Linda Yaccarino is an accomplished media executive who has lead ad sales at multiple top-tier networks, most recently serving as chairman of global advertising & partnerships at NBCUniversal.
Elon Musk’s handpicked CEO for X, formerly Twitter, hopes to lure advertisers back after they left in response to hate speech and other concerning content on her social media platform. But does she actually understand what’s happening within her own company?
Leadership
She’s an experienced leader, having spent nearly two decades at media giant NBCUniversal where she led its reengineered advertising sales business for the 21st century, Peacock streaming platform, as well as partnerships with Snapchat, YouTube, BuzzFeed and others.
Her hard-nosed negotiation style earned her the moniker “Velvet Hammer,” while she is also recognized for being highly relational and for developing strong bonds between colleagues and clients. What sets her apart as an exceptional leader? Her results-oriented approach.
Adweek spoke with marketers who expect Yaccarino will work quickly to rebuild advertiser trust and return Twitter to its roots as an innovative news and culture source. While Twitter is facing difficulties generating revenue and reinventing itself, Yaccarino is an experienced leader who could turn things around – she will need to demonstrate she can remain calm during controversial moments in order to be taken seriously as leader.
Innovation
Innovation can be difficult to describe or define, yet remains an essential concept for businesses looking to remain competitive in today’s globalized business world.
Innovation refers to transforming creative concepts into tangible results that increase efficiency and enhance value, such as changing a product name or developing a business model or process from scratch. Innovation also applies to internal operations of companies; there can be both sustaining and disruptive innovations.
linda yaccarino wiki currently serves as CEO of X, formerly Twitter, where she earns $6 Million annually. Prior to that she served as chairman of global advertising & partnerships for NBCUniversal where she is credited with increasing the global advertising business by more than 50% within two years and she became one of the first women ever appointed CEO of a publicly traded technology company; additionally she is considered an authority on digital advertising with three books written about this field under her name.
Entrepreneurship
Yaccarino, an advertising industry veteran with deep ties and extensive experience, is known for her ability to both motivate and terrify those she works with. Ad agency executives and former employees alike who have collaborated with her have noted her ability to sense when an employee may be disoriented, often motivating staff with quick meetings regarding company direction.
She has been instrumental in NBCUniversal’s move into streaming media, most notably the launch of Peacock in 2020, as well as driving its global advertising sales strategy. She joined NBCUniversal in 2011 and since that time has brought in over $100 billion in ad revenues according to LinkedIn data.
At X, she’s working to ensure the company’s ad business remains healthy as it competes against larger, more established digital platforms like Google, Facebook and TikTok. However, her lack of control over vision and direction of the company frustrates some industry insiders who view her as having too many hats to wear.
Diversity
Diversity refers to the array of individuals within a society who differ in age, race, ethnicity, abilities, disabilities, gender religion and culture. Diversity encompasses differences such as age, race ethnicity abilities disabilities gender religion culture as well as experiences skills expertise which provide organizations with a competitive advantage through understanding and addressing a broader array of issues that would otherwise go overlooked.
Yaccarino will use her extensive connections in Madison Avenue and expertise in digital advertising to attract advertisers to Twitter and reverse its declining ad revenues.
Yaccarino’s leadership has been defined by her dedication to diversity and inclusion. She serves on the World Economic Forum Taskforce on Future of Work as well as sitting on the board of 3Pas Studios, a multicultural TV production company. Furthermore, she has long advocated on behalf of women within her field.