How the “Finnish BBC” is embracing change

18-04-2009

I just attended a half-day workshop / seminar held by the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) aka the “Finnish BBC”. The topic of the day was their fairly new company strategy: “YLE Enabler Strategy”. I had not really dug into what they mean when they say “enabler” before attending so it was a nice surprise to notice that it actually means what I hoped it would mean: That these guys actually get it.

I’ve been ranting and raving about how businesses need to embrace the change by engaging their audience through being more transparent and focusing on true end-user benefits and needs and here I was sitting and listening in amazement when my speech was delivered to me by Mikael Jungner, the CEO of YLE.

Hold on a minute.

The CEO of the monolithical remnant of the 50′s and 60′s talking about openness, wanting to be the enabler of new business models and being the platform for new and better ways of creating and distributing great content.

Did not see that one coming.

So what is YLE doing right?

They’ve already made their sites “social media compatible”
They are already sharing their content archives (limited only by the pre-historic copyright laws): Elävä Arkisto / Tehosto / Areena
They see the opportunity, not the threat. And they see it high enough in the organization to really make things happen.
They’ve got the right people, with the right mind-set working on their services – with the backing & blessing of the CEO
They don’t claim they have all the answers: They want us / you to help them.

Lesson for everyone: If YLE can adopt this new approach then there is NO excuse for any other company / entity to not follow in their footsteps.

YLE troops: You’ve got a new fan. Thanks for a great day and keep up the great work!