Landing the Interview: Leading with Empathy
Ann Sarnoff (B’83), former chair and CEO of Warner Bros. Entertainment, reflects with Joey Trigiani (B’26) on how her Georgetown McDonough education shaped her approach to empathetic, values-based leadership.
What led you to Georgetown, and how has it impacted your career?
I didn’t have a lot of guidance when I was graduating from high school. My older sister had moved to Maryland and suggested I apply to Georgetown, and they had recently instituted a need-blind admissions policy. I applied early, and when I got the big envelope saying they would meet my full financial need, it was a game changer. I worked very hard while I was here: juggling multiple on- and off-campus jobs, studying hard, and getting ready to face the world.
My education at Georgetown McDonough was the best of both worlds in terms of preparing to enter the working world – I had a solid liberal arts education for the first two years and then two years of specializing in business and marketing. I also had a concentration in psychology because I love understanding how people think and behave. I spent an amazing summer at Oxford visiting U.K. companies and learning how they work. I also started the Marketing Society while at Georgetown, which was fun and allowed me to develop leadership skills. Overall, I had a fantastic four years and graduated from McDonough with a tremendous set of values, skills, and perspectives.
How has the principle of cura personalis, or ‘care for the whole person,’ been carried forward in your career?
Cura personalis is a big part of how I lead and operate in the business world. I believe in inclusive workplaces where you can bring your whole self to the job. I also believe in leading with strength and empathy.
When I was an executive at Nickelodeon, we had a 360-degree feedback process. When I received my feedback, my coach said, ‘you really over index on empathy.’ My initial reaction was that it was a weakness, but he said to me, ‘No, it’s a superpower. You need to use that empathy in your business life.’ He helped me to reframe how I thought about bringing empathy to my management style and my understanding of audiences.
The truth is few companies start with an understanding of their audience and customers. Most of them have an ‘if you build it, they will come’ mindset. At Nickelodeon, one of the areas I oversaw was the research group. I was able to translate empathy into an understanding of kids. We conducted over 100 focus groups per year, not just about the shows we had in development, but to really understand kids – how they feel about their friends, parents, teachers, and themselves. That understanding guided us in making shows that kids could really relate to and in growing our business into other areas that kids loved – theme park attractions, live shows and events, consumer products, and many others. Since Nickelodeon, I’ve brought the key skills of audience understanding and insights to every job I’ve had.
Did you always want to be an executive leader?
From an early age, I think I felt the desire to be a leader, but I didn’t have people in my life who were executives, so that wasn’t really in my consciousness at the time. I played and was captain of three varsity sports in high school. In retrospect, I realized that was a leadership opportunity for me – helping to motivate my teams to be their best.
As I progressed through my career, I discovered that I enjoyed managing people and solving problems. Each position I had allowed me to demonstrate more leadership abilities in larger organizations, and the problems get bigger the higher up you get! Over time, the experiences that I accumulated allowed me to get the job running a very large company in Warner Bros.
At Warner Brothers, how did you prioritize maintaining core brand values, or shifting them, while dealing with the dynamics of streaming wars and the pandemic?
In every job I had there were some aspects of what I had done previously and some new aspects. Stepping into such a big role at Warner took everything I had 24/7. I knew some businesses better than others, but I dug in right away, asked a lot of questions, and learned quickly about how the whole ecosystem worked.
I had to break silos within the organization: Warner Brothers movies, television, games, and products needed to work together more collaboratively, so I changed the organizational structure, incentive structure, and meeting cadence. I also prioritized franchise development – DC Comics, Harry Potter, Warner Brothers Animation, Looney Tunes – we had many incredible assets that needed to come together with a more cohesive, cross-business strategy.
I’m really proud of all the work we did very quickly to change the strategic direction and cadence of the business, especially when COVID hit. It was critical to give people the spirit of teamwork in a time when everything went virtual and things were so uncertain.
About a year into my tenure, I received additional responsibilities to oversee HBO, HBO Max, and the Turner networks. That allowed me to break even bigger silos and coalesce strategies across those businesses and Warner Bros. A couple of examples are the Batman movie spinoff of the Penguin series on HBO Max and the Suicide Squad movie spinoff of Peacemaker. And there are many other examples of divisions working together in new generative ways.
I’m grateful that I had a wealth of experience across prior jobs at Nickelodeon, VH1, CMT, the WNBA, Dow Jones, and the BBC to bring to bear at Warner. I drew upon all of my past experiences in understanding audiences, leading teams, coalescing organizations, creating new businesses and business models, and finding the best strategic path forward.
What insights can you share for alumni discerning their career path?
Don’t be beholden to some notion of what you should be doing, or somebody else’s notion of what you should be doing in your career. If you’re overly premeditated, you’ll miss opportunities in the moment. Also, figure out what your superpowers are. Sometimes they’re not as obvious as you think. Work really hard and bring a positive attitude and energy to everything you do. Finally, bet on yourself!
This story was originally featured in the Georgetown Business Spring/Summer 2026 Magazine.