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.

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.

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10 Lessons from Katharine Graham: ⁠⁠⁠https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/outliers-katharine-graham/

Approximate timestamps: 

(0:00) Start

(02:19) The Making of an Unlikely Heiress

(10:15) The Education of a Publisher’s Wife  

(22:16) Learning to Lead

(30:46) Becoming a Media Titan  

(44:12) Legacy  

(47:59) Reflections + Lessons

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This episode is for informational purposes only and contains the lessons I learned reading her memoir, Personal History and watching Becoming Katharine Graham.

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