KATHARINE, LEGENDARY TRAILBLAZER STEERS WASHINGTON POST TO GREATNESS

Learning from the greatest business leaders of the world

Katharine Meyer Graham was born in New York City on June 16, 1917, the fourth of five children born to Eugene Meyer, a banker and Agnes Elizabeth (Ernst) Meyer, an author.

In 1933, when Katharine was still a student, her father bought the dying Washington Post for US $ 875,000. In 1936, she joined University of Chicago (Illinois), which she regarded as an exciting campus. Her father mailed her the Washington Post daily to keep her connected. Throughout university college, during its holidays, she worked at the Washington Post as her summer job.

In 1938, she graduated with a bachelor’s degree and thereafter took a job as a reporter for the San Francisco News. She returned to Washington a year later and joined the editorial staff of the Post.

In 1940, she married Philip L. Graham, a Harvard Law School graduate. He entered the army during World War II and was sent overseas. After his discharge in 1945, Philip joined the Washington Post as associate publisher and three years later, he was made the owner.

Philip developed the business, acquiring the Post’s competitor, the Washington Times Herald and Newsweek magazine. He also expanded the radio and television operations of the company and in 1962, he helped to set up an international news service despite his growing mental sickness.

In 1963, Philip committed suicide. After his death, Katharine took over the presidency of the company. First, she studied the operations, asked questions, consulted old friends and made a key decision to bring in highly skilled journalists to improve the quality of the paper. She selected Benjamin C. Bradlee, the Washington bureau chief for Newsweek, as Managing Editor in 1965. (He later became Executive Editor.)

By early 1970s, Katharine and Bradlee were beginning to create news. Katharine was sincere in her commitment to provide accurate reporting. An example of this is her many visits to army bases during the Vietnam War - a war in which the United States aided South Vietnam to stop a Communist North Vietnam takeover.

In June 1971, the New York Times began to publish classified US defence department documents. Known as the Pentagon Papers, they were a secret history of America’s involvement in the Vietnam War. The Times ran these stories for two days until the Nixon administration stepped in to block the paper.

Katharine wrestled with the decision to pick up where the Times left off and continue to report on the documents in the Post. At stake was an expensive legal battle as well as several of the company’s lucrative television licences, which the Katharine family would lose if they were convicted under the espionage laws.

Eventually, the newspaper had to decide and Katharine had final say. “Frightened and tense, I took a big gulp and said, ‘Go ahead, go ahead, go ahead. Let’s publish,’” she would later write.

Just a few hours after that first story broke, the Post was asked to stop printing classified information by the attorney general’s office. Alongside the New York Times, Katharine and her paper fought the case all the way to the Supreme Court - and win.

Further controversy followed in June 1972, when an investigative reporting team began to probe the break-in at the Democratic National Headquarters in the Watergate apartment complex. Their articles in the Post linked the break-in to a larger pattern of illegal activities, which led to the blame of over 40 members of the Nixon administration and to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in August 1974.

It was the damning news breaks like these that granted Katharine status as the most powerful woman in publishing. As Chairman and principal owner of the Washington Post Company, she controlled the fifth largest publishing empire in the nation. In the period from 1975 to 1985, profits grew better than 20 percent annually.

In 1979, Katharine turned the title of publisher over to her son Donald. But she remained active in all areas of the business, from advising on editorial policy to making plans for not only the Post and Newsweek but also the Trenton Times, four television stations and 49 percent interest in a paper company.

In Washington she was an impressive presence. Heads of state, politicians and leaders in journalism and the arts gathered at her Georgetown home and for weekends at her farm in northern Virginia.

Under Katharine’s leadership, the Washington Post grew in influence until it was judged as one of the two best newspapers in the country. It was read and consulted by presidents in USA and prime ministers abroad and had a powerful influence on global political life. At the same time, the Post, which boasts a circulation of 725,000, serves as a hometown paper for a general audience who enjoyed the features, cartoons and advice columns.

Katharine also became an awardwinning author in her later years. In 1997, she published her memoirs, Personal History, which earned her a Pulitzer Prize for Biography in 1998.

Katharine Graham was described as a “working publisher.” A forceful and courageous publisher, she knew when to rely on the expert advice of professionals and allowed her editors maximum responsibility. At the same time, she strengthened her publications through her willingness to spend money to attract top talent in journalism and management.

On July 17, 2001, Katharine Graham died in Boise, Idaho, leaving the nation grieving for one of its bestloved female publishers. What lessons can we learn from Katharine Graham? 1. Get out of the office and into your employees’ ecosystem. Katharine spent time in the newsroom each day. Employees felt she recognized their work because she observed it as it happened. In addition, Katharine intensified her understanding of jobs in the newsroom by her direct observation, by listening and by asking questions. 2. Be proactive in building competence and knowledge.

Katharine held lunches for reporters in her private dining room and welcomed experts for briefings. Journalists coveted being invited to these luncheons, which permitted them to deepen their knowledge of both their subject area and their publisher’s mentality. 3. Show that you are willing to jump in when needed. Katharine built her resources by adding news bureaus worldwide and boosted editorial budgets and staff but she always saw herself as an operational part of the team. She would eagerly call in tips she picked up at social occasions and take excellent and extensive notes of speeches. During a violent press operator’s strike, which nearly shut down the paper, Katharine lived inside the Post building. She did everything from taking classified ads to stuffing newspapers in bags, getting ink on her designer dresses. She was undeterred and after the strike, directed the paper to its greatest financial success. 4. Stand up for your employees.

One Sunday afternoon Katharine heard that the Chinese government ransacked the room of one of her foreign correspondents and held the woman for questioning. Katharine did not pick up the telephone or ask for a letter of protest to be written. She put on her heels and single strand of pearls and drove to the Chinese embassy, marching up to the door and insisting on a justification. Her actions were not lost on her reporters. 5. Embrace leadership as a learning opportunity. From the day she entered her role at the paper, Katharine was always learning. A curious, intelligent nature allowed her to get up to speed in a short amount of time and continue learning.

6. Be self-aware. Katharine was aware of her abilities but also her limitations. By knowing when to ask for help and surrounding herself with supportive mentors, Katharine was able to learn quickly and get assistance in the areas she needed.