How Couches, Collaboration, And the final word individuals Connector maintain HBO On high

“I hate conference tables,” Richard Plepler, the CEO of HBO, says matter of factly. “They make folks so . . . ” He cocks his head to think about the appropriate phrase. “Stilted.”

Plepler is sitting in his nook workplace on the 10th floor of HBO’s Sixth Avenue headquarters one morning, his silhouette framed by way of a view of Midtown ny—a Mark Rothko-like abstraction of charcoal and chrome. Plepler additionally it sounds as if hates desks, and there’s no signal of one in his spare however stylish office, which is dominated by way of three huge, cream-coloured couches arranged in a semi-circle. At HBO, that is where business takes position.

“once I’ve realized probably the most from Richard, or been influenced essentially the most, it’s sitting on his couch, just talking,” says Courteney Monroe, CEO of the national Geographic Channel, who worked at HBO for thirteen years in advertising. “you are feeling like you might be sitting in a living room and just having an extraordinarily standard dialog.”

These couch chats happen continuously and underscore the stage to which HBO is a relationship-based totally firm the place corporate technique is not spelled out in a company-broad email, however is mentioned informally in ongoing conversations. it’s a mode that extends to Plepler’s non-public existence. A consummate connector of individuals, the onetime political aide is equally comfy in Hollywood, media, and political circles, and he spends a substantial amount of time in all of them. Dinner parties at his new york dwelling are legendary—such because the one the place Sarah Jessica Parker discovered herself sitting subsequent to Shimon Peres, the former president of Israel. “he’s excellent pals with various totally different folks from different walks of lifestyles,” says Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the famous person of HBO’s White home satire Veep. “he’s now not just striking out with the money guys.”

given that becoming CEO in 2013, Plepler has formalized the in-home socializing that goes on at HBO, making a BDC, or business construction Council, that brings people together from all elements of the corporate—advertising and marketing, corporate communications, distribution—to dissect issues. He additionally began smaller teams, referred to as staff Bs, whose mission is to “challenge typical wisdom,” he says, adding that he stole the speculation “from an previous CIA playbook.” He also holds casual chats in his place of work every different Friday the place anyone from an assistant to a advertising director can vent or ask questions. “everyone’s a little more at ease on Friday,” Plepler says. “I just say, ‘Guys, appear. The door’s closed. I won’t quote the rest you say. I may quote the idea. I just want to hear what’s on your thoughts.'”

Plepler believes some of these discussions are essential as he molds HBO into more of a nimble speedboat as opposed to the regular-as-she goes battleship the corporate has lengthy been. going through threats from pesky upstarts like Netflix and a pay-television trade that is displaying signs of vulnerability—in 2013, the selection of pay-television subscribers dropped for the primary time in historical past—Plepler finds himself at one of the most pivotal moments in HBO’s historical past. it can be one who requires making risky strikes, corresponding to launching HBO Now, the company’s new standalone streaming provider. it is usually person who he believes starts with HBO’s culture.

one of the most greatest offers to return out of HBO’s new, status quo-challenging culture was once final year’s determination to license a few of HBO’s older shows to Amazon, marking the first time that HBO has made any of its content material to be had on every other platform (in addition to syndication). The deal, value a reported $300 million, got here out of a team B discussion that impressed “robust debate,” according to Tom Woodbury, HBO’s head of world distribution. Some executives feared that offering shows like The Sopranos and Six toes underneath in a Wal-Mart-like ambiance would tarnish HBO’s blue-chip model, not to mention accustom enthusiasts to gazing HBO shows somewhere rather then on HBO. Others worried that streaming displays on Amazon would undercut HBO Now once it was once on hand.

“I keep in mind that in the first meeting, I brought everybody in, we all sat around. I mentioned, ‘What do we think?,'” Plepler recalls. “And there were loud voices saying, ‘we won’t probably do this!’ there have been some equally loud voices saying, ‘of course we are able to.’

