← The Messy Parts
The Messy Parts
From Fax Boy to CEO to Billion Dollar Sale: Patrick Steel Was Terrified (But Showed Up Anyway)
00:40:05
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- [00:00]
Patrick Steele
I'd never been a CEO. I'd never managed people. I'd never worked in media.
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Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Were you afraid when you took that job because you didn't know?
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Patrick Steele
Terrified. I thought when I took it that I could figure it out, and I was excited. And. And then you get in there, and I couldn't sleep. The first 90 days, we. We were losing tons of money. I mean, Axios was on the rise. We had a giant bullseye on our back. All of our best clients, like, every one of them, left to go to Axios. A lot of talent was leaving the place.
- [00:30]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
It was on fire.
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Patrick Steele
It was on fire, but you kind of like fire. I've learned to live in dumpster fires and find a way out, and that was a dumpster fire.
- [00:38]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
And the dumpster fire is where the growth is 100%.
- [00:42]
Patrick Steele
But I was terrified. I was terrified that I had made a terrible mistake.
- [00:54]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Today on the messy parts, we're gonna be talking about confidence, optimism, how no job should be too small. And so you're going to meet Patrick Steele, a guy who went from the White House to investment banking to CEO of Politico, and now an advisor and a professor. This is a great episode because it teaches you that, you know what, the journey does not have to be linear. It can be messy. But really, in the end, it's people that are going to make all the difference in your life, both at home and at work. Well, Patrick, I'm so excited to have you on the podcast on the blue couch, which has become an infamous place to be. So welcome. It's amazing that we haven't crossed paths yet, because we have many, many points of intersection. What I'd love to start off with is just a little bit about who you were even before high school. Like, who is young, Patrick? It's not the thing you often talk about.
- [01:48]
Patrick Steele
I'm not sure there's a sort of a linear story to tell there, but
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Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
maybe not linear, maybe messy.
- [01:54]
Patrick Steele
There's definitely a messy story. I grew up on the Upper west side. My parents were just came from completely different backgrounds, I like to say. My grandfather on my mom's side was a police officer, and my great grandfather on my dad's side was a Warner brother. I have a brother and sister. I basically. I mean, I went to Penn and I never came back to New York. I'm one of the only, like, people I know that.
- [02:18]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
That's not a thing. We'll still take you back.
- [02:20]
Patrick Steele
I've probably spent 30 nights a year here for the last, you know, 30 years. But I haven't lived here since I went to college. And I love New York and I love the energy of it and I love being here. But my life just took me sort of in a different direction and I found my way to Washington and we ended up settling there.
- [02:34]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
So you would leave New York?
- [02:35]
Patrick Steele
Growing up, I always thought I would come back. For at least 10 years living in Washington, I really identified still as a New Yorker. But that. That begins to shift. When I got married, had kids, and, you know, we decided to make our life in Washington. My parents still live here. They still live. I slept last night in the apartment that I grew up in. They've been in the building for 55 years.
- [02:55]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
And your siblings, do they live here?
- [02:57]
Patrick Steele
My brother who used to work with you at NBC Universal is. Yeah, he lives in Tribeca and my sister lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.
- [03:05]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Did you see a life at work at all? Like, I try and think back to when I was in high school. Like, did I have. People are like, how did you become a cmo? I was like, I had no idea what marketing even was back then. You decide to go into politics. But your dad was sort of involved in service, right? Like, not in law, but not in politics per se.
- [03:24]
Patrick Steele
He was a civil rights lawyer. I mean, he lived a life of public service. I think he could have done just about anything he wanted to do. But after law school, he ended up getting a fellowship at the NACP in the 1960s, and he was a civil rights lawyer for 60 plus years. He just retired at 86 a couple years ago. I certainly had a father who lived a very public life. He did the Harlem Four trial with Bill Kunstler. He defended and ultimately freed Hurricane Carter. I mean, I watched him argue a case in front of the Supreme Court when I was 12 years old that he won nine to nothing. I mean, he lived a public life, but in no way, shape or form was he a politician or really a creature of the media, but a public servant 100%.
- [04:06]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
So I read and I listened to you talk about the importance of a relationship. And definitely that seems to be a through line. You seem to like people, which I think is important if you like relationships, which isn't a given for everybody. But I wanna go back to something you said about your early childhood and sort of navigating and being comfortable in two worlds. Right. Because I think part of the ability to be good in relationships is being able to navigate many worlds. And so do you think you learned that, like at the kitchen table?
- [04:36]
Patrick Steele
I think I did, actually. My dad would come home from work late and I would just sit as a kid and, you know, he wouldn't get home till like 8 o'. Clock. We would eat and then I would sit with my parents and just listen to the insanity of his life. And those were really formative times for me. And your mom, she was an actress. They met in a Broadway show, Babes in Arms. My mom was the star in Angenoux. My dad was the stage manager. They traveled around the country in a roadshow. You know, when they were. My dad was 23. My mom's five and a half years older than my dad, but she hit it for a long time.
