"Playing GAA taught me we're all custodians keeping the jersey warm for future generations"
Michael 'Mikie' Sheehan, MD of the Irish Examiner and The Echo and CFO of The Irish Times Group. Photo: Moya Nolan
DELOITTE LEADERSHIP SERIES: MICHAEL SHEEHAN, MD OF THE IRISH EXAMINER GROUP AND CFO OF THE IRISH TIMES GROUP
Childhood summers on the family farm in Glanworth remain vivid memories for Michael (Mikie) Sheehan, even across an interlude of 20 years.
In common with all occupations connected to the land, it was a bucolic life dictated more by the ever-changing demands of the soil rather than those of the clock.
"Back in those teenage years, I was always amazed how my Dad could go to work 7am to 7pm, seven days a week throughout the year. It was only later in life when I realised it wasn’t really a job to him but his hobby, and he was earning a living out of something he truly loved."
It was a realisation that stuck right through his school years, eventually contributing to his own chosen career path: "Something just clicked in my Leaving Cert year when the numbers started to make more sense, especially the thrill when a balance sheet actually balanced!"
It was a career clarity that found further substance during the years of a Bachelor's of Accounting degree at University College Cork (UCC), followed by early steps in the corporate world as an Audit trainee at Deloitte.
As the partner in charge of Deloitte’s Cork office, advising clients in a variety of industries, Honor asked Michael how important that early audit experience was to his future career.
“It gave me a grounding that has stayed with me all along my career path, the skills to understand processes, controls, numbers, debits, credits and investments, as well as the friendships and experience that came with working in a major firm.”
Absorbing knowledge at the elbow of veterans and acquiring know-how through the mentoring atmosphere of office environments is an essential onward step from the academic lecture hall to the boardroom, he believes.
"Learning from your peers, managers or whomever in the office is really where you want to be — and it's not just the 9-to-5 part of the day — it's going for breakfast, lunch or dinner and those opportunities to pick up so much from around the table conversations. Outside of the actual work, there's a huge amount to be got out of those training contracts."
Nowadays on the other end of the graduate contract spectrum, Michael looks for budding talent not just in exam results but also in those less obvious qualities that can distinguish between applicants: "I always want them to acknowledge that they will make mistakes and that they can't do everything — it's attitude more than aptitude I'd be looking for and I want them to have that confidence to make those mistakes and learn from it."
Following five years with Deloitte, Michael joined Landmark Media group in 2013, owner of the Irish Examiner and The Echo publications in addition to a number of regional and radio titles.
Honor wondered how challenging it was for Michael to leave his established position at Deloitte for a new industry as Ireland slowly emerged from recession.
"I went over for a number of months in advance of the restructuring in 2013. I liked the industry, and it was a move of not being pigeon-holed into one area of finance, as might be the case in some larger organisations, but very much a place where my experience in corporate finance and audit made me a good fit for the task at hand."
Following the restructuring of the former Thomas Crosbie Holdings Group in March 2013, the months and years ahead proved challenging from initially dealing with disgruntled suppliers and customers to initiating a new content management system, centralising the finance function for the Group and maintaining a resolute transparency across a challenged business.
"Given the challenges for our industry and our Group, in the five years that followed, the bank was watching everything that we did. We introduced structured monthly and quarterly reporting to meet all our requirements."
It was a period of continual challenge — dark and difficult days with redundancies and cutbacks an unpalatable reality as part of the next chapter in the Group.
"It brought up much of what I had learned at college and at Deloitte — that it was just business and anything personal had to be left outside the door. Overall, it was a coalface where I learned about how and when required decisions have to be made."
The final weeks of 2017 witnessed the Irish Times acquiring all of the publishing and media interests of Landmark Media Group to create a dynamic business whose combined scale provided opportunities for consolidation, securing existing revenues and grow a new digital readership.
It was now a different challenge for Michael Sheehan which reaffirmed his passion for the industry - a place where he, perhaps like his father, found an occupation he loved.
"When I came into the industry first in 2013 it was initially just a job for me - but once I fully understood the importance that trusted media played in society, and the importance of it in holding people to account it became very clear that these principles were aligned to my own values. To this day those principles sticks with me — doing a job I enjoy, in an industry that is ever-evolving and changing."
Honor suggested that the synergies of the Irish Times combined with the media stable led by the Irish Examiner presented a combining of cultures within an industry quickly adapting in a new age.
"Absolutely,” he agreed. “In the early stages following the acquisition there was some low hanging fruit like centralising the distribution network, moving The Echo to a morning publication, further centralisation of group functions as well as some early technological wins. And even with the differing ethos & cultures in both organisations the overlapping principles we all worked towards were very similar."
After many years almost exclusively geared toward holding the cost maintenance line, the Irish Examiner now encountered more stable existence allied to a mindset shift that is ongoing to this day.
"I'm with the company almost ten years now and am delighted to be playing a part in its progress. We are now in a place where it's about 'think big, go big' toward the challenges and opportunities that are out there today."
After a dark period less than a decade ago when the business was faced with some stark options, the scenario in 2022 stands in stark optimistic contrast: "The Irish Examiner was 180 years old last year and The Echo will be 130 this June, and it is a measure of how far we have come that we are now having briefings with staff on 'how will we hit the next milestones'.
"A remarkable change in such a short time. Across the wider Group, we are all just custodians keeping the jersey warm for future generations, and this is forefront in my mind. "
The brave new world of news is as complex as it is competitive - a domain where attention spans turn on the proverbial sixpence. Tapping into tomorrow morning's 'water cooler moment' is a contest with TikTok and its minions. A world where technologies like artificial intelligence will play growing roles.
"It is not about getting readers at all costs and carrying the same stories as everybody else. Value is the name of the game today not only in our research, investigative work, long-reads, and feet on the ground reporting but now also in podcasts, streaming, video and other new and emerging formats. It is about connecting with the reader and their concern around 'what does that mean for me?' and answering it truthfully."
Honor recalled that Michael’s time with Deloitte defined him clearly as ‘a glass half full’ person — someone always looking for the upside of any situation.
"I'm a positive person — it's always sunny side up which I think is so important when leading change, which is not always easy but sometimes very necessary. My early years at Deloitte, the great mentors I have had as well as my many great years playing GAA with Glanworth have taught me a variety of things, many of which remain part of how I operate today.”
That old Chinese proverb — 'may you live in interesting times' — surely applies with feeling over the last decade in the career of Michael Sheehan. Yet, through the challenges of redundancies and restructuring, that passion for his chosen industry remains undimmed.
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