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 Doug
McCormick is a man’s man but more importantly, he’s
a woman’s man. He’s one of the good guys, one who
stands proudly on women’s issues and whose actions speak
louder than words.
As
Chairman and CEO of iVillage Inc., Doug McCormick has a vision
to enhance the quality of life for women. It’s an excellent
vision, one in which women have fought hard to achieve for
decades. If the pursuit for fair play and equality were a
relay race, McCormick would be running at warp speed, heading
straight for the future, and ready to pass the baton onto
those who will reap the rewards of his good deeds.
But
let’s not begin with the future or even the present.
Instead, let’s journey to the past, where Doug McCormick’s
vision began.
Meeting
this tall, dark, handsome and athletically built 50-something
man begs the question: why has he championed the women's market?
What’s in it for him? One might assume that such a man
of stature both personally and professionally would be a jock,
a golf-nut who hangs with the boys and talks sports and business.
A leader among men with all the backslapping and handshaking
men do when they belong to the 'ole boy’s club.
As
it turns out, sports (or lack thereof), are actually where
it all began. Although built for speed as a boy, McCormick
was benched from participating in strenuous sports common
to most kids due to health problems. Stuck on the sidelines,
while testosterone-laden jocks jockeyed for position, Doug
discovered other worthy outlets for his interests; getting
to know the girls, who for different reasons, were also benched
on the sidelines.
McCormick
learned early on that “girls weren’t allowed”
in just about everything. It was an era when girls didn’t
have their own tree houses and women didn’t have corner
offices. Throughout his youth and well into young adulthood,
Doug became more integrated into his friendships with girls
and women, developing an understanding of the challenges they
faced and the prejudice they endured. He knew then something
needed to change. The indignities began to fuel his fire.
That
fire gave off its first light in 1984 when McCormick joined
Lifetime Television as a marketing and sales director. Then,
the network focused on health talk TV more than it did women.
Recognizing the serious lack of programming for a female audience
and armed with his understanding of women’s need for
information and resources, Doug approached network executives
to consider targeting the women’s market with women’s
programming. Faced with ridicule and disbelief that such a
market existed, he convinced naysayers to take the risk, hence,
coining the new phrase Lifetime: Television for Women in 1991. Executives were apprehensive but trusted McCormick’s
knowledge and instincts. The reward outweighed the risk. The
audience applauded, the advertisers appeared, and stockholders
were ecstatic.
Through
McCormick’s leadership Lifetime became the first network
to air women’s sports with the launch of professional
women’s basketball in late ’95. General Motors became
the title sponsor, earning the General the honor as the first
major corporation to get behind women’s professional
sports on television. Imagine that, a car company, the last
male bastion.
The
crusade didn’t end there. McCormick and his team were
on a winning streak. Soon followed Lifetime’s Intimate
Portraits, a series of inspiring success stories on women
of courage and accomplishment from CEOs to EMTs, from movie
stars to musicians. These weekly features have enlightened
a nation about the challenges women have endured, the victories
they have claimed, and the thousands of contributions they
have made to the world throughout history.
Then
came Lifetime’s TV movies for women, another hit in the
race for success for cable’s king of queens. This string
of wins led to McCormick’s rise at Lifetime to president
and CEO of the company, a tenure that lasted six years. During
that time, his team established Lifetime as the number one
women’s brand in electronic media, growing Lifetime to
the 9th most profitable network (cable and broadcast) in the
United States McCormick was credited with raising Lifetime’s market
value by more than $3 billion in five years, growing prime
time ratings by more than 100 percent and quadrupling revenues.
This
magnitude of success didn’t leave McCormick resting on
his laurels as it would some in his position. Instead, he
used his success as a new opportunity to expand recognition
on women’s issues, including those relating to the serious
epidemic of breast cancer.
The
father of two adult sons, McCormick submerged himself in many
women and children’s humanitarian organizations including
breast cancer awareness, the Cancer Research and Treatment
Foundation (CRT&F), the CO-chair of the Child’s Action
Campaign, and as a board member of the Women’s Sports
Foundation, to name a few.
His
generous involvement in these causes has won him many awards
including top honors from the New York Women’s Agenda,
Girls, Inc., and the Golden Cable ACE for Lifetime’s
efforts in combating breast cancer. He was also cited with
the National Women’s Political Caucus’ prestigious
“Good Guy Award” (hmm, no surprise there).
Additionally,
he has been the recipient of the CRT&F Award, which was
previously bestowed on former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
However, one of his most memorable moments came after receiving
a humanitarian award for supporting women’s issues. One
of his sons proudly announced, “I’d like to win
an award like that some day.” For dad, honors don’t
get much better than that. And this is exactly how the baton
is passed from one generation to the next.
“These
awards belong to my team, who does all the work,” he
says softly. “I just accept them on behalf of the team.”
