The Weekly Encourager – August 17, 2013 – What I Learned About Leadership
Last week Donald Graham sold The Washington Post newspaper, which had been in his family for generations. The buyer was Jeff Bezos, the founder of the highly successful online retailer Amazon.com. Naturally, Sunday's Post was full of interviews, commentary, and speculation about this major development. I am always interested in learning about effective leaders in business, so I'll share with you some of what I gleaned about Graham and Bezos. (Parents and teachers especially might mention these to their children, but all of us can be inspired.)
Dave Kindred, a former colleague, said about Donald Graham, “Everyone at The Post, and I mean everyone, believed that Don cared more about The Washington Post than anything in his life....Everyone looked at him as the personification of the great newspaper that they dreamed of working for....He knew everybody and had this magical quality of remembering everyone's name and something about them.”
Peter Perl, another colleague, wrote his piece as if he were addressing Graham directly. “When you reluctantly sat down with me in your office for the first interview for your obituary, I asked what you would most like to be remembered for, and here is where you surprised me....Concerning The Post, you [mentioned hiring certain key staff]. Typical that you would make your legacy less about yourself than about your trusted colleagues. You left out how you valiantly defended quality journalism at great risk, facing down generals and presidents...to assert the freedom of the press....But the surprise in our talk was when you told me what you hoped your true legacy would be, the kind of thing you wanted on your tombstone or, well, in your obituary. It was not about journalism or The Post at all. It was how you had done everything you could to help poor and minority families in the District educate their children....You...co-founded and chaired the D.C. College Access Program, which has assisted more than 10,000 students and distributed roughly $20 million in tuition grants....And you have given a huge amount of your money to many other causes, much of it done in classic Don Graham fashion – quietly, even anonymously.”
Graham was interviewed by Ezra Klein about his selection of Jeff Bezos to take over. When asked, “What are Bezos's thoughts on the media? What kind of news consumer is he?” Graham answered, “Here are a few things I've learned [about Jeff Bezos]....When Jeff holds meetings at Amazon, he asks people not to use PowerPoints but to write an essay about their product or program or what the meeting is to be about. For the first 10 or 15 minutes, everyone sits and reads the essay. His point is that if you write at length, you have to think first, and he feels the quality of thought you have to do to write at length is greater than the quality of thought to put a PowerPoint together. He also says that to get to know people he calls day-long meetings about books where everyone reads the same book and talks about it. So he's a reader. The quality of his thought and advice to me over the past few years is reflected in the memo he wrote to the staff. His philosophy is to try things. Try things and experiment, and if it doesn't work, try more.”
Farhad Manjoo of Slate said Bezos might be just what the newspaper needs to revive business. First, of course, Bezos has the funds necessary to buy it. But, “Bezos's real value to The Post – the reason that people in the media are both shocked and optimistic about this deal – isn't what's in his wallet. It's what's in his head. As a businessman, Bezos has three signature traits. He's relentlessly focused on pleasing customers....He's uncommonly patient, willing to give good ideas years to play out before expecting a payoff....Most important, Bezos is fascinated by novel business models; he's constantly on the hunt for new ways to sell groceries, cloud services, media, and everything else.”
From these first-person accounts, I note the following characteristics of leaders who rise to the top: Responsibility. Courage. Persistence. Passion in your work. Personification of the best qualities in your profession, such that you inspire others. Getting to know the people who work for you. Generosity. Helping the poor from your earnings. Humility. Hiring good people. Asking experts for advice. Giving good advice. Making a good product which pleases the customer. Freedom to try new approaches and then assess their success or failure. Patience. Ability to think clearly. Ability to write essays. Reading books!
Just some thoughts on leadership from our local paper. As Christians, we aspire to the same fine qualities, but not just to earn the praise of colleagues. We strive for excellence in all we do, to honor our Heavenly Master first, then to serve our fellow man and provide for ourselves. If we put God first in every endeavor, He will direct our paths and prosper the work of our hands.
God is faithful,
j
Quoted articles are from The Washington Post, Sunday, August 11, 2013. Peter Perl, “Dear Don”, page B1, B3. Ezra Klein, “Don Graham talks about Bezos and The Post's sale”, G1, G6. Farhad Manjoo, “Bezos may be what The Post needs”, page G4.