The Silfen Leadership Series at Columbia Business School recently held its first event of the fall: "Navigating an Evolving Media Industry: A Conversation with Robert M. Bakish '89 (SEAS '85), former president and CEO of Paramount Global."
Topics covered during the discussion, which was moderated by Divya Walia ’24, co-chair of the Silfen Leadership Series, included the state of the media and entertainment industries, streaming wars, and the use of artificial intelligence.
"Collaboration is fundamental," Bakish told the audience of nearly 500 students. "It's the only way you can scale, the only way you can get the best of an organization, and the only way I believe people do their best work."
During the event, students had the opportunity to ask questions about current industry events and future trends.
The David and Lyn Silfen Leadership Series is an initiative wherein world-renowned leaders come to campus to speak to students. It is the premier lecture series at CBS, with the objective of granting our community access to renowned figures and their cutting-edge ideas, leadership styles, and personal philosophies.
At Paramount, Bakish oversaw a powerful portfolio of multiplatform consumer brands, including flagship streaming services Paramount+ and Pluto TV; the Paramount Pictures film studio; and television networks CBS, Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, Channel 5, and Telefe, among other properties that together serve audiences in more than 180 countries.
Find out more about the Silfen Leadership Series here.