- [05:07]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
What? Wait, I'm sorry. That's a good, messy story.
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Patrick Steele
When they got married, he thought she was two and a half years older. On their ten year anniversary, she admitted that she was four and a half years older. And when she turned 75, she admitted that she was really 76.
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Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
My God. Yeah, that's a good story.
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Patrick Steele
It is. And she'd forged documents and licenses and.
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Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Why do you think she can't.
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Patrick Steele
Because she was an actress. And, yeah, she wanted, I'm sure, to be cast in parts where you had to be younger. I mean, she hid it from my dad for almost 50 years.
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Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Wait, how did he react?
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Patrick Steele
He said he. He was sorry that she would live one less year. I mean, that was all he could think of. Yeah. Honestly, they're inseparably close. They've been married since 61, so 65 years.
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Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Okay, so now you go to Penn and you decide to go into politics. Why?
- [05:55]
Patrick Steele
After Penn, I did a master's in political theory in London and I came back and I was working at a think tank in Washington, and it just, you know, it was 1992. It just felt like the country was ready for a change. And, you know, I was 23 or 24 years old, and it was just an opportunity to jump. And I started working for Bob Carey, who was a senator from Nebraska, on his presidential campaign and ultimately made my way to the Clinton campaign. But I got on a bus to volunteer for a weekend in Concord, New Hampshire, and I didn't come back. I mean, I was hooked. I slept on a cot, literally for a couple weeks in the campaign office on Main street across from the State House in Concord, and I was just hooked. And after that, I.
- [06:36]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
What? Hooked you?
- [06:38]
Patrick Steele
I just. I don't know, I just loved everything about it. The energy, the excitement, the young people, you know, everything from knocking on doors to having signs up. And we were sort of intrepid warriors, you know, on a mission. And I met a lot of similar smart people, many of whom have been lifelong friends, that we ended up working. You know, Clinton ended up winning the election. I moved to Washington, worked in his administration and in the White House. And those friends are still some of the, you know, closest people in my life. And my wife, I met my wife working in the White House. I mean it was, it was truly transformative. But it, the energy, I think is what drew me to it.
- [07:11]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Well, I mean, I also think like there's a sense of purpose, right. It's almost like being a camp. Cause you're all in it together in some way, 100%.
- [07:18]
Patrick Steele
And the country was on the wrong track. And Bill Clinton, you know, presented a pretty remarkable vision for the future and executed against it. I mean, eight years of peace and prosperity, balanced budgets. We, we did as an administration, incredible things. And it wasn't without complications.
- [07:36]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Wow. Again, there were definitely messy moments.
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Patrick Steele
There were really messy moments. But it was an incredible time to be a young person working in the White House.
- [07:44]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Do you now, with all the things that we're watching unfold, do you look back and think there were things you didn't know that were happening?
- [07:52]
Patrick Steele
There were probably lots of things that I didn't see, but it was incredible proximity to these just remarkably smart people. Leaders in industry, leaders in the public sector, it really tends to attract the best and the brightest. And as a 25 year old kid to have the opportunity to work alongside cabinet secretaries and titans of industry, it forces you to accelerate your learning curve really fast. Like either you figure it out or you're out.
- [08:20]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Right. It's not forgiving.
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Patrick Steele
The stakes are enormous. You have to sort of be on your A game every day.
- [08:26]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
So I was on a phone yesterday with a friend who had a pretty successful career. And one of the things she said her parents gave her was confidence. So you had to have had confidence as a 20 something to be in the room with captains of industry. That, that doesn't just come to everyone.
- [08:40]
Patrick Steele
I agree. I mean, you're not there unless you bring a certain level of energy and confidence. But it's, you know, it's a process. I mean, you make mistakes, you grow, you learn, you sort of gather your confidence in the act of, of sort of figuring it all out. There's so many things I didn't know. I mean, I took on response roles that I wasn't yet prepared for. That's the messy part in my life is going into roles where I had virtually no experience and had to figure it out on the fly. And, you know, that is really messy, and you make mistakes, you have doubts, even if you're the most confident person in the world. But if you're willing to, if you're resilient, willing to work hard and figure it out on the fly, just bringing enough confidence to get to the table and be in that position, I think can be really powerful.
- [09:28]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Well, we sort of share that. Right. I've been a chief marketing officer in media, then in hospitality and tech, and people always say to me, like, how did you make the pivot? Because what did you know about hospitality when you went over there? But one of the questions I have for you, and people ask me all the time, is somebody has to believe in you that you can make the pivot. I mean, yes, what you're describing is you get in and it's messy and. And you have to figure it out. But you have to be given that
- [09:52]
Patrick Steele
chance a hundred percent. I worked at the Education Department for Secretary. Dick Riley was the chief of staff. He went over to the White House, and he brought me over into a role as a presidential scheduler. And he just. He gave me a chance. Wow. I guess he just thought I was quick enough on my feet that I would figure it out and perform. When I went to, I left Gore lost the election, and I needed a job, and I got hired at an investment bank. Investment. You know, Rock Tonkle, who was my boss there, he saw something in me, and he gave me the chance.
