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5 Key Takeaways from Our Enduring Excellence Conversation with Steve Swartz

Steve Swartz shares lessons on stewardship, mission-driven business, and building a company that endures across generations.

We were honored to continue our Enduring Excellence series with Steve Swartz, President and CEO of Hearst, one of the largest privately held companies in the world. From his early days as a young reporter at the Wall Street Journal to leading a 139-year-old media company, Steve shared insights on what it takes to build a business that lasts and a career that grows alongside it.

Drawing from his remarkable journey across journalism and business, here are five takeaways from our conversation.

1. Endurance Requires Constant Reinvention

Steve shared that Hearst, as a company that has lasted nearly 140 years, refuses to stand still. The company began in 1887 as a single San Francisco newspaper and now spans television stations, magazines, healthcare data, transportation software, and Fitch Ratings. “We don’t give up on anything we’re good at,” Steve said, reflecting on the philosophy passed down from founder William Randolph Hearst. “We try things. If we’re good at it, we stick with it… But constantly look to take your skills to adjacent areas of faster growth.”

That mindset is why Hearst still publishes newspapers and magazines even as the industry has contracted, while also building a B2B portfolio that now generates 60 percent of its profits. For Steve, enduring excellence comes from continuously reimagining what a company does without losing sight of who it is.

2. A Fortress Balance Sheet Protects the Mission

Throughout the conversation, Steve returned to the idea that financial discipline is what makes mission-driven leadership possible. Hearst has completed about $19 billion in acquisitions over the last fifteen years while carrying no net debt. That foundation gave the company room to make decisions other businesses could not. During the pandemic, Hearst committed to no layoffs because most American workers receive health insurance through their employers. “We had businesses that lost money during the pandemic, but we were able to say no,” he recalled.

The lesson is that values and balance sheets are deeply connected. Without a strong financial foundation, even the best intentions become difficult to sustain. With one, a company can absorb shocks, support its people, and keep investing through hard times.

3. Trust Is the Common Thread Across Every Business

Hearst’s businesses look very different on the surface, but Steve explained that they share a single foundation. Whether a reader is opening the San Francisco Chronicle, an analyst is consulting a Fitch rating, or a hospital is relying on its medical data software, the value of the product depends entirely on whether people believe it. “You inherited this brand from others who came before you, who built it,” Steve said. “Don’t screw it up.”

That principle shapes how he thinks about new challenges, including generative AI. Steve sees real opportunity in using AI to make Hearst’s analysts faster and its products better. He also believes the businesses that will thrive in this new environment are the ones with a long record of accurate, time-tested information. Trust, once earned, becomes the company’s most valuable asset.

4. Move Toward Leadership Early, Not Late

Steve was candid that his path was more intentional than accidental. He knew early in his career that he wanted to be a publisher and he made choices that pointed him in that direction. After becoming a page-one editor at the Wall Street Journal at twenty-seven, he left to launch SmartMoney magazine, a joint venture between Hearst and Dow Jones. His mentors told him that if he wanted to be a business leader, he needed to start building those skills early.

His advice to anyone considering a similar pivot is simple. “If one wants to go from being a journalist to a business leader, or from being a journalist to anything that takes a lot of learning, one has to move over early,” he said. Waiting until late in a career to make a major shift, in his view, makes the transition much harder. Excellence at a new craft takes years of practice, and the earlier you begin, the more room you have to grow.

5. Business Leaders Have a Responsibility to Strengthen Their Communities

When asked about his roles as chair of Lincoln Center, vice chair of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, and former chair of the Associated Press, Steve framed civic involvement as a core responsibility of any large company. “Large companies inherently have resources to try to play a helpful role in the communities that they live and work,” he said. He credits this view to his predecessors at Hearst, who modeled long-term investment in the cities where the company operates.

For Steve, staying engaged with civic and cultural institutions is part of what allows a business to endure. Cities thrive when business leaders commit to them rather than walk away when conditions get difficult. That kind of partnership between business and community is, in his view, one of the quiet forces that keeps both healthy over time.

Continuing the Conversation

Steve Swartz’s reflections show us that enduring excellence is built through patience, discipline, and a clear sense of mission. His leadership at Hearst proves that a company can grow across generations and still stay true to the values that built it. Watch the full conversation to hear more of Steve’s insights on leadership.

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Enduring Excellence

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