When NBC News Group Chairman Cesar Conde talks about the future of his business, he invariably comes back to the word omnichannel, the sort of corporate jargon that distinguishes him, a Harvard-and-Wharton-trained operator, from his predecessors, like Steve Capus and Neal Shapiro and Andy Lack, all of whom identified as journalists or at least media executives with journalistic chops. Conde, for his part, leans into his McKinsey pedigree: he sits on blue chip corporate boards (Walmart, Pepsi, etcetera), talks like a C.E.O., and seems to view himself as an executive in charge during transformational times, when big decisions need to be made. 

Conde’s views on that future also reflect certain undeniable secular trends—the inexorable decline of linear television, the rise of digital subscription businesses, the leveraging of brand loyalty—among others. In private conversation, Conde can humbly acknowledge that NBC News, despite its history and massive infrastructure, isn’t immune to these changes. In fact, those attributes make it vulnerable.