- [10:21]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
One of the things I think about a lot, like, is being useful for our listeners. Right. And I am very interested in doing this podcast as a way to be helpful to other people who take the time to listen. We have people who are pivoting later in their career, sort of the way you did from politics to finance to media. But the other thing is young people who are starting, who want to achieve the kind of success that you've achieved, and are looking to understand how they get there, but also how when they hit a bump, they pick themselves back up. Right. Because we all hit bumps. For a young person listening to this conversation, what is the thing that you would tell them to make sure they get noticed? That when an opportunity comes up, somebody says, you know what? I'm gonna give Patrick that chance.
- [11:04]
Patrick Steele
You have to bring your A game every day. Right. That's how you. You know, ultimately, people notice and give responsibility to people that shine in whatever current role they're doing. I mean, my first job, I worked at a think tank, and I figured out how to use the fax machine. And I became invaluable to the senior people at that think tank. And I was really good at using the fax machine and nobody else knew how to use it. Such a good example, you know what I mean? I was able to then connect with the senior people because they would come down the hall and say, I got to get this fax out and I would do it. And then they just start giving you, you know, once you demonstrate an ability to perform relatively simple tasks, you know, then you have the opportunity to get greater responsibility.
- [11:48]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
But you weren't worried about being facts. Boy, do you know what I mean? I see kids who think like, oh, that's beneath me, or I have, you know, these are the things I'm willing to do. You're like, I'm willing to do whatever it takes.
- [11:59]
Patrick Steele
There's nothing beneath you. There has never been anything beneath me at any point in my career. I, you know, there was nothing beneath me at Politico. There was nothing that I asked other people to do that I wouldn't do myself. And on both sides of that coin, as a, as a sort of a leader and a mentor and boss and as, you know, a disciple, that is just essential. Like, there is no task that is beneath you. Just do whatever you're asked to do and shine. And if you do, you will get higher level responsibility. I mean, when you first start out, the people that you work for are just looking to hand you certain tasks and responsibilities and not have to worry about it coming back to their desk. They give you a task, you take care of it, and you get it done. You get it done right. It doesn't mean you don't do it without making mistakes. It doesn't mean you don't do it without asking people for help. But you know, ultimately it's about sort of getting relatively simple tasks done correctly. And then you get more responsibility in every, at every level, in every business. Investment banking, you know, you start as an analyst, right? And it's like a pyramid, right? And in order to move up to associate and VP and senior VP and managing director, you have to master a certain set of tasks, you know, stay in your lane to a certain extent and master the tasks that you need that allow you to jump, you know, to the next level. As a young aide in the White House, working for really serious people that were grappling with serious issues, my job wasn't to decide, you know, sort of a specific piece of policy, but I did have a very important job which was to Allow the president to be in a position to highlight the good work that we were doing. And we couldn't mess that up. It had to be done right. And once you do that, you know, you find other opportunities to move up.
- [13:38]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
So if you're somebody who's in that role and you make a mistake, how do you deal with that? Because we all make mistakes.
- [13:44]
Patrick Steele
You know, I made some big ones in the White House. It is not a good feeling when you're 26 years old and the deputy chief of staff literally rips your head off in front of other people. It doesn't feel good.
- [13:53]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Well, how do you recover? Right. Let's say this happens to someone. What's your piece of advice like? I'm like, be accountable. I mean, there has to be something.
- [14:01]
Patrick Steele
You don't make the mistake again. Right. You don't make the same mistake twice. You can't afford to. You never get to perfection. But you learn how to do it the right way and you move on and you get better.
- [14:13]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
I know people who worked after college on the Hill, and there was definitely an energy and an excitement. Like, you're definitely part of something bigger. Right. It's a moment of service. And it can also be very political. By definition, it is politics. Sure. Which not everybody's good at navigating, right?
- [14:29]
Patrick Steele
Yeah, but we shared a common cause. Like, there was a whole group of us between, you know, the ages of 23 and 30. You know, we all believed intensely in what we were doing. It brings out the best in everyone.
- [14:42]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
I think that today there's, like, a level of disillusionment and distrust just in the world, not just around politics. Honestly, you look at the trust numbers from Edelman's Trust Barometer, and nobody seems to trust their neighbor, the government, you know, media. There's a lot that is different from how you and I grew up. I mean, the world just seems like there's an existential crisis happening.
- [15:05]
Patrick Steele
I wake up every day in the sun shining, and, you know, you bring optimism and positivity when you're a leader. You don't have a choice, in my opinion. That's not my outlook on life, you know.
- [15:15]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Well, why do you think that is? Because you definitely are an optimist, an extrovert and an optimist.
