Four of the entertainment industry\u2019s top executives joined forces at TheWrap\u2019s Power Women Summit 2025 on Tuesday to get candid about leading a team through the turbulent times in the entertainment industry. And key to that leadership is radical candor.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople talk about how we\u2019re the product of waiting for the change,\u201d Tana Nugent Jamieson, EVP & co-head of A+E Studios, said. \u201cWe\u2019re living in the change. This is not going away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jamieson was joined by 3 Arts Entertainment\u2019s Olivia Metzger, AMC\u2019s Amy Leasca and Sony Pictures\u2019 Spring Aspers for the panel \u201cExec Corner: Dealmakers, Deciders, Disruptors\u201d at TheWrap\u2019s 2025 Power Women Summit, presented by STARZ #TakeTheLead. <\/p>\n
The breakout session was standing room only as women packed in to learn the female executive playbook from the tenured professionals in a conversation moderated by TheWrap\u2019s founder and editor-in-chief Sharon Waxman.<\/p>\n
As the industry has faced consolidation and layoffs, the female executives said the key to success in the business is adaptability. The A+E Studios exec said earlier in her career adapting meant pivoting roles, but now she feels it\u2019s about telling the truth.<\/p>\n
\u201cBe very straightforward with your team,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd frankly, be truthful to your talent too\u2026I used to pretend, but now I\u2019m like, \u2018There\u2019s two places potentially.\u2019 You just have to be truthful.\u201d<\/p>\n
After decades of experience across NBC and CAA, Metzger took a risk and went out on her own with her own management company. She said her ability to adapt is going to take her into retirement. <\/p>\n
\u201cAll I have done in the last seven months, since I transitioned to 3 Arts is walk into rooms with people who are half my age and say, I don\u2019t understand, explain it to me,\u201d Metzger added.<\/p>\n
One attendee asked the panel how they have the confidence to say they don\u2019t know without appearing behind or like a \u201cdinosaur.\u201d Jamieson said the key is confidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do think we have an opportunity in 2025, we should be mentoring young men,\u201d Metzger said. \u201cWe have an obligation if we see young men, especially with whatever this crisis is young men are having right now \u2026 I think it\u2019s up to us, not only to mentor the young women underneath us, but to also take the opportunity to take young men and show them what it means to be a good leader.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe women on the panel also reflected on the mentors who pushed them to be where they are now. For the majority of the panelists, none of their mentors were women. Now, as sitting executives, they want to change that narrative.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe the generation before us, you saw the mediocrity and trying to counteract that by surrounding yourself with better, smarter people than yourself is so important,\u201d AMC\u2019s Leasca said. \u201cThis current leadership generation of females has done a really good job of surrounding themselves with people who challenge them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGrowing up through this industry on the TV side, you couldn\u2019t be a voice of dissent,\u201d she added. \u201cNow I welcome that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The executive then pointed at her team seated in the front row, joking that they know more than anyone that she encourages pushback. <\/p>\n
For Metzger, who started her career at NBC at 19 after she dropped out of college, none of her male superiors impressed her. \u201cI literally thought I don\u2019t want to grow up to be any of these people,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Decades later as a founder and executive, she looks for mentees and colleagues who are smarter than she is but also lead with kindness.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis business is so hard. I need colleagues and clients who the room is rooting for,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t care how good you are, you\u2019re going to trip and fall. You want people who are willing to pick you back up\u2026I surround myself with everybody who\u2019s 100 times smarter than I am, and I\u2019m not shy about that.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\nJamieson said she never had a female mentor coming up in the business and wanted to model something different for her team members: being kind, decisive and accessible.<\/p>\n
For Sony Music\u2019s Aspers, she does not want to leave the young men out of the mentorship conversation just because young women in the previous generation were not as included in the conversation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s up to us as women to not exclude guys. It\u2019s not good,\u201d Spring Aspers said. \u201cTo me as a leader, I want everybody at the table. It\u2019s really important for us to create the next path, the way that we would want to be in it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Metzger added: \u201cIt\u2019s up to us, not only to mentor the young women underneath us, but to also take the opportunity to take young men and show them what it means to be a good leader.\u201d<\/p>\n
TheWrap\u2019s Power Women Summit presented by STARZ #TakeTheLead is the essential gathering of the most influential women across entertainment and media. The event aims to inspire and empower women across the landscape of their professional careers and personal lives. PWS provides one day of keynotes, panels, workshops and networking. For more information visit:\u00a0thewrap.com\/pws<\/a>.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n For all Power Women Summit 2025 coverage,\u00a0click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n
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