Reuters editor in chief Adler: We need smarter, deeper, more forward-looking stories

Here is the list from Reuters editor in chief Stephen Adler that was sent out to the troops earlier this week (It was mentioned by Reuters CEO Andrew Rashbass in this email) after his bureau chief meetings:

Last week, we completed the last of our three regional bureau chief meetings. I’m sure you and your bureau chief will be talking about the topics we discussed in our sessions, but I wanted to share my own observations as well.

1. We have excellent new leaders in each region – Jean Yoon in Asia, Richard Mably in EMEA, and Dayan Candappa in the Americas – each of whom has deep experience at Reuters, a strong commitment to our goal of being the world’s greatest news organization, and highly compatible, collaborative approaches to getting us there. They’re all off to a really good start!
2. The meetings were great – the best I’ve attended in my three years here. The mood was more optimistic, the teams more united, the conversations rigorously practical – focusing on precisely how we can do things better – rather than theoretical.
3. The teams in each region embraced the strategy of simultaneously reinforcing our traditional core (fast, accurate, neutral) and expanding that core to include more forward-looking, insightful, exclusive, and enterprising journalism. The focus this year, happily, was not on whether we should enhance our capabilities but rather – bureau by bureau – how we do a better job managing our time and resources to be fast and smart. You should see real results – and greater clarity – as a result of these discussions.
4. We still have a lot of work to do to serve the financial buy side more effectively. We agreed that some of this involves the smarter, deeper, more forward-looking stories we’ve all been working on. We want these stories to provide un-obvious insights — based on strong sourcing and thorough reporting — about companies, countries, regions, industries, asset classes, and regulatory issues so they’ll be highly relevant to the people making investment decisions.
5. We also have to become more comprehensive in our coverage of smaller and mid-cap companies, an effort that will involve better use of automation, strong reliance on centers of excellence such as Bangalore and – soon – Gdynia, and better focus by all of us on finding corporate angles within stories that, at first blush, might seem not to be corporate at all. When you think about it, most news affects companies in some way – whether a natural disaster, revolution, civil war, or sports or entertainment event. We agreed that we increasingly need to mine those opportunities.
6. As Andrew Rashbass pointed out, we are a profitable news organization because we serve multiple customers and multiple customer groups. Our two biggest customer groups are financial and News Agency, and we wouldn’t be profitable without either one of them. So let’s remember, again, it’s our job not to focus just on one or the other but on both. It’s necessary for our business and central to our tradition and our mission of covering all the important stories in the world, financial or otherwise. Meanwhile, we’ll also try to build our presence in consumer and legal news.
7. We talked a great deal about the role of bureau managers as leaders of teams, and as mentors and career guides. We aim to do a better job helping you develop your skills and identify and pursue exciting career paths within Reuters. We have programs in place to reinforce this ambition, but the key will be the leadership team’s personal commitment – reinforced at our meetings — not just to drive coverage but to support each of the 2,600-plus people who produce it. Part of this commitment, which I enthusiastically share, is to make sure we build and support a more diverse news organization.
8. Finally, we talked about safety in a perilous world, and the importance of reminding each other that no story is worth a life. Our general managers and security consultants focus enormous attention on this issue, as do bureau managers around the world. As do I.

At the end of the meetings in London, Hong Kong, and New York, what struck me more than anything is how much great work you all are doing in bureaus all over the world – getting the news, making sense of it, getting it out quickly and accurately, and supporting each other on the ground every day. I am deeply grateful for that.