“there have been individuals who believed I let the dialog go on too long. I kept bringing everybody back in. however I at all times suppose it’s a good factor to waste just a little time constructing consensus. so you wouldn’t have to waste time on the decision. i might suggest that if the vote in the first assembly used to be 70-30, no. The vote through the fifth assembly was once 90-10 yes.”

shifting the culture of a company that has been extremely a success doing things a certain manner for an extraordinarily very long time—relying virtually completely on revenue generated from pay-tv subscriptions, that is—and is essentially compromised of executives who’ve been there for many years is not any small process. (One executive who’s been at HBO for six years described herself to me as a “baby” at the firm.) in line with Michael Lombardo, HBO’s head of programming—a 30-12 months HBO veteran himself—Plepler is succeeding at it by doing issues “in an awfully HBO manner.” this means through not dictating from his corner place of business, but working together with his team of workers and being transparent about the choice-making course of. “At HBO, all executives dangle fingers collectively and make decisions,” says one former worker. “it can be a very communally run company.” As a pace-setter, Plepler performs into this, while he nudges the corporate into new territory.

Says Lombardo: “individuals can get into grooves, which can be also called ruts. Richard has very artfully had people get out of their grooves. he is asked the query, ‘How will we pivot to be more strategic when we haven’t been using that muscle?'”

This is not the first time Plepler has charged himself with shaking issues up. again in 2007, when Chris Albrecht resigned as chairman and CEO of HBO after being arrested for assaulting his lady friend in a Las Vegas parking space, Plepler was part of a new management group charged with righting the ship. Albrecht had been a cherished leader, to not mention the key architect behind iconic presentations equivalent to intercourse and town and The Sopranos. His departure rocked the corporate, which was once already beginning to take hits from opponents like AMC and Showtime.

“i believe Richard emerged into his position with a want to reclaim that high floor,” says David Carey, the president of Hearst Magazines. “There was a lot of HBO questioning for a time period, which greeted his arrival. “i feel he intuited that, and i feel that additionally knowledgeable his decision to empower the group, supply them a seat on the table. as a result of he identified he wanted every person to lend a hand get them out of that moment.”

Lombardo says that he and Plepler, who collectively oversaw programming, set about looking to trade the notion of HBO as a “gorgeous Tiffany box.” that is to say: based however inaccessible.

“We have been watching what was occurring and, I say this with all due appreciate to our predecessors, but you every so often grow to be moderately hostage to your success,” says Lombardo. “There turns into a need to duplicate the success of—like, on the lookout for another Sopranos or on the lookout for another sex and the town. i think what Richard and i sort of fostered in each and every different was once, that wasn’t the answer. And so our first programming determination used to be genuine Blood. Which everyone stated, actual Blood? Vampires on HBO? that is the house of The Wire! you’re gonna have vampires on HBO? Two guys who comprehend nothing about content material!” (Lombardo had prior to now run trade affairs; Plepler got here from company PR.)

one in every of their next green-mild choices was sport of Thrones, which incited a an identical response: “Oh my God! Dragons at HBO!,” Lombardo says, laughing.

“We knew what we had to do,” says Plepler. “Work with one of the best individuals, put things on that we had been pleased with. listen for the next authentic voice.

“which is really, if you want to understand the animating theory, to this moment, is: Let’s be happy with it. Does anybody be aware of that Armando Iannucci’s Veep is gonna be a hit? No, but we’re pleased with it.”

Plepler additionally looked outdoor the partitions of the corporate for ideas and notion. not lengthy after Albrecht left, he and Lombardo took Frank rich, the previous the big apple instances op-ed columnist who’s now a creator-at-huge for big apple magazine, out to lunch. “They needed to get me involved. It used to be form of an amorphous factor that is grown into being a ingenious marketing consultant,” says wealthy, who was an government producer on Veep. “part of it used to be to sign up for, at that time, a freewheeling discussion about HBO, because in many ways the whole lot was once up for grabs. administration had changed abruptly. plenty of HBO’s iconic hits had been nearing the top of their lives. and so they wished to sort of take a look at some stuff they had floating round, that hadn’t aired but, and talk about the way forward for the network generally and simply kind of have a working discussion.”

“it’s my nature, maybe to a fault, i’m a collaborator,” Plepler says, sitting on the nook of a couch, which is significantly extra well-worn than some other. In entrance of him are stacks of books despatched from publishers and sheafs of newspapers: his day-to-day studying routine. “i love the power of collaboration. an organization can get the advantage of cross collaboration. So if you’re privileged to be in my place, you need to keep the principle factor the principle thing. And the best way you do that’s that you widen the circle of ability and you expand the spirit of collaboration. And when you do this, the likelihood of good decision making will increase exponentially.”