Non-Executive Chairman, Wiley John Sons -cl A
Search every verified Jesse Wiley interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. In a 2011 podcast, Jesse Wiley, a member of the seventh generation of the Wiley family working for the company, discussed how John Wiley & Sons was adapting to the digital transition. Wiley stated that the company was balancing its print success with investment in new digital businesses, emphasizing the importance of timing in deciding when to shift resources. He noted that the company was "continually reorganizing our people and our businesses to adjust to the markets," adding that "things are changing so fast you can't just expect what worked even a year ago to work tomorrow." Wiley also addressed the company's approach to innovation, stating that "learning to fail is not always an established concept in publishing" but that in the technology world, innovation is built on pilots, testing, and learning from both successes and failures. He discussed the value of self-publishing, saying it has given publishers "a way to reestablish our value proposition" through curation and editorial knowledge. On scalability, Wiley noted that the company was thinking about "digital first" and creating content in a different way upfront to publish across multiple formats.
“The print success is funding the new business so it's kind of a balance and a lot of it I think has to do with balance and timing — when do you make that shift exactly, when do you kind of give up on this type of product and invest in that kind of product?”
“We're continually reorganizing our people and our businesses to adjust to the markets which I think is essential. Things are changing so fast you can't just expect what worked even a year ago to work tomorrow.”
“Learning to fail is not always an established concept in publishing but in the technology world, innovation is built on doing pilots, testing, learning to fail, expecting to fail and learning from both the successes and the failures.”
“It's essential to start developing ways to get close to your customers and get that feedback loop going and kind of develop those relationships because that's what's going to keep us going forward.”
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is one of the most highly respected businesses in the publishing industry. All those years of experience ...
Sign in to search the full transcript archive, filter by topic, and access every quote from Jesse Wiley.