- [15:20]
Patrick Steele
Yeah, I love people. I'm intensely curious. You're so much more effective in life when you have a positive outlook. I mean, it's sort of like optimism and confidence, you know, create natural momentum, and momentum is such an important thing in life. I let stuff roll off me. You know, I don't hold grudges. Like I forgive people that have crossed me in my life.
- [15:42]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
So here you are really like in a, in a form of service not dissimilar to your dad. It's just manifesting differently for you, right? What then makes you decide to go into investment banking? Because I don't think of investment banking as service.
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Patrick Steele
Gore lost the election, which I wasn't expecting. I had just finished my mba. I basically worked in the White House full time and did an MBA full time.
- [16:04]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
I just want to say that's a very stressful job, that's very demanding. And I don't quite know how you also did the MBA at the same time. So this also says something about you.
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Patrick Steele
You know, I didn't want to give up the, that I had and frankly I didn't want to have to ask my dad for money to pay for business school. And I was able to basically self finance it. Gore lost the election and I had a six month old child. My wife.
- [16:26]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
You were already married at this point?
- [16:27]
Patrick Steele
I was, My wife also was out of a job. You know, we, we didn't know exactly what we were going to do. And you know, one of the reasons I went to business school because I was trying to pivot out of government service into something different. And it just felt like that would open up a new path. And, you know, it, it, it did.
- [16:43]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Why banking?
- [16:44]
Patrick Steele
I watched a lot of my friends who had gone right out of college to work on Wall street and it seemed like that was where the action was.
- [16:51]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Okay, so I want you to pause on that for a second. You clearly were interested in this idea of where the action was.
- [16:57]
Patrick Steele
It felt like there was energy there and I had the sense that, you know, I could figure it out. I mean, I, I wasn't a math whiz, but I was really good with arithmetic. I figured I could handle the, the, the sort of, the finance arithmetic part. And I had dealt with very senior level people and investment banking felt like that was a similar vibe. And it absolutely was for sure similar
- [17:20]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
in terms of the work environment.
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Patrick Steele
Yeah. So I, it just, I, I thought I could figure it out. I thought that was a pivot that I would do for a year or two, you know, move on to something else. But then I, you know, I kept getting more responsibility and ultimately they sent my wife and I to London to run our European banking operation. And so we spent two years there and that was a kind of a transformative experience. And then I came back and I mean, I was always doing different things. I ended up running financial sponsors and then capital markets and every time it was like a new job inside a 16 year career. But by the time I left, I had accomplished what I wanted to accomplish and it was time to do something else.
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Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
So it's interesting, after business school, I was an accidental business school student myself. I tried one summer in investment banking and I definitely needed the money to be clear. But I definitely then decided there was just no way I was going to be able to work in investment banking. It just like I found it soul crushing in a bizarre way.
- [18:15]
Patrick Steele
Investment banks, you know, they make decisions about who has access to capital and those companies that get capital are able to grow and, you know, hire people and help grow and build the economy. I mean, that was sort of how I justified it, that it was a very positive contribution to society. It wasn't in the same way as being a public servant.
- [18:36]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
But did that matter to you, the positive contribution to society?
- [18:39]
Patrick Steele
It did. I had to. I mean, on some level I had to justify.
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Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
It totally comes from your upbringing, I just want to point out to you.
- [18:45]
Patrick Steele
Yeah, I grappled with that because I did it for a long time. It was almost 20 years. I mean, it wasn't like a.
- [18:50]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Not a short stint.
- [18:50]
Patrick Steele
It was not a short stint. I did think about it. I mean, I was clearly an outlier among. I mean, typically these were economics finance majors and, you know, that's all they ever wanted to do. And I had this whole other, you know, almost decade career in politics and government. I was very different than everybody else, but they appreciated that. And frankly, CEOs loved talking to me because I'd worked in the White House and I had a perspective on what was going on in politics in the world. And those were really valuable assets that I brought to the table. And I was good at doing, you know, investment decks, IPO pitches, things like that. I was really good at sort of helping to craft that.
- [19:28]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
The narrative.
- [19:29]
Patrick Steele
Yeah, because I could write. I wasn't just a sort of a finance person. I brought other sort of assets to the table, which were really important.
- [19:36]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Do you think of that as part of your brand? Now you probably don't think of yourself as a brand, but you know what I mean, it's like part of your, the thing you bring to the table.
- [19:44]
Patrick Steele
I mean, I think a key part of my brand is really just an absolute openness to reinvent and understand that you have doubts every time you take a big leap into the unknown. But I also at this point bring the confidence I mean, there's not. I think I could probably figure out a lot of different things at this
- [20:02]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
point in my life, so it's such an interesting thing. Last night, as is a classic New York moment, I went to two different parties last night. I went to somebody's retirement party, and then I went to the NBC reunion party. One of the things that sort of struck me was even though obviously I'd worked there, there was still this feeling of not belonging. Like you, I'm totally an extrovert, and I am always an outlier.
