Analysis: How Cumulus Fixed A Toxic Culture

Mary Berner

And who better to provide that analysis than Mary Berner, Chief Executive Offer for Cumulus.

In a posting at chiefexecutive.net, Berner states:

"When I took on the challenge of turning around Cumulus Media in October 2015, it was a company in free fall: four straight years of declines in radio listenership, four straight years of revenue declines, three straight years of EBITDA declines, and underperforming acquisitions which had saddled the company with an untenable debt load. We also had lousy systems, crumbling infrastructure and unhappy employees who told us in surveys that the ‘dysfunctional,’ ‘toxic’ and ‘lousy’ culture was the primary reason for the company’s poor performance.

Berner writes "it was clear from the start that Cumulus would not be saved by any of the traditional turnaround quick fixes. The company had already made meaningful cost reductions. "With our heavy debt, any transformational M&A was also off the table. The market was not going to help—we started the turnaround just as headwinds in the radio industry started to pick up speed. Fixing Cumulus meant significantly improving basic business performance. The big unknown was whether our demoralized employees would step up to the plate.

"With almost 6,000 employees spread across radio stations in 90 markets, there had been almost no investment in rank-and-file employees, and turnover hovered around 50%. The company hadn’t given raises in over 10 years and some working conditions were almost unbelievable. I got a call a few days into my tenure complaining about the snakes that had fallen through the rotting ceiling in one of our offices. In contrast, top management received large and highly visible perks—travel on a private plane, hefty expense accounts and lavish offices.

"I knew that a disengaged workforce and high employee turnover made reversing the company’s downward spiral extremely difficult. So, I turned to a Culture Fix Playbook I had honed over time, and began to implement six must-do strategies."

Click Here for Berner's six must-do strategies.

In less than two years, Berner proudly announces, "Our culture has made a 180-degree turn. Employee turnover is down to 24%. Ninety-two percent of our employees say they are proud to work at Cumulus and 91% believe that Cumulus is changing for the better.

"What hasn’t changed is that we are still a resource-starved, over-leveraged company operating in a difficult market. However, as a direct result of our culture fix we showed our employees that we support and value them and they, in turn, are giving us their best effort.

"Now, we have a cultural competitive edge sharpened by engaged employees who fiercely believe they are a FORCE to be reckoned with."