Client Corner: PBS Building Leadership Capacity Across Public Media

Public media’s learning mandate is evolving as quickly as the workforce it serves. For PBS, that means building development experiences for its member stations that are practical, learner-centered and responsive to the complexity of leading media organizations in a rapidly changing landscape. In this Client Corner conversation, Maximilian Duke, Vice President of Station Strategy & Development at PBS, shares how PBS is approaching leadership development, why they partner with UVA Darden Executive Education & Lifelong Learning, and what made their award-winning hybrid learning program stand out.

As talent and learning leaders look ahead, what headwinds and tailwinds do you see shaping the industry?

Many of the regular challenges still exist, especially for non-profits, like cost, prioritization, bandwidth, etc. One I would add to that list is keeping pace. The speed of change in our industry is so accelerated that delivering workforce development efficacy is challenged. How do you create, deploy, track, and iterate content that may need to change before the results are in? However, this is also the tailwind. The need for learning is higher. Talent and learning leaders have their own learning opportunity now — to adapt and deploy faster.

What value did PBS see in partnering with a university-based executive education provider, and why was Darden the right fit?

We had strong programs for emerging leaders and mid-level managers, but we lacked an executive education program, and we wanted to bring a diversity of perspective to that experience. We needed a partner who understood executive complexity — finance, negotiation, board dynamics. We were drawn to Darden because of the brand, as well as the university connection. Universities are learning-centric, and that focus on the learner is one of our core workforce development philosophies. Additionally, Darden’s case study approach — discussing scenarios, dissecting them, and getting feedback — is incredibly insightful and impactful.

Building on your executive leadership work with Darden, PBS is launching a new management development program. What inspired this next step?

First, we had tremendous success with our Executive Leadership Program, so we wanted to continue to build on our strong partnership with Darden. Public media is a large industry, with local businesses of various sizes operating all across the United States. The one thing they all have in common is the passion and commitment of the people to serve the mission. This has resulted in long careers for so many, and we want to ensure those pathways continue to exist. In brainstorming opportunities with Darden, we landed on tailored training for first-time and frontline managers because this is a critical area of need. By focusing on the their growth, we believe the overall health of public media will also grow.

PBS and Darden were recognized with a Brandon Hall Human Capital Management Excellence Award for the Executive Leadership Program. What do you think made the program successful?

I believe a key distinction is the award category — Best Hybrid Learning Program. PBS invests in the growth and development of all members of the public media family. By necessity, we have needed to build effective experiences that translate well in virtual environments. Neither of us was interested in just grabbing something off-the-shelf that had good NPS scores. This award is recognition of our partnership with Darden to build something truly unique and learner-centric.