Henry McGee joined the HBS faculty in 2013 after retiring as President of HBO Home Entertainment, the digital and DVD program distribution division of Home Box Office, the world’s leading premium television company. A member of the General Management Unit, he has taught courses in both the MBA and Executive Education programs. Since 2015 he has served as a director of TEGNA (NYSE:TGNA), a broadcast and digital media company that owns the largest number of affiliates of both the NBC and CBS television networks. He is also a director of AmerisourceBergen (NYSE:ABC), one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical services company and number 12 on the Fortune 500 list of the biggest corporations in America. (read more here)
This year, Henry McGee will lead the Los Angeles IFC: Hollywood; Distribution & Marketing Challenges in a Digital World.
HAVE YOU EVER TAUGHT AN IFC BEFORE?
This is the first time I've had the chance to teach an IFC and I'm very excited by the opportunity. For the past three years I've taught FIELD 2 (now known as FIELD Global Immersion, or FGI) and have traveled with students to Africa, Asia, and Latin America. I've witnessed firsthand the powerful learning that takes place when students can marry their classroom work with practical field experience.
When I found out about Dean Nohria's interest in significantly expanding this learning model for EC students, I thought it would be a wonderful way for students to study the movie and TV industry. It's a business of enormous economic and cultural impact that is largely located in Hollywood, a place geographically -- and psychically -- far away from our campus in Boston.
WHAT INTERESTS YOU MOST ABOUT BUSINESS IN HOLLYWOOD?
In my research and writing I'm primarily focused on two enormous forces shaping the future of the industry: globalization and digitalization. Prof. Willy Shih, who is also teaching an IFC, and I have written a case and an article for The Atlantic Monthly on the rise of the film business in China and the enormous impact it is having on Hollywood. With Profs. Sunil Gupta and Felix Oberholzer-Gee, I've written a case on how Comcast and other traditional cable TV providers are affected by the decision by HBO and other networks to go "over the top" and deliver their programming via the Internet. Comcast, HBO, and every company in the media business are rewriting their business plans to incorporate the move to digital technologies.
These are also questions I have to wrestle with away from campus. I am a director of TEGNA, a big publicly-traded broadcast and digital company that is the largest affiliate of both CBS and NBC. Digital is having a profound effect on every aspect of our business. I'm also currently serving as a consultant for StarzPlay Arabia, a new streaming service in the Gulf region. The service features a mix of both English and Arabic-language programming and globalization and digitalization are baked deeply into the business model.
WHAT EXCITES YOU MOST ABOUT TRAVELING WITH MBA STUDENTS?
It's like a great business trip with a bunch of very smart -- and extremely energetic -- colleagues. It's marvelous to see the students attack business problems in the field and watch them develop innovative and often unexpected solutions.
IF YOU HAD TO CHOOSE THREE WORDS TO DESCRIBE YOU AS A TRAVELER, WHAT WOULD THEY BE?
I'll use three phrases instead:
- Meticulous Planner
- Cultural Explorer
- Picky Eater
We will be working in an industry that is obsessed with statistics -- box office grosses, rating points, production and marketing budgets. To have the best learning experience with their partners, it's important that students become conversant with the language of Hollywood.