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09/03/2015
Zillow CEO: High-school journalism taught me to run a billion-dollar company
Spencer Rascoff, CEO of Zillow, credits his high school journalism teacher for much of his success.
Fortune Insider is an online community where the biggest names in business and beyond answer timely career and leadership questions. Today’s answer for: Why is it important to have a mentor? is written by Spencer Rascoff, CEO of Zillow Group.
I credit my high school newspaper advisor, Kathy Neumeyer, with not only teaching me journalism, but more importantly, the management skills required to be successful in business. I initially joined the staff of my high school newspaper because my brother had been editor-in-chief a few years earlier. I didn’t know much about journalism — or why I’d want to learn about it — but I knew that I wasn’t going to let my older brother outshine me. So I started out as a reporter, then an editor and eventually became editor-in-chief myself.
Because of the incredible experience that Ms. Neumeyer helped create, I ended up with three journalism internships in college — including my first internship at Bloomberg News followed by others at FOX Broadcasting and NBC News. It’s clear she taught me how to be a journalist and the importance of the media. But what really stuck with me were the underlying skills that it takes to run a business: lead by example, work with intensity, act with integrity and pay attention to detail.
