'That’s what Williams has been doing.'"
Neither Gannett nor Williams has responded to questions about Saridakis’s replacement, the site says.
Who should replace Saridakis? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.
[Photo: paidContent]
Yep, just as I felt. The Crystal Towers is going to pick a GCI careerist over an innovator to replace Saridakis. Watch the younger innovators who came to work with Saridakis leave GCI in droves rather than work under an uncreative bottom-liner.
ReplyDeleteWhew, what a relief! I was afraid that we'd have to contend with someone new, who'd try to push the envelope and get this myopic dinosaur moving. Instead, we get our own resident fossil, whose only claim to innovation is his creativity in belittling colleagues and subordinates, and hanging them out to cover his own ass.
ReplyDeleteGood to know that you can always count on more of the same from Gannett.
I can only assume that those who speak disparagingly of Jack do so without any experience based on working with him.
ReplyDeleteIf you have worked with him and still have a negative opinion, then you are clearly unqualified to render a professional assessment.
2:23p...Thanks Larry St. Cyr!!! Spoken like a true suck ass.
ReplyDeleteIf Jack gets the job - I'm quitting. Period.
ReplyDelete"If you have worked with him and still have a negative opinion, then you are clearly unqualified to render a professional assessment."
ReplyDeleteTranslation: "Only adoring fans need speak."
Thanks for the post, Jack.
Jack Williams would kill any progress. He prides himself on using the word "NO".
ReplyDeleteI am still wondering why he is still employed at Gannett.
Gannett needs to seek out someone young and innovative. Spend some money. This is important. Hire someone from Facebook or Apple.
ReplyDeleteComments like 8:38 PM made tickle me. Think about it, and maybe you'll laugh too. Young does not necessarily spell innovative. It's particularily hilarious that something like that young=innovative thing is posted on the successful blog of a 50+ person. Jim's blog must be pretty innovative since it's approaching the 2-million visit mark.
ReplyDeleteCould credibility be the new innovation, and could we please "judge" people on accomplishments rather than age?
I'm just tired of watching as people profile the work and potential of others based solely on age. It sounds so very Gannett-like.
Also, now how "young" is that founder of Apple? Suppose that guy is way too old to innovate, huh, 8:38 PM and the rest of you who insist on using those ridiculous stereotypes.
Amen, 11:09 pm!
ReplyDeleteFine ... what has Jack ever done that was innovative?
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of jobs in the digital industry, and I don't need to waste my career working for Jack Williams. Nothing against the man, but I want to accomplish something. I want to help save this industry, and he's not a man of new ideas. He's a man of dollars and cents. The choices he's made are safe, and this is not a time to be safe. This is a time for bold action and for true leadership. I think we all know who we really want to get the job, don't we?
ReplyDeleteI think the fastest way for Gannett to lose digital employees would be to put Jack Williams in any operating role, especially if he were to take over for Saridakis.
ReplyDeleteLet's look at Jack William's success:
ReplyDelete1. Topix (not really)
2. High School Sports (better now that Saridakis took over)
3. Careerbuilder (enough said)
4. Classified Ventures (crappy cars and real estate network)
5. Metromix (basically closing down)
6. Quadrant One (competitor to Gannett, CEO just resigned, affiliates are leaving)
I do not know what else he is overseeing, but his track record has been a disaster.
Someone told me that he is also managing Gannett's "paid content" strategy and he has no clue what to do.
Basically, if Gannett puts him in place, I guarantee there will be a mass exodus.
But isn't it true that CareerBuilder got caught in the downdraft of the employment market collapse over the past year?
ReplyDeleteWhile at a corporate gathering a few years ago, I stood by as Williams quietly ripped on a subordinate, and it was one of the most uncomfortable things I've ever seen in the corporate world - akin to torturing ants with a magnifying glass.
ReplyDeleteResnik (or Poortinga) would be better fits in my book. Resnik seems to be more of a forward thinker than Williams, and Poortinga was the golden boy from Indiana when they were on fire a few years ago, so he has experience in the field - something that is often lacking at that level.
I would have to agree with previous posters concerning how I will react if Williams gets the job, in that I would seek employment elsewhere.
Dear 3:59 - Not sure you can label Careerbuilder a failure. Doesn't it dominate the market?
ReplyDeleteMetromix was a Jack Williams project?
ReplyDeleteWhoa, slow down people. I think Williams is a short term leader while they look for someone new. Despite what I'm reading here, I suspect they'll go outside again. Keep in mind that they don't want to name someone who will make the stock price drop.
ReplyDeleteWhat about dark horses Jim Lenehan or Kevin Portinga? Why aren't they in the mix?
