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In performance circles it’s termed “call
and answer.” One person completes an action
or a sound and another responds. It can be fun to
watch. I’m not sure if it works as well in print,
but I’m going to give it a try. Hopefully by
now you’ve read outgoing editor David Holt’s
“exit” column on page six. This is my
“answer,” but it isn’t how I’d
planned it.
Let me explain. It’s 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday,
March 9, and we’re in our last day of production
for this issue of Progress—at least the last
full day during which my colleagues and I in the editorial
department are allowed to touch the laser pages of
the magazine with impunity. Because, believe me, we’ll
take any opportunity to tinker and fiddle, polish
and fix, until we force ourselves to “Let it
go!”
Publisher Gilfoy, who has just recently entrusted
me with the editorship of Progress, sends me an e-mail
confessing that he can’t write his column this
month because he’s too busy and he’s left
it too late. (Not an unusual state of affairs, I’d
like to point out.) “You can just start your
column in this issue instead of May,” he says.
Sticking his head into my office a few minutes later
he adds, deadpan, “What’s so hard about
writing a column?”
Cover lines are half a day behind schedule and Kevin
O’Reilly, our designer, sounds mildly irked
on the phone. I’m fielding queries from writers,
reviewing our “Best Companies” research,
and I haven’t finished my lunch. David, my friend
and departing colleague, helpfully creeps out of my
office, keenly aware of the body language that precedes
a blown gasket.
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David and I have worked
together closely for 10 years, after all, and we know
each other well. We’ve had lunch a lot. There
were mostly good days, full of mock-serious arguments
about magazine lineups and story focuses, the economy,
cover ideas, and the style of my shoes. We had lots
of laughs, too, about story ideas, the economy, cover
lines, and my shoes. And there was our ongoing competition
to see who could most quickly channel the best song
title to rip off for the zinger headline. (At the
end of the day, we take our role as thought leaders
for the region’s advancement seriously. But,
hey, we’re in the entertainment business too.)
So I’m thinking that I’m definitely steamed
at Gilfoy, and that I didn’t want my first column
to be dashed off mere minutes before deadline. I need
time to think about stuff before I write. I’m
not ready! Even though for weeks now I’ve been
rehearsing in my head how I will be sincere and honest
to Progress readers about how daunting it is to follow
in the footsteps of one of the smartest people I know:
David Holt. The first and only editor this magazine
has ever had, he’s been a mentor who has taught
me a lot about magazine editing, how to avoid the
stultifying effects of deadline anxiety, and how to
have fun. What I was going to say is that I will look
forward to watching as he carves out a new career
for himself as a writer, strategist, and consultant
to smart businesses here in this region and in more
exotic and far-flung locales. Luckily for us, Progress
is his first client.
But it’s publishing, baby, and the show must
go on. So good luck, David. And thank you, Neville.
Once again, you’ve made me do something I thought
I couldn’t do. And to our readers, welcome to
the next stage of Progress.
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