- [20:24]
Patrick Steele
I can completely relate. I did not feel like I belonged at the investment bank for long periods of time, and I certainly didn't feel like I belonged when I got to Politico.
- [20:35]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Did you feel like you belonged when you were in the White House?
- [20:37]
Patrick Steele
Yeah, but at that point, because I had worked on Clinton's campaign and, you know, I had a network of young people that I'd met, and we. We all sort of went into the. So I would say I felt. I absolutely felt like I belonged. And I was. I was, you know, part of a cause.
- [20:52]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
For sure. I definitely didn't belong in investment banking, but when I worked in NBC, that was definitely more my people. I had that sense of belonging, sure, because we all cared about storytelling in some way, but there was still, like. I think I've never shed the not belonging feeling, you know, as a kid who kind of like you was like, in a lot of different worlds, but in no one world deeply. Does that make any sense?
- [21:13]
Patrick Steele
Yeah, it does. It does. I mean, in college, I played lightweight football. I was in a play. I was in a fraternity I wrote for the Daily Pennsylvanian. You know, I was in all these different worlds, and they were very different worlds, but I felt a sense of belonging in all of them. So I never felt like an outsider. I certainly did coming into investment banking.
- [21:34]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
But you're good at figuring out a way to find belonging, because I get
- [21:37]
Patrick Steele
along with virtually everybody.
- [21:39]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
So it goes back to relationships, Pete.
- [21:40]
Patrick Steele
Oh, everything. There is no linear sort. Way to describe my professional journey, but I connect with people very easily and made very, very, you know, close friends in. In all of those phases of my life and at every. At every leap. You know, Jason Bernhard, who's now the chief operating officer at Lazard. I mean, I was working in the White House. I'm like, what is investment banking? I literally called him up and he explained to me what investment bankers did. He'd been doing it for almost a decade, basically helped me sort of understand how that system worked.
- [22:14]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
So you're good at asking for help?
- [22:15]
Patrick Steele
Oh, my gosh. Yeah. When I got to Politico, calling my friends that had worked in media, that had run companies before, I'd never managed more than eight people. I'd never worked in media. I called my friend Rick Calvillo, that was a serial entrepreneur that had started and sold companies, and he explained to me, like, how boards work and how your leadership team should be structured. And he was like, you can't have more than, you know, six or seven people on your leadership team. I mean, he like, I had no idea. I had no idea. No idea. And it was at every step of the way, it was friends and those people were instrumental.
- [22:47]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Did you ever feel awkward asking for help because you felt like you had to know the answer?
- [22:51]
Patrick Steele
Never. Because, you know, I'm a giving person and been a good friend to lots of people and very good about maintaining relationships over long periods of time. So at those moments, no. And I think people were absolutely, you know, honestly thrilled to be a source of support and help for me.
- [23:08]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
I'm very relationship oriented like you, and people ask me this question, so I'm going to ask you, which is for somebody who may not do this as naturally as you do, because it's definitely. I can just see it. It's like part of your instinct. How can you give them tips to be better at that? Right. Because it doesn't come naturally to everybody.
- [23:26]
Patrick Steele
Yeah, it's true. I mean, you. The basic premise is Harvard did a study over 80 years of, you know, hundreds of thousands of people, and the only thing that they could determine that contributed to long life was lasting personal relationships. That's it. Nothing else. You know, not smoking, not eating a handful of nuts a day. It was personal relationships. And so it's incredibly life sustaining. And you just have to embrace that at some very fundamental level.
- [23:54]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Does it have to be in real life? Do you have to, like, see each other or can it be on Zoom calls?
- [23:59]
Patrick Steele
Oh, I think personal connection is really important. I don't think many people make lifelong relationships over zoom. It's sharing meals together, it's going through difficult times together,
- [24:14]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
sleeping under your desk together. Right.
- [24:16]
Patrick Steele
Like 100%. You know, we slept in the White House all the time. You know, that was, again, part of the culture. But you make lasting friendships when you spend 17 hours a day with people working around the clock. It's not a great thing, but it's also, you know, there's some real upsides, but I do think it's just forcing yourself to understand that you're not alone. I got the job at Politico essentially because Tory Burch, who was a classmate at Penn, was close with Robert Albritton and her foundation, the Tory Burch foundation, had worked with Politico on Women in leadership. And she suggested, at a moment of transition for Politico, Jim vandeheim. Mike Allen had left to form Axios. And she just intuitively thought that I could be valuable to him. And she was exactly right.
- [25:02]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
And so that was your next pivot.
- [25:04]
Patrick Steele
Yeah. And that was. I mean, there is no scenario where I'm the CEO of Politico without her making that introduction. I'd never been a CEO. I'd never managed people. I'd never worked in media.
- [25:16]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Were you afraid when you took that job because you didn't know?