ReplyDeleteSeems pretty immature of people to threaten to quit on here because someone is leaving. I sure won't be silly and immature enough to say "don't let the door hit you in the ass when you go."
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteStill waiting for someone to mention ANYTHING innovative that Williams accomplished. And if you say Saxotech, I'll just die laughing.
ReplyDeleteDear 12:27 I don't think the posters who said they would quit are immature. We've all had a bad boss or two haven't we? If someone have an opportunity to get out from under one, more power to them.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I'm not in a situation to leave any time soon, so I need Gannett to name a worthy successor - and Jack Williams ain't it.
Hey 12:27 - My Dad always said "If things around you don't change for the better, then change the things you're around." Words to live by my friend.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI'd rather flip burgers than work for Jack again.
ReplyDeleteFollowing is an edited version of a comment posted by Anonymous@4:40 am:
ReplyDeleteJack Williams is in charge of the following projects:
- Yahoo and Gannett consortium. Jack is negotiating this deal. Although, it is taking way too long apparently. Many people have stated that Saridakis is vehemently against this deal and believes it will fail.
- Have you heard of the SMB Project? This is a joint project between Digital Ventures and US Community Publishing. Brad Robertson, yes head of Burlington, is also working night shifts in AZ trying to build a digital offering for Small and Medium Businesses.
- Paid Content- Jack is working on the project and it appears we have been prevented from putting our newspapers on a Kindle or any digital reader device until Jack Williams "approves" it. Basically, Dickey has [ceded control to] Jack Williams. Forget about local autonomy, Jack is in charge of the newspapers fate.
- Metromix - As previously mentioned on the blog, Jack is in charge of looking for a new investor of the . . . entertainment site.
Basically, Jack is involved with a lot right now. I am certain the future of Gannett will be defined by these successes (or failures).
James Jackson?
ReplyDeleteJim said...
ReplyDelete"But isn't it true that CareerBuilder got caught in the downdraft of the employment market collapse over the past year?"
CareerBuilder sucks. Can't even accept a friggin pdf. And they recycle the same old advice. 3 months after they tell you what employers want to see, they put those things on a "things not to say on your resume" list.
Jack doesn't run Career Builder. He basically shows up for a board meeting and eats a Danish or two and takes credit for any good news. If there is bad news, then he basically blames someone else.
ReplyDeleteHis sidekick, Dan Donaghy, is like Jack, only about 10 years older than him. Dan is the old man that oversee Classified Ventures. Look out for Dan as he really wants Jack's job if Jack were to move up to the Chief Digital role.
Dan's a good guy. I'm not saying he should be running the show, just that I don't want any of the mud aimed at Jack to land on him.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of great people at Gannett Digital, and I'm hoping that Josh get's the nod personally.
ReplyDelete5:29AM
ReplyDeleteHere we go with the stereotypes again.
It's hard to imagine that there will be a day when writing "old man" will seem just as stupid as seeing "black" or "woman" written as a disqualifier for job performance.
Whenever I read 'old man', I just mentally change it to 'old guard'. What we need are bold, new approaches, and typically those don't come from entrenched folks - who have too much invested in current practices/philosophies. For what it's worth, I think that Saridakis tenure has to be defined by the economics of the period. I know that I didn't accomplish what I wanted to during that time either. I wish he had stayed on for another year, because I think that GD is going to so some spectacular things with Project Odyssey that may finally give us some digital momentum.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree that 2009 was an impossible year to accomplish anything. I never want to have a year like that again.
ReplyDelete8:33 AM
ReplyDeleteWhy in the world would you post on a website that's run by someone who is 50+ then? I would think that Jim's site would not meet your definition of innovative since he is an "old man" from the entrenched "old guard."
You, pal, have defined stereotype and prejudice in your post whether you realize it or not.
I look forward to the day when people judge others in the workplace not by chronological age, but by accomplishments and potential.
Gannett does nothing to promote an age-neutral workplace.
10:04
ReplyDeleteWhat I meant was that whenever I hear someone say 'old man', I give them the benefit of a doubt - from an argument standpoint - and assume that what they mean is that the person in question lacks new ideas.
My point was that you can learn what people really mean, if you don't get focused on their inability to accurately express themselves - myself included.
Also, I'm in my early 50s, so I must be prejudiced against myself.
Peace.
Hey, can we get back to pointing out that Jack is not qualified? Take the age conversation elsewhere people.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, Williams couldn't manage his way out of a paper bag.
Any further updates on the Jack Williams interim digital boss rumor?
ReplyDelete