#36 How businesses serve their communities ft. Michael Curran

From early entrepreneurship in the media industry to leading the Ottawa Business Journal (OBJ) for the past 23 years, Michael Curran is passionate about authentic, ethical, and professional reporting. He’s also a strong advocate for the positive impacts businesses can have on society. Championing entrepreneurship as a force for good, Michael has led the charge in recognizing and reporting on big achievements within the Ottawa business community. For instance, he helped establish awards such as CEO of the Year and Forty Under 40.

In this episode of the Unsubscribed! Podcast, Michael takes a look back at his career to date, exploring how creating and distributing business news has changed over time, and the benefits that local businesses bring to our community. You’ll learn:

1) What content marketers and journalists have in common (quite a lot, as it turns out).

2) About the value of regular short form pieces alongside less frequent long form content.

3) How technology has impacted business news and reporting since the late nineties.

Driving impact in the Ottawa business community

After starting out in the nineties with aspirations of becoming a political journalist, Michael looked beyond the negative headlines to see the positive impact of entrepreneurship at a grassroots level. Job creation, wealth creation, and community support helped Michael realize the tangible social impacts of business and the need for quality reporting that advocated authentically for entrepreneurs.

After founding and selling his own community newspaper in the mid-nineties, Michael got a taste for entrepreneurship and journalism to become the backbone of OBJ for over 20 years. He truly believes business is at the core of our communities, and he’s passionate about reporting from the inside to provide a platform and a stronger sense of community for the people of Ottawa.

With a very clear niche — the local business community — the OBJ drills down deep into different sectors to deliver hard news every hour, alongside broader analytical content, enterprise reporting, delivered quarterly in print and digital formats. Being part of a periodical with the longevity of OBJ, Michael has first-hand experience how news, and the consumption of news, evolves alongside technology, and for him two concepts are key: niche and community.

Listen to the full podcast for all this and more, including Michael’s fascinating insights into some common traits of next-level leaders.

Follow Michael Curran on LinkedIn.