In her 40-plus-year career, Westport resident Bonnie Hammer has taken the television industry by storm. Her robust business acumen and persistent creativity have landed her positions such as Chairman of the Universal Studio Group, where she united NBCUniversal’s three powerhouse studios—Universal Television, Universal Content Productions, and NBCUniversal International Studios—under one umbrella. She also served as Chair, Direct-to-Consumer and Digital Enterprises, directing the formation of Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming platform. Prior to these illustrious titles, Bonnie was Chair, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment, heading cable brands USA Network, SYFY, Bravo, Oxygen, E! Entertainment and Universal Kids. Under her governance, the cable networks grew exponentially, both domestically and internationally.
Currently, as Vice Chair at NBCUniversal, Bonnie’s professional prowess is stronger than ever. So is her dedication to social responsibility, which has spanned four decades of leadership. But Bonnie is much more than a TV exec. She’s an accomplished photographer whose work has been displayed in galleries and in Time magazine and The Boston Globe. Most recently, she’s added author to her extraordinary résumé,
with her debut book: 15 Lies Women Are Told at Work…and The Truth We Need to Succeed. We sat down with Bonnie to benefit from the breadth of her exceptional wisdom.
What inspired you to write a book?
Looking back on my career, it’s clear I wouldn’t be where I am today without the many mentors I’ve had along the way. (Yes, they were almost all men-tors.) That’s why I’ve spent decades trying to pay forward what I’ve learned—from them and from my own experiences—as a mentor to women in my industry. Over time, I’ve come to understand the many misconceptions we have about work, the mistakes that hold us back, and the kind of mentorship we need to succeed. Now, I’d love to share my insights with every woman—and person—looking to get ahead. But there’s not enough time in the world to mentor them all. I hope this book can help me do the job: to advise, push back, challenge, and ultimately inspire working women.
How did you arrive at the concept?
The idea came to me when I was on a roller coaster at a company-wide management meeting at Universal Studios in Orlando. While upside down, it hit me that I was one of the only women on the ride. It didn’t take long for me to realize why. There’s a mistaken belief that women, especially, shouldn’t mix work and play—that we should never let our hair down if we want to be taken seriously. But it’s hardly the only misconception plaguing working women. And once I started thinking about the others, I couldn’t stop.
You’ve had a wildly successful career in television, how was writing a book different?
Writing this book was a sobering experience. It’s a solo process—so there’s no writers’ room, conference calls or board meetings to help get your words on the page. Like TV, though, good storytelling is good storytelling. And there are communal aspects to the publishing industry, too. If it takes a village to make a TV show, then it takes multiple villages—from copy editors to cover artists to publicists to publishers—to get a book
on shelves. I’ve always respected authors, but I have a newfound awe for them after spending well over two years doing my best to become one.
One of the chapters in your book is titled Know Your Worth. Do you feel this is harder for women than men?
As women advance in the workplace, I think we tend to underestimate our value while men, at every stage, frankly overestimate theirs. But this chapter is about something else entirely: the fact that too many people, especially younger generations, conflate their personal worth with professional worth. They show up to entry-level jobs convinced they deserve better pay, fewer hours, and more exciting assignments. At work, though, your value isn’t intrinsic. You have to prove yourself—by showing up early, staying late if needed, saying yes to every opportunity and staying positive through it all.
There’s also a chapter titled You Can Have it All. How have you been able to strike that balance through the years?
I’m so fortunate to have a great marriage, great kids, and a great job—but as I write in the book, the only time I’ve ever “had it all” was in hindsight. At the office, I’ve felt like I was cheating on my husband and kids. At home or on vacation, I’ve felt like I was cheating on my colleagues. Even now, while doing this interview, I feel like I’m cheating on my dogs. My balancing act was just that: an act. And if it was convincing, that’s only because I’ve spent most of my career around actors and learned from the best. But what sets my generation apart from my mother’s and grandmother’s is that we have so much more agency in what we go for and what we give up. Having it all is unachievable, and if that’s your goal, you’ll wind up miserable, even in 2024.
What’s your top piece of advice for women just starting out professionally?
I have two.
First: Find great mentors. There’s a misconception that mentors are essentially friends in high places at work—powerful, well-connected allies who root for us at every step and help us up the ranks. But there’s no elevator to success; we need to climb. And the types of
mentors who teach us how aren’t supportive cheerleaders. They’re drill sergeants, or what I call challenging mentors. They give us feedback that’s often hard to hear, and constantly push us to be better because they know what we’re capable of.
Second: Find the blue skies.
Much of my tenure at USA Network was called the “blue skies era” because of the consistent tone of our original programming. No matter the subject of a show, viewers would have something to smile and feel good about. Those blue skies—figurative and literal—were the secret to our network’s success. I believe that finding “blue skies,” even when it takes some searching, is the secret to career success, too. When you bring positivity to work, work becomes more positive.
Was there ever a time you trusted your gut and it didn’t work out?
In the book, I write about greenlighting a show called Political Animals—all because my gut, along with the incredible cast, storyline, and production team, told me it couldn’t possibly do poorly. I chose to bypass the traditional hoops that scripts had to jump through and just aired the series. It ended up bombing. That experience, plus many more in my personal life, has helped inform what I now call the ABCs of decision-making—an alphabet that has become my mother tongue. Before we get to G for Gut, there’s Analyzing, Brainstorming, Comparing… You get the picture. The truth is that the best decisions are made when we consider all the information available to us and our gut.
Is there anything you’d change about your trajectory?
Many people believe that the best (and only) way to get ahead on the job is to climb a ladder, but I think zig-zagging is the better way to grow. That’s why one of the lies I negate in the book is the idea that “there’s nowhere to go but up.” When it comes to career trajectories, lateral and diagonal moves that teach us new skills, give us new experiences, expose us to new people, and introduce us to new departments and even organizations can take us further than any straightforward, upward march ever could.
Do you have another book in you?
I’ll never say never, though I’m now much wiser about the commitment it takes. My entire career has been about telling stories—some real, more often fiction, normally another person’s, this time my own. I plan to keep telling stories in one way or another. But I’ve always liked new and fresh challenges, so who knows what (or whose) story that will be? And who knows how it will be told?
What’s next for you?
If you have the answer to that question, you’re ahead of me! If I’ve learned anything over the years—and if there’s one overused aphorism I do agree with—it’s that the only constant in life is change. It comes for all of us, no matter our age, wage, or stage. I try not to look too far into the future and instead keep myself open to whatever opportunities rear their heads. If I see one that excites me, you can bet
I’ll be running toward it at full speed. At this very moment, though, I can’t predict anything beyond this evening, when my husband Dale and I will be sitting down for dinner, our dogs will be lying by our feet begging for scraps, and I’ll be sipping a perfect pour
of Clase Azul on a big rock with an orange wedge.