Politico CEO Jim VandeHei is Exiting to Launch a New Venture And Taking Politico's Senior Leadership With Him?

POLITICO CEO JIM VANDEHEI

There are some major changes happening at digital media group Politico. The upper echelon of management at the company are all leaving. CEO Jim VandeHei, CRO Roy Schwartz, COO Kim Kingsley and executive vp of expansion Danielle Jones. Senior editor and author of the super popular "Playbook" email newsletter Mike Allen is also leaving. The takeaway from this is that Vandehei is taking all these folks with him to his new venture. Its kinda like when Jerry Maguire was leaving to launch his own sports agency and asked "Who is with me" and Dorothy Boyd got up packed her things and left with Jerry to his new venture. The only difference is, Vandehei got five Dorothy Boyds to leave with him. Though he says those individuals are going off to find their next adventure, very few see this as a coincidence. Here is his full memo to the staff about his upcoming departure:


A memo from POLITICO CEO Jim VandeHei:

"So now you know the news: I am leaving POLITICO after the election.
The timing is poetic: it will mark my 10th Anniversary, almost to the day. I came in just as the Barack Obama phenomenon exploded in 2006 and plan to depart just after his successor is picked and his presidency concludes.

There are two reasons to do this now.First, I caught the entrepreneurial bug a decade ago when we started this place and can't seem to shake it. There is no greater challenge than trying to match in a new space the magic and success we pulled off here. This moment in media and in history is putting every sector and idea in play - and it is too intriguing and wide open to play it safe. I plan to start a new venture when I depart.

Second, and as important, I can leave now knowing a template for growth has been set, a first-class leadership team assembled and prepared for this transition, and POLITICO is powerful and durable enough to outlast us all. The true measure of business success is building a company that can prosper when the founders go. We stocked the place with talent during the past three years, in anticipation of this moment.

This change will not be abrupt. I will be here until after the election to help with the transition, throwing myself into expanding POLITICO and thinking ambitiously about our newsroom and journalism.

John Harris, who took a risk pairing up with me a decade ago this fall, will help guide the next chapter and carry on the POLITICO torch. It will take a long note at a later date to express my full appreciation for him.

Robert Allbritton, who took his own risk on John and me when we were two Washington Post journalists with a dream, plans to take a more direct role running his company. Robert is a great publisher who pushed all of us to think more ambitiously. He has big ideas for the publication - including a new burst of investment - and will outline them in the months ahead.
One of the coolest parts of my job is working with talented people who always put the company first. Mike Allen, Kim Kingsley, Roy Schwartz and Danielle Jones, all of whom will be seeking their own new adventures this year, personify high-achievement and humility. They inspire and sharpen me - and all of us - everyday.

This is a tough note to write - and perhaps a tough one to read for some of you. POLITICO is the rare company where co-workers feel like family, and working here is a calling. We have visceral feelings because we pour so much of ourselves into it. And we believe powerfully in what we are doing.
You came here because you believed in us and our ideas, and I love that. But you are also here because you are brilliant and motivated and brimming with possibility. It will be fun and satisfying to watch the next generation of leaders soar. Change naturally rattles the mind but it also presents opportunity. Seize it.

Never let that fire in your belly fade. It is why you will succeed, and what distinguishes you. Life is too short not to allow yourself to burn with passion and ambition, even when it stings a bit. So stay restless. We believe more firmly than ever that talented people, with the right work ethic and values, can change the world if they possess the self confidence to try and humility to learn. Greatness, in a business setting, is not one or two people doing the impossible. It's the right group of people with distinct skills coming together at the right time to bring the right idea to life.

Together, we did this. We created one of the most respected and feared brands in journalism - and one of the few with a business model based on real results, not mythology or hope. Our editorial and business formulas, culture and management approach work and scale exceptionally well.

My only regret will be that the so-called "narrative" of our rise features so few characters. John, Robert and I didn't create POLITICO, hundreds of people did: from my wife, Autumn, naming it, to J-mart and Ben Smith defining it, to Fred Ryan steering and hyping it, to Bill Nichols steadying it, to Kim Kingsley promoting and shaping it, to David Rogers and John Bresnahan validating it on Capitol Hill, to Danielle Jones and Miki King bringing heart and order to it, to Carrie Budoff Brown globalizing it, to Mikey promoting all of it, to Roy Schwartz bringing a real business to finance it, to all of you for making a big success of it.

Think about what you have done - and are doing. You created a global brand, showed a profitable way to fund real journalism, changed forever the Washington media landscape, pioneered a new voice and speed for stories, inspired imitation and built a unique culture and high-achieving staff others admire and covet.

And then think about what we have done for other media companies. Ben Smith, one of our originals, built out and now runs Buzzfeed news; Rachel Smolkin built out and now runs CNN Politics; The New York Times political desk is built around POLITICOs Jonathan Martin, Maggie Haberman, Alex Burns; Fred Ryan was poached by the Washington Post to man its turnaround. Everywhere you look, there is a POLITICO past or present, all brought in to provide some of your secret sauce.
We have constantly reloaded and revolutionized, each time emerging better, stronger, more essential. And we will do this again in 2016.

Everyone here works their hearts out. But never, not once, has any of us failed to snap back. We pushed ourselves harder and left everything on the field. Vince Lombardi put it best, "I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious."
That is us: working our hearts out and standing victorious.

After the election, it will be on to the next battle. To all those who followed us here, thank you with all my heart. You are making me a better, more fulfilled person. You changed my life. You changed journalism. It is my prayer that all of us continue that fight for journalism and ideas we believe in - and, in the end, stand proud and victorious in 2016 and beyond.

Thank YOU for POLITICO,

VandeHei"

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