Clearly,
McCormick is humble about his accolades when pushed to share
them. Even his PR director Carl Fischer, who sits in on our
interview, jumps in to brag about his humanitarian boss. “He’s
being very humble about all this," Fischer comments.
"He has received so many awards for his work in helping
women and children.”
Suddenly,
Doug leaps from his seat, his face aglow with excitement as
he dashes across the room. Out of sight, his voice elevates
with passion, “Here’s one of the accolades of which
I’m most proud.” He comes back in view with a race
helmet in hand, pointing out that the autographed helmet was
worn by Lyn St. James in the 1992 Indy 500, when she became
the first woman to finish the prestigious race, placing 11th.
“She’s such a wonderful human being,” he adds,
looking at the helmet. His pride and excitement are genuine.
As
the twentieth century came to a close, Doug McCormick had
accomplished by 50 what most people only dream of accomplishing
in a lifetime. He had not only opened dozens of doors for
women, he had opened millions of minds to the possibilities
and opportunities women can (and do) bring into all aspects
of life. And he did it through television, where the message
met the masses. It was time to expand, to move on, to explore
what new frontiers there were to conquer — namely the Internet.
In
the mid-90s, the Internet was still new territory.
Among the pioneers were several independent women who started
women’s content websites. But they struggled, as all
new websites had. Before long, Hearst Corporation, which owned
a piece of Lifetime, started Home Arts, a website that reflected
content relevant and timely to women's interests and issues.
Womenswire.com,
a site started by two women, for women, proposed marriage
to Home Arts in the late 90's, giving birth to women.com in
which the Hearst Corporation took a 40 percent share. In the meantime,
another independent site for women launched called iVillage.
By 1999, it went public. Realizing this town wasn't big enough
for the both of them, Hearst took a 30 percent stake in the public
company, merged women.com into the fold, and hence, the evolution
and rise of iVillage Inc., the leading women’s media
company and the number one source for women’s information
online today.
Ripe
for new fertile ground to penetrate in women's media, McCormick
was named CEO to the company in 2000, replacing its flamboyant
cofounder, Candice Carpenter. Armed with intestinal fortitude
and 17 years of marketing to women in new media, McCormick
said of the flailing company, “We will not sit on our
hands and wait for advertisers to start lining up again. We
want to make something happen.”
And
happen it did. McCormick hired many of his former colleagues
from Lifetime Cable Network who remember the uphill battle
of selling ads at Lifetime in its early days. Sleeves went
up, trenches were dug, and business got done starting with
the slashing of two-thirds of its staff to help reduce losses
and regain its strength in the floundering world of websites.
A challenge this daunting would send most into retirement.
Not McCormick. His only challenge was how to and which way.
It’s
clear that McCormick is no ordinary man. He likes challenges
like other men, but he likes them where other men tread lightly,
making him a rare commodity indeed. We won’t go as far
as to say he’s a knight in shining armor because that
would be hokey — but we tell you this: Doug McCormick is
the kind of man that restores your faith in mankind, especially
for those women who have all but given up. He not only gets
it, but he passes it on for others to get, leading by example.
He is truly one of the good guys.
Upon
being asked what other men thought of his pursuits and successes
in the women’s market and on women’s issues, McCormick
answers, “Oh,
some rib me about it from time to time, but overall, today’s
men are becoming aware of what’s important and what they’re
missing by not being a part of the whole picture.”
He
defends his peers honorably, not defensively, about how men
today, especially those who have sisters and daughters, have
a much better understanding of women’s issues and are
more apt to become involved and be supportive. “We seem
to be going through a renaissance time where we recognize
that the quality of life is important,” he adds.
Being
reminded that he is of the first generation of men to openly
support women, he adds, laughing, “Oh, there is no shortage
of idiots out there, trust me.” He knows his work is
still cut out for him. While a hero among women, he understands
that many men still have a lot to learn about tolerance and
acceptance. This, from the father of two sons who was on the
founding committee of “Take Your Daughter to Work”
day.
Today,
Doug McCormick basks in a sunlit corner office on the 13th
floor of his Manhattan office complete with wall-to-wall windows,
taxi horns blaring, trash trucks grinding, and the sun peaking
through the dozens of skyscrapers that surround his world.
It’s a colorful world, indeed, and it suits him. He’s
excited about leading iVillage into profitability again. “Never
did I think I would be so excited about just breaking even,”
he said. “We’re only one zero away from being happy!”
But
zeros alone are not enough to make McCormick happy. Equality
for women is equally important. “Women are the CEOs of
their homes,” says Doug. “They influence 88 percent of
most major purchases, so not only do we owe it to our shareholders
to do our best job, we owe it to our readers.” Thirty-one
million readers who happen to be women.
Gloria
Steinem once said of Doug McCormick, “When the revolution
comes, he will be spared.”
And
so the race continues.
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