The Knowledge Project Podcast When Katharine Graham took over the Washington Post in 1963, she was a shy socialite who’d never run anything. By retirement, she’d taken down a president, ended the most violent strike in a generation, and built one of the best-performing companies in American history. Graham had no training, no experience, not even confidence. Just a newspaper bleeding money and a government that expected her to fall in line. Public Release: July 29. Members have access now . Join us . Coming Soon: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Transcript When her editors brought her stolen classified documents, her lawyers begged her not to publish. They said it would destroy the company. She published them anyway. Nixon came after her, attacking her with the full force of the executive. Then Watergate. For nearly a year she was ridiculed and isolated while pursuing the story that would eventually bring down the president. Graham proved that you can grow into a job that initially seems impossible and no amount of training can substitute for having the right values and the courage to act on them. This episode is for informational purposes only and is full of practical lessons I learned reading her memoir, Personal History and watching Becoming Katharine Graham. 10 Lessons from Katharine Graham 1. The Velvet Hammer: Katharine never raised her voice. She never pounded tables. Never tried to out-masculine the men. She stayed soft-spoken while becoming as hard as steel. Nixon’s administration learned too late: the quiet ones hit hardest. Competence whispers, it doesn’t shout. 2. Values Beat Analysis: The Pentagon Papers decision arrived during Katharine’s Georgetown dinner party. The Washington Post had just gone public two days earlier. Everything was at stake. Publishing classified documents meant likely criminal charges, losing television licenses, and destroying the IPO. Her lawyers said it was financial suicide. Her editors said not publishing was journalistic suicide. She remembered her father’s principle: newspapers exist to tell the truth. “Let’s publish,” she said, then hung up. 3. Don’t Care What They Think: Nine months into Watergate, the Post was still the only major paper digging. Everyone thought they were wrong. The Chicago Tribune and other major media outlets openly mocked them. The administration went after the Post, causing the stock to crash 45%. The President of the United States targeted their TV licenses. The Post’s lawyers begged them to stop. Katharine kept going. The rest is history. 4. Bounce, Don’t Break: The pressmen destroyed equipment, beat a foreman unconscious, and walked out. They expected Katharine to fold. After all, what choice did she have if she wanted to print papers? But Katharine had been preparing for months, training replacements and arranging backup presses. When picketers blocked trucks, she hired helicopters. While they marched outside, she worked the mailroom floor. It lasted 139 days before she won. 5. Find a Teacher: Warren Buffett bought 5% of her company without asking. The board panicked. Katharine ignored them. She met Buffett herself, saw his genius, and made him her professor. He’d bring 20 annual reports to board meetings, teaching her line by line. She was humble enough to know she didn’t have all the answers and smart enough to know who to listen to. 6. Freedom With Transparency: Ben Bradlee got total editorial freedom. The only rule? No surprises. He could fight presidents, spend millions, and pursue any story in the public interest. She never questioned his judgment. He never blindsided her. Result: Pentagon Papers, Watergate, 18 Pulitzers. Maximum freedom requires maximum transparency. 7. Step Off the Edge: “What I essentially did was to put one foot in front of the other, shut my eyes and step off the edge.” That’s how Katharine described taking over the Post. There was no grand strategy, no master plan. Just the next step. Eight years later, she was staring down presidents. You’ll never feel qualified for what matters. Step anyway. 8. Decades Over Quarters: Wall Street wanted quarterly earnings and exciting acquisitions. Katharine wanted to create a company that would last. She went against their wishes, buying back stock when it was cheap (and it was very uncommon to do so), and acquiring a “boring” education company, Kaplan, which would eventually generate more revenue than the newspaper. She was a public company but operated it like a private one. 9. Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing: Katharine faced constant pressure to choose: profits or principles, safety or stories, shareholders or journalism. The Pentagon Papers could have killed the IPO. Watergate bled millions in legal fees and threatened their television licenses. The pressmen’s strike threatened operations. Every crisis offered an excuse to compromise but she never took it. The Post’s mission to hold power to account stayed the main thing. She proved what others deny: when you keep the main thing the main thing, everything else follows. Principles aren’t an expense. They’re your compass. 10. Keep Your Word: When Nixon came after the Post with the full force of the executive branch (challenging TV licenses, crashing their stock, and threatening prison), Katharine never wavered. She’d told her reporters to keep digging, and she meant it. When prosecutors demanded their notes, she took them home herself. If anyone went to jail, it would be her. Not them. For nine months, while other papers stayed silent and friends begged her to stop, she kept her word. The President of the United States couldn’t make her break it. Most leaders fold under pressure. She knew something they didn’t: your word is all you have. Once broken, it’s worthless forever.