@ SIIA Info Industry Summit: Keynote: Harold McGraw III, Chairman, president and CEO, The McGraw-Hi

: Audio at end of the post Harold “Terry” McGraw III has a lot to say and he’s saying it at a brisk pace so I’ll definitely have to come back later and flesh some of this out. McGraw started with a paean to associations and the need to work together, then quickly moved into a comparison of the present day with the 19th century, drawing on the late Peter Drucker’s work.
– “Make no mistake, what we’re seeing now is obviously a very new era… These are seismic shifts … but not without historic precedent.” He spoke of the industrial and commercial revolutions of the 19th century, cautioning that each of those periods of major economic growth were accompanied by growing income inequality. “Can we avoid this notion of having this global expansion and also this continuing growing income inequality?”

– McGraw moved on to the subject of the conference — “Users Taking Control,” noting that “the consumer today has more power than ever.” But greater access to information is only part of the equation — product proliferation, media fragmentation, lower cost and democratization are other aspects.

– “The most far reaching aspect of declining costs of participation relate to global outsourcing and online communication. … The cost of participation is a laptop and an internet connection anywhere in the world.”

– “The functions once the domain of content providers are now shared with content aggregators, search engines …” That shouldn’t be viewed with alarm because “trusted brands will not diminish” and will only grow in value as long as companies provide information users can trust. He stressed editorial excellence.”

– “The mass media of yore is being spread even thinner … Mass marketing will not disappear but on the rise is micro-marketing.”

– McGraw returned to the issue of income inequality, acknowledging that poverty is not a topic you would expect to see addressed at a conference like this. But, he warned, “it needs to be if we are to fulfill the promise of a new era.” The two areas where the information industry can have the most impact are education and open trade. “Message: The information industry has a major role to play here.”

– Big shock — he wants developing countries to strengthen IP laws, citing a high correlation between strength of economy and protection of intellectual property. “Protection of IP is key to the decisions we make about how we make our products and services available.” He warned that investments of hundreds of millions of dollars cannot continue with protection.

– That segued neatly into a strong message about Google’s book search program; McGraw-Hill is among those protesting Google’s plans to digitize two million books. By denying compensation and copying sans permission, he argues, “Google’s not serving users, it’s serving Google.” He wants his peers to create programs that explain to consumers the value of IP protection; McGraw-Hill is implementing such an effort now.

– “The voice of business is way too low. We need to make sure it is us talking about the issues most important to us รข

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