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More, Better, Faster at Bloomberg News

Mike Bloomberg hired Matt Winkler in 1990 for the vertiginous challenge of building a news organization from scratch to compete with Dow Jones and Thomson Reuters.

One way Matt focused reporters and inspired people was through the endless repetition of short aphorisms. He mentioned them in speeches and used them to sign off on emails or memos.

A missive from Matt would end: “More, Better, Faster” or “The Best is Yet to Come.”

I didn’t reflect much on the practice at the time because I was so young. I was the 15th editorial person Matt hired for Bloomberg News in November 1990. It was my first real job.

But three decades later, I can see how the slogans cemented the group’s DNA.

Any of the thousands of reporters and editors who spent time at Bloomberg News during Matt’s near 25-year reign will remember some or all of the dozens of maxims he espoused.

Some will recall the aphorisms as hokey. But most would agree that they were effective.

It’s hard to build culture and establish best practices. It can’t be accomplished with too much nuance. But done right, the payoff can be huge in terms of creating a winning team.

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast,” as Peter Drucker famously said.

The most effective management aphorisms are true and timeless and idiosyncratic.

Below I collected some of Matt’s more memorable lines, along with my interpretation.

The Best is Yet to Come:
An expression of hope and optimism essential to get through rough patches.

More, Better, Faster: 
A succinct message of what it takes for a digital news organization to succeed. Write more content. Be fast and improve the quality. Do that and no one can touch you. Fail and you are vulnerable.

News You Can Use:
Write stories that have utility to your audience. People pay for content they can act on.

Names Make News:
People like to read about people. They connect to stories by reading about protagonists.

Writing Well Matters:
An important reminder to wire service reporters who tend to emphasize speed. Well written stories are more influential and capture larger audiences.

Seize the Day:
A reminder that everything worthwhile takes effort.

The Definition of News is Surprise:
Write stories that people don’t expect. 

Ignorance and Arrogance is a Deadly Combination:
Don’t make assumptions. Report the story to get all the information.

It Isn’t News, if it isn’t True:
Accuracy is more important than speed.

You are Never Tired on the Day of Victory:
A personal favorite having pulled a number of all-nighters myself. It captures an essential truth about competition.

(Part of a series of management lessons learned from three decades at Bloomberg)