Although the digital media landscape is always changing and advancing, this television executive credits her success to an ancient skill — good storytelling.
“My success in my career is directly tied to how well I tell stories using data and facts, eliciting emotions and getting others invested in the stories I tell,” says Terry Hurlbutt, the vice president and general manager of digital for ABC’s Good Morning America. “In today’s world, to be successful you must be good at telling stories in all sorts of media — in writing, in PowerPoint, in email and in person. But if you do it well, you can achieve almost anything,” she says.
Hurlbutt recently launched the show’s digital site as well as their new weekday newsletter and previously worked at ABC News, the Disney|ABC Television brand portfolio, YouTube and Google.
What are your responsibilities as vice president and general manager of digital at GMA?
My biggest responsibility as vice president and general manager is to ensure GMA successfully engages with new audiences and develops new business models that can better support our digital efforts.
I work with our sales teams to develop new ad sales strategies and offerings that enable brands to connect with audiences through the relationships we are cultivating on our platforms. As our audience’s habits change, and as the digital ecosystem changes, we need to stay ahead of the curve.
What are the most important characteristics someone needs to have to be successful in your role?
My role requires me to be creative, flexible, proactive, collaborative, and resilient.
What’s the biggest lesson you learned at work and how did you learn it?
It happened very early in my career — I had been at Google for about a year and my customer support team realized something had broken in one of our internal systems that had a huge impact on our workflow.
I analyzed the situation and presented two options to my manager and team, assuming someone else would make the decision about what to do. However, after I finished explaining the two options, everyone just kept looking at me, waiting. Suddenly, I realized that leadership is the act of taking in information, making a decision, and then seeing it through.
What is one thing that you wish you had known when you were starting out your career?
I wish I had more fully appreciated that change isn’t comfortable. My entire career has been about driving change, which means throughout my entire career, I’ve basically always been making people uncomfortable! For someone like me who has a bit of a “good-girl complex,” I struggled to realize that being successful in my job often involved dealing with other people’s discomfort. Over the years, I’ve developed strategies for both helping other people better respond to change and helping myself respond to other people’s stress. But learning to accept and handle the emotional challenges that accompany my career path has been a big part of my own personal journey.
What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
To lean into my strengths and tell a story — stories, after all, change the world. That sounds corny, but it’s true!
What is your career advice for other young professional women?
Your next job probably hasn’t been invented yet. New industries, new companies, and new requirements within existing companies come up all the time. The best way to manage your own career amidst such change is to follow your curiosity, deliver your best results in every situation, and trust yourself. Don’t be afraid to take chances — that’s how you find your best self.
