Michael Lynton '82, MBA '87 (Chairman & CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment)

By D. Dona Le '05

"I don’t write, I don’t paint, and I don’t take photographs,” Michael Lynton (AB ‘82, MBA ‘87) says bluntly, when asked about his creative tendencies.

What does he do?

Mr. Lynton is the Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) and, just last month, was named CEO of Sony Corporation of America. As of June 27, 2012, he will not only be co-chairman of SPE with Amy Pascal, but also oversee Sony Music Entertainment and Sony/ATV Music Publishing. And Mr. Lynton’s professional accomplishments are not limited to film and entertainment. Before joining Sony Corporation in 2004, he was the President of AOL International and the CEO of the Penguin Group.

While his resume is certainly formidable, Mr. Lynton himself is extraordinarily modest about his achievements.

"I never had a plan for my career. I always simply tackled those things that looked interesting to me, and then, inevitably, when they weren't interesting any longer, another opportunity came along and presented itself. Sometimes the opportunities weren't that obvious, and other times, they were more obvious; but it was never with a plan in mind.”

As an undergraduate at Harvard, he found the most interesting concentration to be History and Literature.

"I thought the way that Harvard had them relate to one another made a lot of sense. I had a particular interest in late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century American and English history and literature, and so this concentration allowed me to focus on both.”

After graduating in 1982, like many of his peers, Mr. Lynton decided to work in investment banking and took a position at First Boston (now Credit Suisse First Boston). "That was the one decision I made that I wasn't being very thoughtful about.”

He was based in First Boston’s New York office but wanted to relocate, so the company loaned him to an Australian mining company in Melbourne for one year. Then, Mr. Lynton moved to First Boston’s London office to assist in the company’s venture with Credit Suisse.

Ultimately, investing banking was not Mr. Lynton’s passion. "I tended to deal with lots of smart people in senior positions, but I didn't care for the fact that you weren't a decision maker. You were mostly just working in an advisory capacity, not somebody who had to live with the consequences of their decisions. So I wanted to get out of investment banking and consulting, and get into operations.”

Mr. Lynton returned to the United States to attend Harvard Business School, somewhat reluctantly, with his sister. "The first year [of HBS] was very fruitful and interesting, particularly the first six to seven months,” he says, but he doesn’t believe that one must attend business school to do what he does now.

Then, Mr. Lynton was recruited by The Walt Disney Company to handle the business development of its consumer products. At that time, Stephen Burke—now CEO and President of NBC Universal—was establishing The Disney Stores. So Mr. Lynton helped to found Disney’s publishing division, Hyperion, where he collaborated with such industry giants as publisher Bob Miller and John Skipper (now President of ESPN, Inc.).

Several years later, he became president of Hollywood Pictures, another Disney division known for such films as THE ROCK, QUIZ SHOW, and CRIMSON TIDE. However, Mr. Lynton’s experience in finance and publishing did not necessarily make the transition to Hollywood seamless.

"It wasn't the greatest of experiences for a lot of different reasons,” Mr. Lynton reveals. "Disney was in turmoil, and I didn't know much about the movie business, so to be thrown in to run a production label is probably one of the most difficult things to do, even if you do know what you're doing. I would count it as not a success; as much as I enjoyed some of it and I certainly learned a lot, I’ve learned more from failure than from success.”

So in 1996, Mr. Lynton left Hollywood to become the Chairman and CEO of Pearson PLC’s Penguin Group, the second-largest publisher of English language books. Under his direction, Penguin acquired and integrated Putnam Inc.; he also expanded Penguin’s global publishing operations.

"Running Penguin was the first job I had that was really a pure management job; we had a lot of employees, both on the editorial side and on the sales side, operations, warehousing, so it was really a big business to run. It was also an international business—Canada, India, London, New York City.”

In some ways, Mr. Lynton notes, there are parallels between the publishing and entertainment industries.

"You’re doing so in different ways, but you’re definitely managing a creative process. The part of the [film] business that is similar [to the publishing industry] is the DVD business, dealing with inventory and whatnot.”

The differences, however, are huge.

"The money is much greater and everything moves much more quickly [in entertainment],” Mr. Lynton explains. "The involvement you need from actual folks on the corporate side is greater. A book is written by an author, who has a one-to-one relationship with an editor; not many people at the company are involved with the actual book. This is very different from a studio’s involvement with a movie or television show.

"The movie and television business tends to be a lot more conventional in the way they tell stories than the book business. It’s much more a mass audience business because movies and shows have to be marketed; you don’t do much marketing in the book business, but you do a lot in both TV and film. Those marketing methods respond much better to traditional story structure than the non-traditional structure.

"And technology plays a much greater role in entertainment than any other media business. Film and television have been affected by technology, over and over again, and we’re now in the middle of it again.”

