Susan Lyne: Getting Fired Leads To Greater Success

Susan Lyne got fired as President of ABC Entertainment in 2004. It came as a shocker to her as she felt her work was only getting started after just one season with ABC.  The company then was under a lot of pressure so some people had to get the axe.  Although fired from her position, she was actually allowed to stay with the company but decided to go. Ye the shows she had picked like Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy turned out to be such big hits.

 For someone whose life had been defined by achievements getting the boot was totally unexpected. While working at the New Times (a news biweekly which eventually closed) she got a huge scoop interviewing members of the Symbionese Liberation Army. Some details of the interview helped land heiress Patricia Hearst in jail.

Then Lyne took a job as managing editor of the Village Voice. Her next job was for a film company owned by Jane Fonda. She then convinced Rupert Murdoch to put up a magazine which would look at the film business and not just the movie stars. The magazine Premiere was launched in 1987 and sold out its first publication in two weeks.

Her success led her to a job at Walt Disney Studios and after excellent work there got a promotion as president of ABC Entertainment. Then she got fired.

For a talented person like her with a positive disposition, it wasn’t long that new opportunities would arise. She joined the board of Martha Steward Living Omnimedia (MSLO). Then Steward went to jail and the CEO was removed.  Over other job offerings, she took the CEO position. This must have been one of the most challenging jobs anywhere available at that time since the company was going into a downward trend with the founder’s imprison. Lyne turned the company around.

She had her only personal challenge when her husband was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and died less than a year later in 2006. After leaving MSLO in 2008, Lyne embarked on a new career as CEO of Gilt Groupe a startup online flash sales internet company.  By 2010 she led Gilt to $400 million with 500 employees.  She now serves as chairperson.

Lyne has always been involved with something of significance.