BANG's top financial executive quits, offers some suggestions and criticisms as he goes

DeBalko

BANG’s chief revenue officer, Jeff DeBalko, has quit four months after taking the job, and he’s posted to his personal blog some pointed observations about the company as it struggles to go from print to digital.

A couple of highlights:

• “You can’t transform a company if you don’t leave your office. You shouldn’t have to introduce yourself at all-employee meetings.”

• “When you make decisions, make them fast, like in hours not days, weeks or months. Eliminate forms, and processes, and approvals and procedures. How much time do you spend talking to yourselves instead of customers?”

• “My 71-year-old mother called me a while back and told me that she was calling to cancel her local paper (one of ours). When I asked why, she said, ‘They keep raising the rates on me. I don’t care about the money so much but there is nothing in the paper any more about my local community. They used to write about people I know, places I know, and businesses nearby. Now there is none of that.’ Nothing speaks louder to the failure of local media than a long, slow disconnect from the communities they serve.”

DeBalko was president of Reed Business Information’s Business Media Division before arriving at BANG.