Timothy J. Brennan, 73

President, Reed Brennan Media Associates (retired 2019) Orlando, Fla. First journalism job: Zone advertising sales expansion, The News Journal, Wilmington, Del.

What are some of the most important lessons you have learned while working in the news industry?

Technology and the rapid change it can bring is not the problem. Identifying how to profitably embrace it is a lifelong challenge.

If your company provides less than excellent customer service, your company will never prevail competitively.

Selecting the right people allows you to manage. If you tolerate substandard performance, you adopt the problems that are created including the observations at all levels of those meeting their standards.

How you reward employees will dictate on what they will spend their time.

Short term success can always be obtained at the expense of the future.

There are exceptions to everything. If rules can run a company, who needs you?

What are your predictions for where journalism is heading?

Nothing will bring the traditional newspaper back. Too many potential readers from younger prospects have moved to other media.

Still, journalism has not lost its fundamentals. Ethical, honest content is still very much in need and will increase. There has never been greater demand for information, guidance and issue transparency.

Technology that caused the decline of the traditional business model will be employed to resurface the value and necessity of professional wordsmiths. There are many promising current examples of embryonic efforts to recapture readers and subscribers to quality journalism.

From newspaper carrier, to retirement, it has been my great privilege to have a career producing revenue, operational improvement, new technology applications and executive management in support of journalism excellence.