Publishing Magnate Pat McGovern

The founder of $300-million IDG Communications reveals how he 'grew up' as a CEO. 'In the early days, I was a doer,' says Pat McGovern. 'Now, I try to stay out of operations as much as possible.'

Patrick McGovern, like most people, finds it hard to be everywhere at once. Unlike most people, however, he tries. Round and round the globe he goes, visiting the 65 quasi-autonomous units of a publishing empire, International Data Group (IDG), that at last count included 100 publications in 36 countries with a total of 2.8 million subscribers. And where he cannot be, one division has made up for his absence by fabricating a life-size papier-mâché doll of the man, just for reassurance.

In the field of information services for information technology, Pat McGovern's IDG is the dominant player worldwide. Beginning with Computerworld, a 130,000-subscriber weekly that he began publishing at the outset of the computer revolution in 1967, McGovern went on to found one highly targeted publication after another, some focused on a product line (PC World, Macworld, CD-ROM Review), others on a specialized occupation (Distributique, for French computer distributors and retailers). In the process, IDG has greatly affected the direction and quality of developments in information-handling technology. Microsoft's William Gates says, "A lot of the time, [his magazines] have very powerful influences on the success of a product.'

His empire has made McGovern a very rich man (Forbes counts his personal wealth at around $325 million), but it has not made him an emperor. With a corporate headquarters staff of about 15, McGovern gives his 65 far-flung business units an extraordinary degree of freedom and responsibility. His primary control is financial: his headquarters works as an investment bank, putting money into each unit's worthwhile ventures, denying or withdrawing it from ones that are not worthwhile, while McGovern cruises from office to office like a cheery potentate on a magic carpet, bringing enthusiasm and bonuses wherever he goes.

Clearly, things are more complicated than that. They always are with success stories. To find out more, INC. senior editors Curtis Hartman and Michael Hopkins went to McGovern's Hillsborough, Calif., home to interview him. The house, incidentally, is one he shares with his second wife, Lore Harp, whom he first noticed when her picture appeared on the cover of INC. in March 1981.

INC.: You started from scratch in the 1960s. Now, you head a $300-million company. How has your role changed?

McGOVERN: I'm not sure it has; it's the proportion of time I spend on different parts of it that has changed. I always felt that my role was to acquire a sense of the evolution of information-handling technology, how people might benefit from knowing about this technology, and to discover market opportunities in the communication of that knowledge.

INC.: So your main task is to chart IDG's future. Still, you've got to run your company differently today than when it was a start-up.

McGOVERN: Well, yes. In the early days, I was very much a doer. Now, I try to stay out of operations as much as possible.

INC.: When did you put aside those "doer" hats? In the early 1970s, when you began to launch more magazines?

McGOVERN: I guess it was probably about 1973 to '74. We were maybe a $10-million to $15-million company then, and I still wanted to be involved in everything. But people started to complain about how they couldn't move fast enough on such and such a decision because I'd want to have a say in it, and this wasn't possible because I was spending more time outside the United States, globalizing the company.

My thinking probably went something like this in those days: "Gee, my input is essential here. I've been at it longer and have more contacts, so my wisdom is obviously crucial to our success." But then I thought: "Now isn't this strange. There are probably, in the information business alone, thousands of very successful companies that seem to develop and prosper without a single word of advice or help from me. Perhaps I should go ahead and trust people, and if I've made the right initial decision about them, and if I've had the right concept of the market, then everything should go well." So I began to think of myself as an investor within my own company. I'd say: "Here's a healthy business, here's good management, I think I'll make an investment commitment.'

INC.: A great many entrepreneurs don't give up control so easily.

McGOVERN: Well, I noticed that people tended to behave the way I expected them to behave. If I took a manager aside and said, "I can tell by talking to you that you have just the right skills and qualities to do well in this business; you don't need any help from me, you can do it all yourself," 99 times out of a hundred, that's what happened.

But if I took the person aside and said, "Look, this project is so complicated, I want a report from you every two weeks and a meeting every month so I know that you're up to the job," somehow or other he always got the message that I was a little nervous about his abilities. I showed a little self-doubt. And the self-doubt showed up in less confident behavior, in less crisp decision making, which showed up in low morale in the organization, which showed up in poorer results. And so forth. In other words, the more confidence I had in people, the more they validated that confidence.

INC.: But surely there's always a risk involved in trusting people. How did you cope with that?

McGOVERN: Diversification. As I started to organize entrepreneurial units in which I could give a lot of autonomy to the people involved, I pretty quickly had enough business units so I wasn't turning over my entire business fortune to one person. Right now, we have 65 separate corporations, each with its own president and leaders. As an investor, I can say that I've put some venture capital into 65 different companies. Of course, we try to add value to each of those companies through shared skills, shared resources, shared cultures, shared success. If one of them goes, or 10 of them, it will be uncomfortable, but we'll survive.