Founder and CEO, Oxygen Media
www.oxygen.com

Geraldine Laybourne was into girl power way before it was cool. Born in 1947, a time when a woman’s place was in the home (not the headlines). Laybourne defied convention to become one of the most groundbreaking media moguls to ever wear lipstick.

Today she is the chairman and CEO of Oxygen Media, a women-focused cable TV and media conglomerate that she launched in 2000 alongside partners Oprah Winfrey, Marcy Carsey, Tom Werner and Caryn Mandabach. Appealing to the new generation of women without ever taking itself too seriously, the Oxygen channel is now in over 70 million homes and growing steadily.

Before Oxygen, Laybourne served two years as president of Disney/ABC Cable Networks, a position she took on after 16 hugely successful years literally transforming children’s television at Nickelodeon. Laybourne used her background in teaching, her whip smart business savvy and her unconventional management skills (she’d hand out green slime for the staff to play with during meetings) to re-brand Nickelodeon and make it the top-rated 24-hour cable network and the most profitable channel owned by Viacom.

Time magazine voted her one of the twenty-five most influential people in America and the Hollywood Reporter put her first on their list of the fifty most influential women in the entertainment industry. Here’s what this grandmother, tireless optimist and funniest-boss-ever has to say about her steady rise to the mother of all media.

What I learned from Gerry Laybourne: You can be the Big Boss and still be hilarious. Recess is still important, after all these years. Learn from your mistakes because they’re sure to happen.

Being Yourself Is Your Best Strategy

“When I was getting started, dress codes were big and we were all supposed to wear things like suits and navy blue. I never bought into that. I felt very comfortable in my own skin. Luckily my boss at the time, Bob Pitman, gave me license to be myself because he was just excited to have me along. I knew that if I tried to act like a man, I wouldn’t do a very good job because I wasn’t a man. It doesn’t mean I used flirting to get ahead: I’m deadly serious about business. But I find that people do a much better job when they’re being who they are.”

Rules Are Indeed For Breaking

“At one point, everyone at Nickelodeon was spending way too much time in meetings so I instigated recess - everyone had to stop what they were doing and meet in the hall at 3:00. Ironically, more great business decisions happened hanging around in the hallway than they ever did in any meeting. I also want to point out that I’ve always worked with lots of mothers with small children and think they make great employees. They’re focused and very pragmatic and want to get the job done. They don’t want to hang around the office and waste time.”

Women Have The Brains For Business

“The first time I ever got asked to make a speech about my success was in the 80s when it wasn’t fashionable to talk about the differences between men and women. When I said the reason for my success was that I was a woman, you could hear a pin drop. But I really believe that. Men have bigger brains than women do, but women have a 12 percent bigger prefrontal cortex. Which means we’re wired for multi processing and strategic planning, for melding the needs of the consumer with the needs of the brand with the needs of the employees. We understand how to nurture relationships and work in teams. We’re naturals at it.”

The Inspiration Behind Oxygen

“I got in on the early days of cable while I was working on the creation of Nickelodeon, and I saw how the industry was built. It was all very exciting at first, but then everything changed in the mid 90s. Cable operators pay channels for their service, anywhere from 3 cents to 3 dollars per subscriber per month, but in 1996 Fox News began giving extraordinary launch incentives - 11 to 14 dollars per subscriber to cable operators (a one time fee), and it stopped the media companies from being so creative. I wanted to start a private company so I’d have more freedom. I also felt like young women were very underserved on cable TV. There were sports and news for men and plenty out there for kids, but nothing for the new generation of women. Women had changed and weren’t the ‘woe is me’ women of my generation - they were more optimistic and going places and I wanted to represent them.”

Launching Oxygen

“The biggest challenge was that everyone had such high expectations for us. We contributed to that by doing more press than we should have. We were trying to raise money and start a brand at the same time with very famous investment partners, and the expectations were that we’d walk on water. We messed up. We tried radically new things that were radically bad. So we cut our losses and started over. Now we’re the only company in the last 10 years that has launched a network and gotten into more than 70 million homes.”

Laugh Your Way to the Top

“I laugh all the time. Even in the most dire of situations I can find something funny. And I’m not above playing pranks on people.”

The Power Of Yes

“I wake up in the morning and think everything is possible. I have a tendency to try and see something good in every idea. There are lots of people who immediately think of why something won’t work, but I’m not one of them.”

More Obstacles, Please

“I love obstacles, and as soon as I get something running smoothly I create new ones. Who in their right mind would have left Nickelodeon when it was soaring to success the way I did?”

Did She Ever Want to Give Up?

“No. I’m Norwegian.”

Make Money Your Friend

“Sign up for a real business course and understand the basics of financing. A lot of women feel like they can’t raise money, that it’s a daunting task, when it’s honestly just like any other thing they have to do. They need to learn about it, learn about the process of managing it and making it, and be around other women who understand how it works. Many women launch their businesses on their credit cards which is so bad. It’s much better to face your money issues and learn how to make it work for you.”

Stick By Your Sisters

“Bella Abzug had a great saying: ‘There’s a special place in Hell for women who don’t help each other.’ That’s what Oxygen is all about. That’s what we want to represent.”

What’s next?

“I don’t know. I’m fully engaged on a day-to-day basis with what I do. At some point I’ll want to return to doing something in education. And maybe write a book.”

This featured lady was profiled by Jen Sincero an author, columnist and Ladies Who Launch leader based in Venice, CA. www.jensincero.com