- [25:19]
Patrick Steele
Terrified. I thought when I took it that I could figure it out, and I was excited. And. And then you get in there, and I couldn't sleep. The first 90 days, we were losing tons of money. I mean, Axios was on the rise. We had a giant bullseye on our back. All of our best clients, like, every one of them, left to go to Axios. A lot of talent was leaving the place.
- [25:42]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
It was on fire.
- [25:42]
Patrick Steele
It was on fire.
- [25:44]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
But you kind of like fire.
- [25:45]
Patrick Steele
I've learned to live in dumpster fires and find a way out, and that was a dumpster fire, because the dumpster
- [25:52]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
fire is where the growth is 100%.
- [25:54]
Patrick Steele
But I was terrified. I was terrified that I had made a terrible mistake. You know, I had to make very, very significant changes to my leadership team and that it doesn't happen overnight. But after six months, I started thinking I might be able to survive. And then after a year, you know, it just. We just slowly started to see the ship turn.
- [26:14]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
What was the messiest part of those first six months?
- [26:17]
Patrick Steele
Oh, God. I mean, just losing many of our most talented people, losing our largest advertisers. Everybody, all the leaders were sort of, like, in corners with pitchforks out trying to kill each other. I couldn't believe that people would go to work like that every day. I'm like, why are you?
- [26:33]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
I mean, oh, welcome to the world of media.
- [26:35]
Patrick Steele
Why are you. Why are these people still here?
- [26:37]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Like, we love it. And there's the pitchforks.
- [26:40]
Patrick Steele
I just. I couldn't. I couldn't believe. I really couldn't believe that people.
- [26:44]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
I'm sorry, was that different than investment banking or than politics?
- [26:48]
Patrick Steele
No, I mean, people loved politics. Did people love coming to the investment bank every day?
- [26:53]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
No, not in the same way.
- [26:54]
Patrick Steele
Yeah, not in the same way. It was this visceral sense that everybody was. You know, the walls were coming in. Everybody was trying to protect their little piece of turf, and they were just trying to kill each other.
- [27:06]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
NBC was my favorite job, but also the most political job. It's inherent in media. So, interestingly, the owner had the patience to let, you know, run it for a while, because change doesn't happen overnight.
- [27:19]
Patrick Steele
He had a big, broad vision, and he obviously had, at least from my perspective, a decent eye on talent, because nobody else would have hired me. And he thought that I could do the job. I remember that first meeting with him before I got the job. Tory had introduced us. We sat down, and he asked me to come over to Politico. My investment bank was like 300 yards away. I walked across the street, and we sat in that newsroom. And again, I had no idea what I was doing there. Tory didn't really tell me. And after an hour, I was like, how can I help you? I mean, why am I here?
- [27:51]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Like, are you looking for an investment bank?
- [27:53]
Patrick Steele
He said, I'm looking for somebody to run Politico day to day. And I was like, I don't know anything about media. I'm not sure. And he was like, I started this business 10 years ago. I own 32 television stations. He's like, that's not what I'm looking for. I'm looking for somebody that understands how a P and L works, has a network in Washington, and knows how to get shit done. And I was like, well, I can do that. But he did not give me a long leash when I started because he knew I didn't know what I was doing. But he had a vision of what he wanted done, and he gave very clear instructions. And I'm really good at following directions. I mean, within a year, we were at break even. We lost, I think, like, I don't know, $13 million my first year.
- [28:29]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
So good turnaround story.
- [28:30]
Patrick Steele
Oh, my gosh, we got to break even. And then it just. It totally took off. But it took off because I got the right people in the right seats on the bus, all in the same directions with a common set of values and a clear mission about where we were going. And all of a sudden, we went from being a very unprofitable company that was in real trouble to being just. I mean, we ate the Washington Post lunch. We killed them.
- [28:54]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
That must have felt good.
- [28:55]
Patrick Steele
I mean, I don't feel good about where the Washington Post is now.
- [28:58]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Nobody feels good about that.
- [28:59]
Patrick Steele
Yeah, but I Mean, it's a competitive world, and we were, I guess, a pesky upstart, and there were others out there, and there's still more. But, you know, ultimately we executed brilliantly. And that led to the sale to Axel Springer, for it was over a billion dollars.
- [29:16]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Exactly.
- [29:17]
Patrick Steele
Yeah. It was the highest price paid for a digital news site ever. I'm not sure there will be another one that ever tops it.
- [29:23]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
But at the time when you were in competition with the Washington Post, they were in a different place than they are today. I mean, in all fairness, the story of the Washington Post today is quite different than many parts of their history, so probably worth saying that, too.
- [29:37]
Patrick Steele
The truth is, we weren't competing against the Washington Post and the New York Times. People thought our reporters thought we were, but we weren't. We were competing for a really valuable insider audience, and we won their attention, and we created unique value every day.
- [29:55]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Did you come up with that pivot? Because I actually know Gully, who runs Politico now. And I think one of the interesting things she said to me about why she took that job was that that narrow focus of hyper targeting to that core audience in a subscription model is very different than running a consumer product.