Mr. Lynton is more knowledgeable than most about the impacts of technology on the entertainment industry. After four years with Penguin, he became the CEO of AOL Europe and the President of AOL International and Time Warner International, during an era when Internet usage was exploding across the globe.

Several years ago, he was an outspoken critic of online piracy, although the situation has changed.

"Now, for the first time, we’re seeing models that allow people to pay for the content that they’re viewing, which wasn’t the case in 2009, so that’s a good thing. There's a viable alternative to piracy.”

More importantly, in his current position, Mr. Lynton is harnessing technology to ensure the growth of Sony’s operations worldwide. Part of his responsibilities includes the global production and distribution of Sony’s films, television programs, and digital content. He points out that rapidly growing movie markets are found in Brazil, South Korea, and Russia, while the television industry is expanding significantly in Latin America and India.

Thus, utilizing technology effectively has been crucial to Mr. Lynton’s demonstrated success at SPE—success that no doubt contributed to his recent promotion, which will unify Sony’s entertainment and music divisions under his sole direction.

"I think that the Internet has become a much more sophisticated place for marketing our products than was the case in the past. You have all these devices—tablets and phones—that are connected, people are watching movies and TV shows on a huge variety of devices. Staying on top of this technology change is obviously a constant challenge because whether it’s in the production of our content or in the distribution of our content, all of this is changing every day. If you don’t stay on top of it, then there are losses.”

Mr. Lynton’s effective leadership is also rooted in his care and genuine appreciation for his co-chairman, Amy Pascal, his colleagues, and their team at SPE.

"My partnership with Amy is a hugely satisfying component of my job. A lot of our job is making certain that we have the right people in the right jobs, and that they are motivated, that they feel that their jobs are rewarding, and that they have the resources necessary to do what they need to do.”

His influence and community involvement extend far beyond Sony Pictures and Hollywood as well. Since 2007, Mr. Lynton has helped to compile Newsweek’s annual list of the "50 Most Influential Rabbis in America.” In addition to being a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Mr. Lynton serves on the boards of the L.A. World Affairs Council and the Rand Corporation, and in 2009, President Obama nominated him to the Broadcasting Board of Governors.

Meanwhile, Mr. Lynton also makes time to engage with the Harvard alumni community. He interviews applicants to Harvard yearly and is co-chair of his class’s 30th Harvard College Class Reunion Gift Committee. This year, the Harvard Club of Southern California awarded him the John Harvard Award for Outstanding Community Service.

Mr. Lynton is currently a candidate for the Harvard Alumni Association’s Board of Overseers, with elections taking place in May 2012 (ballots must be received by May 18, 2012).

Raised in the Netherlands, Mr. Lynton is fluent in English, French, German, and Dutch; but despite this international background, he considers the American education system to be superior to that of Europe.

"I think when it works—and there are huge problems, particularly in the U.S. public school system—but when it works, I think it is vastly superior on two levels. First, generally, an American spirit of giving back is demonstrated in all aspects of American society, but also in the schools. The other aspect—and you see it in everything going on, whether in Silicon Valley or down here in Hollywood—is this hugely entrepreneurial spirit, this spirit of innovation and creativity that is not as prevalent in other education systems.”

Mr. Lynton places particular value on a liberal arts education. "It’s helpful in almost everything that you do. Whether somebody is in the sciences, finance, in any area, a liberal arts education definitely broadens your perspective on things; it’s hugely helpful and valuable from a professional standpoint.”

It is particularly valuable to Mr. Lynton in his profession. "The movie business comes down to storytelling and having a narrative. The more stories you've read, the more you know about history, the more you understand about science, the better the perspective you're going to bring to making movies and TV shows. The other stuff can be learned on the job.”

Although Mr. Lynton himself may not paint, take photographs, or write, he has strengthened and expanded a creativity-based business in a cutthroat creative industry during a particularly challenging era of technology with that willingness to learn on the job.

"I sit a lot with Amy and with other folks at the studio, and you definitely have to have a grasp on what's going on creatively in the business to make sure everything is running successfully. You have to be able to look at something and determine whether that's commercial or not commercial, good or not good, works or doesn't work.”

"Oftentimes I can’t,” Mr. Lynton admits, "but to the degree that I can, I can because I watch a lot of television and I watch a lot of movies and I like them both. You develop tastes and perspectives, and they don’t necessarily have to do with the job. Although you are informed a lot by the marketplace, after you market enough movies and shows, you tend to know what works, what doesn't, and you get surprised. The surprise is what makes the job fun.”

As long as Mr. Lynton’s job is fun for him, then Sony Pictures—and soon, Sony Music too—will continue to deliver entertaining, innovative content that engages audiences around the world through a multitude of digital media outlets.