Transformational Leadership and Trust can Weather any Storm
Photo caption: The Weather Channel team connected app users with donation opportunities to help people in areas affected by Hurricane Ian. Credit: IBM
Storm chasing requires trusted research, a focus on safety and nerves of steel to face fear head on. As a producer with The Weather Channel in 1999, Sheri Bachstein realized while covering a tornado outbreak in Oklahoma just how critical reliable weather information can be to people in the path of a storm. While her passion for serving consumers was cemented early in her career, she never imagined one day she’d be at the helm of a business that 440+ million people[1] have relied on to help them make critical decisions during a storm.
As CEO of IBM’s The Weather Company and Watson Advertising, she isn’t alone in this commitment. Bachstein believes a diverse team with unique perspectives and experiences is required to succeed. She has carefully curated a customer-focused leadership team, placing strong women at chief revenue officer, chief marketing officer, chief technology officer and as product leaders.
“My C-suite alone has a combined 100+ years in this business,” said Bachstein. “But beyond that deep experience, I’ve built a leadership team that leads with their heads and their hearts. Empathy is a critical part of our culture that has helped return double digit year-over-year growth while we remain a top-10 most trusted consumer brand[2].”
Bachstein’s team at The Weather Channel app and weather.com is passionate about the consumer, striving to keep people safe and informed in the face of weather. When storms ravaged the central U.S. in December 2021, her team went to work creating warnings across digital properties, sending over 300 million alerts in four days. But Bachstein said, that’s not enough.
She challenged her team to find ways to give people greater warning and help them better understand when they may be at risk. Less than a year later in September, the team’s efforts were tested when Hurricane Ian devastated western Cuba and the Southeast U.S.
Using its access to leading data and tech – from the National Weather Service and IBM’s own expert meteorologists, AI technology and recognition as the world’s most accurate forecaster overall[3] – the team leveraged its products to provide even more proactive notice and help show consumers their risk level.
“As women leaders, we encourage each other differently, collaborating with enthusiasm and positivity in a way that builds trust across the business,” said Wendy Frazier, chief technology officer. “It creates a
[1] According to internal IBM data, 447 million total monthly active users, July 2022, across The Weather Company digital properties (weather.com, The Weather Channel app, Weather Underground app, wunderground.com, Storm iOS app).
[2] According to Morning Consult, Most Trusted Brands 2022, https://morningconsult.com/most-trusted-brands-2022/.
[3] ForecastWatch, Global and Regional Weather Forecast Accuracy Overview, 2017-2020, https://www.forecastwatch.com/AccuracyOverview2017-2020, commissioned by IBM.
culture of quicker decision-making and deeper innovation, which drives change while centering on the consumer.”
The technology team’s hybrid cloud platform helped make valuable weather data more easily available at scale to millions of people when it mattered. The editorial team utilized the recently launched newsletter to share critical news and information, doubling subscribers in the week Ian made landfall.
During that timeframe, The Weather Channel digital properties saw a +32% lift in visits and sent 630 million alerts in less than a week. The brand also passed 1 million followers on TikTok.
“Mother Nature often brings out the best in human nature. Our audience wants to help during severe weather,” said Randi Stipes, chief marketing officer. “During Ian, we used our megaphone as a leading, trusted brand and collaborated with organizations that share similar values of empathy and humanity.”
The team ran a custom message to donate to the American Red Cross, worked with GoFundMe to surface ways to help those in Florida, and created a “How to help” resource page that reached 60+ million consumers and helped boost donations to the affected area.
“Ian was a stark reminder of the importance of our core mission,” said Julie Saxon, chief revenue officer. “In moments like this, we feel the weight of our responsibility to help keep people safe and informed before, during and after the storm.”
This consumer focus during Ian helped meet business goals as well. On the day Ian made U.S. landfall, The Weather Channel saw its highest programmatic revenue day ever by 25% and an +18% lift in premium subscription sales week-over-week, despite deciding to turn off marketing.
In a business based on the mercurial nature of weather, Bachstein’s leadership proves that consistent trust within a team can foster improved innovation, customer experiences and business results. The Weather Channel team showed up – for each other, for the business and for the millions of people who rely on its digital products.