- [30:12]
Patrick Steele
A hundred percent. Like, we were not competing, fundamentally, we were not competing against the Washington Post. I had an amazing editor and Kerry Budoff Brown, and what we agreed upon was we knew exactly who our customer was. I was very close to our customers, both on the advertising side and our subscribers. We knew exactly how we created value for them. And Kerry was able to channel that into the newsroom so that every piece of content we produced furthered and created value for that really important audience. And we were able to monetize it in very, very spectacular ways. And, you know, ultimately, today, Politico will be a survivor because two thirds of their revenue comes from recurring subscription revenue and only about, you know, a third, maybe 40%, from advertising. And that is the only model that will succeed, in my opinion. And we figured it out.
- [31:01]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
It sounds like you really enjoyed your time in media.
- [31:03]
Patrick Steele
I loved it. I loved it. But when we sold to Axel, I was done.
- [31:09]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
You knew it was time to go.
- [31:10]
Patrick Steele
I had worked 20 hours a day, basically seven days a week for four and a half years, and my battery was completely drained.
- [31:17]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Did you know that you were gonna pause?
- [31:19]
Patrick Steele
I did. I had climbed the mountaintop, but I couldn't figure out what that next peak was. It had to be somebody else's responsibility.
- [31:28]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
So you wanted a pause knowing that there was another one in you?
- [31:32]
Patrick Steele
Absolutely. Yeah, but I just, I needed to recharge. And you know, frankly, you have blinders on. Like, you're so focused on executing your strategy. You know, when the blinders come down, you realize, like, it's a big and interesting world, it's a big and interesting media and entertainment sector, and you start to make all the connections that it was hard to make when you're a CEO with tunnel vision trying to execute on essentially a B2B subscription strategy. And that was liberating.
- [31:58]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Did you put a time limit on how long you were going to pause?
- [32:02]
Patrick Steele
I didn't. I didn't. You know, my path from four and a half years ago when I left Politico, it's not exactly how I thought it would play out, but it's been incredibly rewarding in lots of other ways.
- [32:13]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Well, why don't you tell us what this four and a half years has been? And I also want to know if you had an identity crisis, because I know lots of people who pause, including myself when I took a pause at 50, where you'd be like, she's the former global CMO of Hyatt Hotels. Like, you walk into a cocktail and all of a sudden you're the former. And by the way, as somebody who's close to power, like, all of a sudden you don't hold the power and people don't call back in the same way.
- [32:37]
Patrick Steele
There's not a day that I wake up and wish I was still running Politico. And it's not because I will be a Politico champion for life. You know, it'll be on my tombstone. I just, I left it all on the field. I gave them everything I had and we achieved great success. The exit was perfectly timed and I just, I've never looked back. It's just a huge responsibility that you, that every CEO, you can't take it lightly. And I needed to release myself from that responsibility.
- [33:09]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
You teach and you do some advisory work.
- [33:11]
Patrick Steele
I do. I teach at nyu. I teach a class in media entertainment at Stern, which is just incredible. And I've got 5519 year old students and I'm learning so much about how they think about media and consume media. And it's been an amazing experience. I had never taught before. I mean, and that was another just giant sort of leap into the unknown. And it's been amazing. And I probably stunk when I started. And it's just about service. It's just about helping these young people try and figure out sort of where their career paths might take them. And Giving them the confidence to take risks.
- [33:44]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
So you said something interesting about how they see media, which is different than how we might have seen it. What's the difference?
- [33:49]
Patrick Steele
They will never watch cnn. They never have. They never will. This whole legacy media discussion that everybody wants to talk about the media sector is just engagement. And that's happening on seven social media platforms. The New York Times, which is like, I talk about it all the time. It is the pinnacle of great execution. This amazing transition from print to digital and to thriving in a social platform world. It's remarkable, but at the end of the day, it's got a market cap of $10 billion, and Google's worth 4 trillion. And TikTok, which was started seven years ago, is worth 750 billion. And Meta's worth 3 1/2 trillion. It is the creator economy. That's where it is. It was $250 billion last year. Goldman says it'll be 500 billion in two years. That is a massive pie that's growing. And that. I mean, my students consume their information from TikTok, from Instagram and from YouTube.
- [34:45]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
That's it.
- [34:46]
Patrick Steele
Maybe they see a story from the Washington Post or CNN on their feeds, but they will never go to those sites and consume media that way. It's not like they're not consuming information. It's not like advertising's not growing. It grew 6% globally last year. It'll grow another 6% this year. It's just all going to where the engagement is, which is on the social media platforms.
- [35:06]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
So in this phase, which is a new phase for you, because it's not you having to show up in a fixed box every day, are there messy days where you think to yourself, I mean, the days where you're teaching, those are golden.
- [35:17]
Patrick Steele
You know, I work for Antenna Group, which is this European media conglomerate that is looking to make acquisitions in the US Every day is interesting and meeting with different people that are doing cool stuff in media. We just invested in Semaphore, which is Justin Smith and Ben Smith's platform. They're doing amazing. They create content for an elite audience that they bring together, and they're able to monetize that in really effective ways.
