This interview with Sarah Barnett, president of SundanceTV, a cable and satellite network owned by AMC Networks, was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant.
Q. Were you in leadership roles when you were younger?
A. I come from a large family. I’m one of six kids, and I’m the eldest girl, which made me very attuned to what needed to get done for the good of the family. That’s something I’ve taken with me through different roles — that awareness of the group, what the gaps are and what needs to be done. My mother passed away when I was 10, so I think that certainly exaggerated this natural tendency.
Tell me about your father.
I grew up in a village about 70 miles south of London, and my dad commuted to the city every day. He started in an ad agency as a very junior person and worked his way up to chief financial officer. He always had a fierce idealism about equality. He went from a very humble place in his career to a fairly senior role, and always believed that everybody was equal, and he insisted that we behave that way.
Did you have specific ideas of what you wanted to do for a career after university?
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