The $25 billion leadership strategy

Written by Brian Miller

Brian Miller is a former magician turned author, speaker, and consultant on human connection. He works with organizations to create connected cultures where everyone feels heard, understood, and valued.

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October 7, 2019

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It’s hard to imagine a time before Harry Potter. Like smartphones and Mickey Mouse, the boy who lived has become embedded in the culture.

But almost everything about the success of Harry Potter was unlikely.

Conceived by a secretary on a delayed train and written during a period of personal and professional turmoil including the death of a parent, birth of a child, divorce and single-motherhood, poverty, and over a dozen rejections, Harry Potter taught an entire generation of children to read and love reading.

The movie franchise is the third most financially successful series in film history, second only to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars.

And JK Rowling has become, by some estimates, the world’s first billionaire author.

But in 1998, just a year after the initial 1000-copy print run of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in the UK, the manuscript appeared on the desk of Alan Samuel Cohen, an unassuming Jewish man from New York, with clear instructions:

“Turn this into a multi-million dollar brand.”

Making Harry Potter Famous

In 1998 Alan was the publicity director for Scholastic Publishing, a US-based children’s media company that had purchased the rights to distribute the first Harry Potter novel in America.

“I was the very first person in North America to touch the books, from a publicity perspective. I actually remember being handed the manuscript because it had to be Americanized.”

Alan recently did me the honor of taking a train from New York City to Long Island to meet me backstage before I spoke at an event and chat on my podcast One New Person. I asked him about his earliest experience with Harry Potter:

Alan: “I remember just staying up all night reading the book and saying, this thing’s going to be freaking huge.”

Brian: “What was it about it that got you so excited?”

Alan: “Yeah, so it’s funny. As the publicity director as a children’s book company, I never read any of the books. You know, except for the picture books, because those were easy to get through. So I read the book because I was told that I had to.

What stood out to me is that it brought me back to a lot of those books that I loved so much as a kid, as a young boy: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Phantom Tollbooth. So it really connected me to the magic of possibility.

I’ll also say on a more personal level, and I think it’s why the books resonate so well with so many audiences is: I could relate to the character of Harry Potter feeling like an outsider.”

Even though Alan had a clear love of the book and its core message, it was a different member of his team who, almost reluctantly, ended up taking the reins on the media campaign.

The Magic of Leadership

At one point Alan used the term “rag-tag team” to describe his department who had been put in charge of this massive project. I wanted to know more.

Brian: “So what was going through your head, what was the campaign like?”

Alan: “I think the publicity department was only 5 or 6 people, and that wasn’t the only thing we were working on.

So years ago, probably 25 years ago, maybe? I was working at a PR agency and my boss brought this young woman in, and her name was Chris, and I was told to interview her for an assistant position. Kris was nice, Connecticut, preppy, young lady with no publicity experience whatsoever. I knew that I had to hire her because my boss had pretty much already made up her mind. Kris turned out to be one of the hardest working, most loyal, wonderful people I’ve ever had in my employ.

And fast forward, years later I was at Scholastic and I was told I needed to hire an assistant director. I called my old employer and hired Kris away.

People will often give me credit for the work that the publicity department did on the Harry Potter books but Kris Moran is the reason why so many millions of people learned about Harry Potter. Her amazing love of the books, her commitment to it, her passion for it, her relationship with JK Rowling, is far beyond anything I had or could imagine.”

Giving Away Credit

And here Alan demonstrated why he was such an effective leader, and why so many executives now flock to his coaching. Leadership is not about telling others what to do and it’s definitely not about taking or getting credit. In the words of Simon Sinek, great leaders give away credit and take responsibility.

Alan recognized he had someone on his team in a far better position to succeed than he was, so he generously handed over the reins, trusted her, and got out of the way. And some 20+ years later he’s still giving her the credit.

“She lacked confidence,” Alan told me, “but what she had was passion and commitment. And if I had just seen the lack of confidence I wouldn’t have given her all of that exposure.”

Today Kris Moran runs publicity for the Lumos Foundation, JK Rowling’s foundation in the United States.

And Harry Potter is a $25 billion brand.

Get the Full Story

You can learn more about the early days of Harry Potter and much more about Alan, his book The Connection Challenge, and his work as an executive coach in our full-length interview below.