- [35:40]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Do you miss operating?
- [35:41]
Patrick Steele
You know, I mean, yes, of course. But, you know, my path sort of brought me in this direction, which is
- [35:48]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
like a fourth pivot of sorts, you know, kind of a hybrid.
- [35:52]
Patrick Steele
Yeah, I mean, truthfully, I thought I took a year off. I was up for a bunch of CEO jobs and I was always like the, you know, the COVID Bid.
- [36:00]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Wait, what's a cover bid?
- [36:02]
Patrick Steele
I didn't get the job. It was down to me and one other person, and they hired the other person. And I finally, you know, had an opportunity to work for this incredible guy, Theo Kyriakou, and this incredible company. And he was. He believes in news. He believes that AI is going to bring the unit cost down. He believes that there is no capital chasing media, and he believes that news and information have never been more valuable on a global basis. I'm an advisor for a company called Roka News, which lives on YouTube and has done amazingly well. These young guys trying to do nonpartisan news, which is sort of very near and dear to my heart. I don't know what the future holds, and that kind of makes it interesting and exciting and you just have to be open to how it unfolds. But I can tell you, the harder you work, the luckier you get. You know, it's like you find opportunities because you're putting yourself out there. And I do that every day.
- [36:51]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
I'm a big believer in that. For somebody else who's a CEO who's just stepped down from a role, it can be daunting. Do you have any advice for somebody sort of in that moment of interval in between chapter two and chapter three?
- [37:04]
Patrick Steele
I think coming off of a success is a hell of a lot easier than coming off of something that didn't work out. But I mean, number one, you have to take time off. But people want to talk to whether they succeeded or failed. People want to talk to CEOs, they want their perspective. And so everybody's going to want to meet with you. And, you know, you have to approach it with intense curiosity. I found that period post Politico to be. You know, I was sort of in the wilderness, but in a wonderful way.
- [37:34]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Okay, we're going to do rapid fire.
- [37:36]
Patrick Steele
Sure.
- [37:36]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
It doesn't have to be faster in speed. Okay. So this will be easy for you. An alternative career that you haven't tried yet.
- [37:45]
Patrick Steele
Making films.
- [37:46]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Messiest moment. On a scale of 1 to 10,
- [37:49]
Patrick Steele
starting at Politico, the first 90 days, just total chaos.
- [37:52]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
10.
- [37:53]
Patrick Steele
Oh, absolutely.
- [37:55]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
When was the last time you cried?
- [37:56]
Patrick Steele
I mean, I cry in movies all the time.
- [37:58]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
What should everyone do before they're 35?
- [38:00]
Patrick Steele
Travel around the world.
- [38:01]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
What's a career myth that you think is a waste of time?
- [38:06]
Patrick Steele
That you have to work in consulting or investment banking in these prestige professions? It's complete bullshit.
- [38:11]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
What's the best advice you have for someone navigating a pivot?
- [38:14]
Patrick Steele
You have to Project confidence. And you have to be intensely curious and you have to demonstrate quickly that. That you can figure out what the role is.
- [38:23]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
What's one opportunity or worry you have about AI?
- [38:26]
Patrick Steele
That it's going to cause real economic distress. And AI has the opportunity to bring amazing productivity gains. But if all those gains go to the people that have the capital and not to the labor force, we're going to be in deep shit.
- [38:41]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Well, that seems like a negative place to stay to end on. No, it's fine.
- [38:46]
Patrick Steele
I mean, I can give you the upside as a CEO and a media company. It's not going to be as impactful as we think in the short term. Otherwise, nobody would be working at law firms because AI would just do all of that. But it will be much more impactful in the long term.
- [39:03]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
If you had to have a Walk on song to come on as CEO, what would that be?
- [39:08]
Patrick Steele
Oh, gosh, a walk on song. I don't know. If I was in a karaoke bar, I would probably do Sweet Caroline.
- [39:20]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
My Walk on song at Gannett was Girl on Fire.
- [39:22]
Patrick Steele
I love that song.
- [39:23]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
It was a turnaround.
- [39:24]
Patrick Steele
We were definitely on fire. I'm gonna have to have a better answer for my Walk on song. That's a classic.
- [39:30]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
Thank you so much.
- [39:31]
Patrick Steele
It's probably not for me, but, you
- [39:32]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
know, you can find your own version. I'm gifting it to you. Thank you so much for coming on. That was an amazing conversation.
- [39:38]
Patrick Steele
It was such a pleasure. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.
- [39:41]
Host (possibly a media or marketing professional)
So I hope you enjoyed this episode with Patrick Steele. There were so many great nuggets, whether you're starting out or you're later in your career. Now remember to, like, tell 10 friends. Do a review. This is how we're going to be able to share more messy stories with you every week.