In this podcast Lon Safko speaks with Peter Booth Wiley, Chairman of The Board of John Wiley & Sons where Peter describes how Wiley, a 201-year old company, has been in the forefront the technological revolution in publishing.  That’s right, John Wiley & Sons celebrated their 200th anniversary in 2007.   John Wiley was publishing books when Thomas Jefferson was president.  Peter explains how Wiley began experimenting with computers in the 1950s while thinking about how they would impact their authors, their customers and the way they published. He describes how Wiley took this experimentation to the next level in the 1980s with the creation of a sales training program on an interactive videodisk with assessment capabilities.

In this 39 minute interview Peter explains how the secret to Wiley’s success is two fold; they create an internal culture that encourages creativity and they listen to their authors.  Among those they have listened to were J.D.R. Licklider and Robert Sproull, both of whom played important roles in the development of the DarpaNet, the mother of all internets. When a subject matter expert comes to them with a new concept, Wiley is willing to take a carefully calculated risk and publish their work.  And more…

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