Leslie Wilcox sits as president and chief executive officer of PBS Hawaii. Leslie holds more than 30 years of professional experience in journalism. She is a graduate of the prestigious Poynter Institute, and has spearheaded various community initiatives including the Lokahi Giving Project.
Leslie has won various awards in line with her profession and as a community volunteer. These include the Outstanding Community Service award 2007 from the Lions Club of Wahiawa, Outstanding Volunteer of the Year 2005 from Salvation Army (Hawaii), and the “EMMI” Award for Community Service 2005 from Emmis Communications Corporation.
According to Leslie, the time when males dominate the top tier of the corporate strata is slowly becoming a myth, and that more and more females are coming into positions of leadership in the business world, especially in the media. Leslie reveals that her male counterparts in other PBS stations across the country are supportive, judicious and open to experimentation, which she can relate to with ease.
In this Greater Good Radio two-on-one, Leslie talks about the importance of communication, and its fundamental roots in reading and writing, in being an effective leader. From here comes the ability to learn other skills that, when meshed together, becomes a clockwork.
“I think the most important skills are the really basic skills of reading and writing and I think that has taken me very far in my life,” Leslie says. “I didn’t have a whole lot of advantages but I learned to love reading, and from reading came writing.”
“Those communication skills are the basis for everything,” she adds. “When you bring in all the diverse disciplines you need to run a television station, it’s a song.”
Listen to ESPN 1420 or download the audio stream to find out more about the timeline of Leslie Wilcox’s career, her transition to becoming a woman leader, and the highs and challenges of being a female at the helm of a media company.
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