Lecture three
Shortly after he took over the readers’ digest association in 1984, George Grune unlocked the companies’ boardroom and announced that the room was now open to the employees. It was a symbolic act, indicating that under Grune’s leadership, readers’ digest was going to be different. True to his words, Grune has shaken up the culture here. To get an idea of the culture we are talking about, considered the boardroom Grune opened up. It has artworks that any museum in the world would want to collect. Paintings by many world-famous artists like Monet and Picasso. Its headquarters houses some 3,000 works of art. The main building is topped with a tower with four sculptures of the mythical winged horse, the magazine’s corporate logo. It sits on 127 acres of well-trained longs. The editors’ office used to be occupied by founder Dewitt Wallace, who along with his wife, Lela Wallace, launched reader’s digest in 1922 with condensed articles from other publications. It has become the world’s most widely read magazine, selling 28 million copies each month in 17 languages and 41 different editions. The Wallaces, both children are church ministers, had clearly defined formula for their little magazine as reader’s digest was originally sub-titled. Articles were to be short, readable and uplifting. Subjects were picked to inspire or to entertain. The Wallaces didn’t accept advertising in the US edition until 1955. And even then they didn’t allow any ads for cigarettes, liquor or drugs. The Wallaces also had a clear sense of the kind of workplace they wanted. It started as a mom and papa operation and the childless Wallaces always considered employees to be part of their family. Employees still tell stories of how Wallaces would take care of the employees who is met with misfortunes and they shower their employees with unusual benefits, like a turkey on Thanksgiving and Fridays off in May. This cozy workplace no longer exists here. The Wallaces both died in their 90s in the early 1980s. George Grune, a former ad salesman who joined the reader’s digest in 1960 has his eye focused on the bottom line. In a few short years. He turned the magazine on in his head. He laid off several thousand workers. Especially hard hit where the blue and pink color departments such as subscription fulfillment
Q22. What did George Grune do in 1984?
Q23. How did the Wallaces define formula for reader’s digest?
Q24. What do we learn about the founder of reader’s digest?
Q25. What change took place in reader’s digest after the Wallace’s death?
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