Nielsen’s Laura Nelson Wants Women to Take Control of Their Careers

Nelson grew up to be Chief Communications Officer at Nielsen a post she39s held for the last five years amp160Those five years have seen a sea change in the TV measurement business and in how women are treated in the workplaceNelson got her professional start in TV doing comms at Comedy Central back when it was owned by both Viacom and HBO and she recalls quotdefinitely needing a thick skin in some of those writers39 roomsquot amp160But overall she said leadership was supportive and fairly genderblindamp160 amp160After leaving Comedy Central for a position at Oxygen Media though Nelson got a peek at what it looks like when women run the show amp160quotThat was when I was having my first childquot she recalled quotand it was an incredibly warm and welcoming place to be a mother for the first time amp160There was a line backed up for the mothers39 room around pumping timequotThis was all preMeToo amp160Now amp160quotI think there39s a cultural shift that needs to happen everywhere no matter how supportive your individual boss isquot she said amp160quotI39ve seen it all some of it has happened to me and I think the more pervasive problem is less sexual harassment and more dismissing women talking over them not allowing their voice to be heardquotAs companies begin to realize exactly how pervasive their gender imbalances are and how bad for business that is Nelson has been pleased to see how many of her male colleagues have come to her asking questions about it all amp160quotI think most men are curious if they39re part of the problemquot she suggestedFor Nelson codes of conduct are as simple as a meme amp160Literally amp160quotI saw this incredible meme about Dwayne 39The Rock39 Johnsonamp160 Would you say that to The Rock amp160Would you approach The Rock that way amp160Treat all women as you would treat The Rockquot she explainedquotThe great thing about the media business is that itamp8217s really welcoming of womenquot she added amp160Nelson serves as the Global Leadership sponsor for the Women in Nielsen Employee Resource Group advising women to take control of their individual careers and if they feel they39re in a work situation they need to leave to leave but to make sure to talk about the issue in their exit interview in the hope that the company will address it in the futureamp160 Itamp8217s a variation on the quotleave your campsite better than you found itquot approach to life amp160quotWhether it39s gender inequality or a pay gap you own your own career amp160I tell women 39Everything is a data point39quot Nelson saidAnd nowhere else in TV is data quite as important as at Nielsen the thirdparty ratings measurer for just about every network that matters amp160Nielsen has occasionally served as the TV industry39s whipping boy or as Nelson likes to put it sometimes the players in the TV game take out their frustrations on the referee amp160quotAs viewing proliferates across various matrices and platforms the ability to count it all in a way that39s representative of the entire US population is more and more importantamp8221 she assertedamp160 amp8220We are focused on metrics to monetizequotBut even with as lengthy a background in communications as Nelson39s it can take a Herculean amount of time and effort to properly explain how she does just that amp160quotIn some cases we39re talking about really deep technology or data science so we need to do deep education that doesn39t just sound like buzzwordsquot she saidHer team she added has certainly risen to the challengeamp160 quotAs the brilliant Megan Clarken Chief Commercial Officer likes to say amp8216Measurement is a team sportamp8217amp8221 Nelson noted amp160quotWe all have to lock arms if we39re really going to understand our viewers and consumers going forwardquotNelson wanted to be near the news cycle without being governed by it amp160quotThe ultimate joke is that I39m totally governed by the news cyclequot she laughedClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writersamp160

APPLY FOR JOBS | SUBMIT YOUR RESUME | REGISTER FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT

Nielsen’s Laura Nelson Wants Women to Take Control of Their Careers

Author

Publish date

Channel

Archived in

Oriana Schwindt

APPLY FOR JOBS | SUBMIT YOUR RESUME | REGISTER FOR FREE MEDIAVILLAGE CONTENT

Nielsen’s Laura Nelson Wants Women to Take Control of Their Careers

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

Oriana Schwindt

Cookies