“Lay off the Like Button”

In her address to future whistleblowers, art-house filmmakers, and catchphrase creators awaiting their College of Communication diplomas, A+E Networks head Nancy Dubuc pointed to six words she believes are bad for society: “I did it for the likes.”

Speaking Friday morning at COM’s undergraduate Convocation at Agganis Arena, Dubuc (COM’91) said society’s reliance on social media leaves us “caught in an endless feedback loop of approval and disapproval,” and that this “like culture” prohibits people from trusting their instincts and taking risks.

“In my field and others, the most successful people I’ve come across are not the people who have failed the least,” said the television executive. “They’re the people who have failed the most, and bounced back from that failure the fastest. They’re the people who don’t let rejection define them, who outlast and persevere through 50 nos just to hear that one yes.”

Dubuc was invited to the podium by COM Dean Thomas Fiedler (COM’71), who credited the former Daily Free Press writer with transforming A+E Networks into one of the most exciting on television right now. She has overseen the wildly successful reality shows Duck Dynasty and Pawn Stars, and the five-time Emmy-winning miniseries Hatfields & McCoys. Sprinkling self-deprecating humor and anecdotes from her career, Dubuc drew big applause from the crowd of 2,000 graduates, family members, and faculty and staff.

Dubuc worked on WGBH’s This Old House before becoming a series producer on the Discovery Channel’s Discover Magazine. Joining A+E Television Networks in 1999, she became president of the History Channel and Lifetime Network in 2007, then earned the top job—president and CEO—at A+E Networks in 2013. She now oversees such channels as A+E, Lifetime, and History, and presides over a $26 billion portfolio that reaches more than 330 million households. In December, Dubuc was ranked third on the Hollywood Reporter’s list of the top 100 women in the entertainment business. Last August, it was announced that A+E Networks would buy a 10 percent stake in the millennial favorite Vice Media for $250 million.

She began her 15-minute speech noting that if she were applying to COM now, she may not have had the grades to get in. “This is one of the smartest, most accomplished group of men and women to ever come through this school,” she said. “You have so much going for you right now. You’re graduating at a time when there have never been more opportunities for innovation and reinvention in the ways we communicate and entertain.”

But Dubuc also acknowledged that the new graduates may well be nervous about what the future after BU would hold. “What comes next is new, it’s different, it’s unknown, and it’s not in your control,” she said. “But long ago, my stepfather gave me one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received—don’t worry about it, because it’s not going to turn out that way anyway.”

That advice, she said, taught her to trust her gut when making decisions, even without the approval of others, or “likes,” even if it meant failing miserably, as she has done several times. She recalled walking into the History Channel for the first time and asking why they made only black-and-white documentaries. The reason? That’s the way it had always been done.

“So again, I trusted my own instincts, and put shows on the air that I wanted to watch myself,” she said. “And again, I had to learn to be fearless in the face of people who didn’t approve my choices.”

Dubuc pushed hard as the History Channel produced its first scripted series, about the Kennedy family, starring actors Greg Kinnear and Katie Holmes. But with harsh criticism from historians and former presidential speechwriter Ted Sorenson, the History Channel shelved the series (it eventually found a home on the Starz network), and Dubuc thought her career was over. It wasn’t.

Again she went with her instinct and pitched Hatfields & McCoys, a miniseries starring Kevin Costner about a bizarre feud between two families in the 19th century that attracted 12 million viewers and critical acclaim when it aired in 2012.

“When you inevitably fail, keep moving forward,” she said to the red-robed advertising, public relations, film and television, and journalism majors in front of her. “Be humble. Ask yourself what you learned. Don’t allow the voice of self-doubt to get too loud because trusting your instincts is most difficult when everyone else is questioning them.

“So make sure your choices reflect your talents, your hopes, your passions, and your very best instincts…Dare to lead when others want you to follow, dare to be bold when others feel fear, and dare to fail greatly, and graciously, and just when you think you have it all figured out, you will have to dare to do it all over again. And please, do me one last favor—lay off the like button.”