So it’s my turn now. As you may know the Mac Blog is dedicated to talking about Macmillan and the changing business of publishing as we see it. We’ll have contributors from a variety of areas including our publishers to talk about what’s new and interesting.

What’s new and interesting this week, is that I’m blogging. I’ve been with the company 10 years, and it feels like during that time we have been in a constant state of evolution. And now blogging is another new direction. What has taken us so long to join in all the fun? Traditionally, we’ve kept a low profile. But now things are different. The media world is different. The publishing world is different.

We’re different, too. We recently conducted the ultimate makeover and changed our name to Macmillan. While it may not rock the world, it is an acknowledgement that we are not who we were. Or maybe we are who we were, only better. But it feels right at this point in our corporate lives to put on our “going to a party” clothes, get up on the table and dance a little bit.

Anyone who has worked for an organization knows each has its own personality. This blog, therefore, is going to be reflective of our overall personality; in a sense, it will be our digital fingerprint. I like the idea of giving voice to a company that goes beyond press releases and corporate communications.

What would our fingerprint whorls say about us? Since we’re made up of a group of independent publishers who actually do publish independently but share centralized functions like sales, operations and finance we are an eclectic bunch for sure. When you’re part of the centralized side of things as I am, this makes things lively, and sometimes challenging. It can create an atmosphere of diversity and like-mindedness; extremes of opinion and cooperation. These dichotomies do not seem like they should be part of the same gene pool, but is very much a part of what makes us publishers and part of our particular personality as a company. It is what makes our fingerprint unique.

All in all, this is a great time to be in the publishing business but not if you’re sticking with the status quo. We are on the move as an industry and as a company. In a St. Martin’s Press book we published last year by Harvard Business School Professor John Kotter, entitled Our Iceberg is Melting, Kotter outlines the eight-step process to implement successful change. Step Number 8, his final one, is to “create a new culture.” This blog is part of ours.

‘Til next time.

Alison

Alison Lazarus is the President of Sales for Macmillan