Integrity above all
How I got schooled by Bob Woodward in front of my peers
Bottom line up front: The moral of the story is, do not lie. Your integrity is all you have. Be smart enough and brave enough to communicate without deception.
Ali Partovi, CEO of Neo and Cofounder of Code.org, recently told a humbling story about how he was schooled by Steve Job for posturing on valuation when trying to sell his startup to Apple. It’s an epic tale. Read his Twitter thread here:
Partovi’s story is a gift! People think their number one job is to achieve some end, when really their number one job is to maintain integrity.
While not nearly as epic as being schooled by Steve Jobs, I had a humbling experience in front of Bob Woodward that set me upon a life path of radical honesty. (Note that a radical dedication to truth does not mean radical rudeness. It does mean, however for example, that we say Santa Claus is a pretend character, like Mickey Mouse, in my house. Because that’s the truth.)
Ok, so here’s the story:
In 2003, I applied to an exclusive class at The Washington Post for journalism students. I was accepted despite my computer science major.
Each week, select university students visited the Post to learn from the pros.
One particular Friday was Bob Woodward day. Probably most of us had tattered copies of All The President’s Men, published in 1974, on our bookshelves, and we were terribly excited to learn from the journalism legend.
We filed into one of the Post’s boardrooms, with Woodward at the head of the table. Rather than tell us about his accomplishments, he performed a Socratic method exercise.
“Imagine,” he said, “It’s early in the morning at the Washington Post. You’re a young and hungry journalist, so you got in early. All of a sudden, the metro editor transfers a call to you. There’s a frantic woman on the line. She says, ‘There’s been an anthrax outbreak and they’re taking the victims to GWU Hospital.’ And then she hangs up.”
Woodward questioned us: “What do you do?”
The students tossed in ideas. Call the health inspector. Call the mayor’s office. Call the hospital.
I piped in, “Run to the drug store, buy a face mask and get down to that hospital.”
“Yes!” Woodward said, pointing to me.
My ego soared that I gave the gutsy, correct, answer.
Woodward looked at me and continued. “Ok, you go into the hospital waiting room and you see people sitting around. Some look sick. There’s some bustle and then you realize that they are closing the entrance. You were one of the last people to get into the hospital. It’s now sealed off. What do you do?”
What would I do? I had no idea. My heart was pounding. I needed time to think.
“Duck into the bathroom!” I said, quickly.
“Ok,” Woodward continues. “Now you’re in the bathroom. There’s a nurse in there and she looks frightened. What do you do?”
“Ask her if there’s been an anthrax outbreak,” I said.
Woodward said, “Ok, I’ll play the nurse. I turn to you and ask, ‘Who are you?'”
My mind raced and I felt trapped. I started to feel embarrassed. Bob Woodward was looking at me and my cleverness had run out. I truly had no idea what to say. I thought my job was to get the story.
So, I responded, “Uh, um, I would tell the nurse that I’m here with my dad, who broke his leg.”
Woodward stared hard at me. “You would lie?”
F$#&* me. My face grew red and hot. I felt ashamed and immature.
“Well, I didn’t want to say I was a reporter,” I explained.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“Andrea,” I said, feebly.
He said, “Ok then. You could respond, ‘I’m Andrea.”
I was incredulous that my answer could be that simple.
“Never, ever, ever lie,” he said. “And when asked directly, always identify yourself as a reporter.”
His words hit me deep and I internalized the lesson.
I’m lucky that I learned this early because I had a lot of moxie as a reporter and later, as a stock analyst. During those years, I was often accused of being a pest, but never a liar.
Sometimes, when you are tempted to lie, the answer is to pause and answer simply. Also, cultivate an inner attention to your own intellectual dishonesty and cognitive dissonance. The first step in not lying externally is to not lie to yourself.
