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Q: Kathie Lee, how did you ieam to adapt your
particular skills and work ethic to this strong existing
brand that is the Today show?
Gifford: I didn’t want to single-handedly destroy
the Today show! It wouldn’t take me long to take
'em down, so I was trying to be extremely respect
ful of the Today brand. And at the same time, that
fourth hour can be a little exhausted, by the time
people have watched three hours of something. I
was hired to be the Energizer Bunny. I also knew
it couldn’t be Regis and Kathie Lee. That would be
completely unfair to Hoda.
Q: But how did you gauge your compatibility?
Gifford: I wasn’t looking to come back to TV. I was
doing work that I adore, writing musicals and
screenplays, and then Hoda and I
had lunch. We laughed, we
cried. I had a glass of wine
\ or two, she had a glass of
* 'mk like this woman who I’d
iTai? -Ibbmß never known before was
|H , "*lll' fife said if I'm going do it
with a woman before, so to speak UaughterJ l’m
no Angelina Jolie I just thought, go for it. I’m a
big risk taker.
Kotb: When I went over to Kathie Lee’s house, her
husband, Frank, said. “Here’s what’s going to make
this show work: You have to trust each other.” I
thought, I completely do trust her.
Q: With two such different personalities, how do you
manage to operate effectively and successfully?
Kotb: You have to acknowledge that you can’t have
two people driving the bus. I’m very comfortable
with my role on the show. I think the way our per
sonalities work together, it really does work.
Q: Did you establish some sort of guidelines or a
framework upfront?
Kotb: Kathie Lee asked me in the beginning, “If
there are things you don’t want to talk about, let
me know.”
Gifford: I said. “Anything you don’t want to talk about
you tell me, and I’ll take it to my grave.” Same
thing with Regis. I knew things that were really,
really, very tender to him that I would never go
there. That’s why we’re still friends 25 years later.
Q: Can you name an example when one of you asked
Gifford says goodbye in 2000 after
15 years on the air with Regis Philbin.
the other not to talk about
something?
Gifford: My favorite dog is
Regis, whom I’ve had for 13
years. Regis begged me to
name the dog after him. But
Hoda had a little different
reaction. I adopted this gor
geous puppy, but Hoda did
not want the dog to be named
after her. So I just call her
Hoda at home, not in public.
Q: There are always
challenges in the workplace.
What are yours?
Gifford: Some days you just want to stay home
and stay in your pajamas and drink your
coffee.
L Jack Crtunr is executive editor and vice
1 1 president of USA WEEKEND.
SECRETS BEHIND
GREAT TEAMS
Three simple guidelines
to make collaboration work
BY STEPHEN R. COVEY
Gifford and Kotb are teaming up to take on a
high-profile, high-pressure project to make
a success out of Today's fourth hour in a fiercely
competitive environment. I'll bet that sounds
familiar to most of you in today's workplace.
You're constantly being assigned to a team that
somehow needs to produce brilliance whether
it's designing the next great product, assembling a
great marketing plan or doubling company sales
within the next 12 months.
No matter what workplace team you're on,
you'll make a greater success of it by following
these simple guidelines:
© Establish your mission.
Sounds like an obvious step, doesn't it? But you'd
be surprised by how many times a new team will
plow right into the work and assign tasks without
ever making it clear from the beginning what the
ultimate objective is. So establish the purpose. Get
it in writing. And keep it in front of the team at all
times so that everyone will stay focused.
0 Set the ground rules.
Lay down the group's ground rules and values on
Day One. Make it clear what kind of criticism of
members'work is acceptable and what is considered
destructive. Promote other key values, such as the
integrity of the work that is produced by the
group's members. Also, establish some working
boundaries for example, one member may want
to contact others 24/7 via Blackßerry, but others
consider certain times of the day and night off limits.
Now is the time to determine what's acceptable.
0 Identify each team member’s
strengths.
Early on, establish the individual strengths of each
member. Everyone has weaknesses, but when
members focus on complementary strengths,
then weaknesses are minimized. Too often, a team
member is reluctant to concede that another
member's strength in a particular area is greater.
But teams are successful only when those egos
K are checked at the door. O
Contributing Editor Stephen R. Covet’ is the
author of the best seller The Bth Habit: From
Effectiveness to Greatness. For more information
about Covey and the book, go to xteph encorey. arm.
USA WEEKEND • July 11-13,2008
COVER AND COVER STORY PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOSHUA KFSSi ER FOR USA WE Off NO, k ATI ME Iff WITH REGIS NCHAM) DREW AP PHOTO
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