Helluo Librorum
21 June 2018
Title: Personal History
Author: Katharine Graham
This is the Autobiography of the
owner of Washington Post
Company. She was not only an
unlikely business leader but
excelled at the job. The memoir
won a Pulitzer prize.
Abhishek Sharma | abhishek.sharma@iiflcap.com
+91 22 4646 4668
Institutional Equities
Personal History by Katharine Graham
This review of “Personal History” by Katharine Graham is quite different from what you
will find on internet about this famous book. The book is categorised as Women’s
Studies on its back cover but I believe it’s also a comprehensive study of an accidental
but successful business leader. Katharine was the part of the family which owned
Washington Post Company and she eventually came to run it. While Katharine ran
Washington Post, the company stock consistently beat its peers and S&P over a very
long period of time. I read the book to identify traits of successful leaders but my key
takeaways turned out to be counter-intuitive; that is to resist making quick personal
judgements based on absence or presence of “acceptable” traits. Katharine doesn’t fit
into any stereotype that I know of and her performance as a leader was strong enough
to break all stereotypes. No one ever writes a biography because they beat S&P in
their lives; they will write a “5 mantras to beat S&P” book instead if they did. Indeed,
she mentions her share price just a few times in the book and quite incidentally. This is
rare book in that sense.
Why we picked this book:
Over a 22 year period from its IPO till Ms Graham stepped down as chairwoman, Washington
Post Company stock returned 22.3% CAGR. This compares with 7.4% for S&P and 12.4% for her
peers over the same timeframe. I picked up about Katharine Graham in the book “Outsiders” by
William Thorndike (another excellent book, easy read) which profiles eight CEOs who generated
superlative, market beating shareholder returns over very long periods of time. “Outsiders”
focuses on common traits across these eight CEOs (only job of CEO should be capital allocation,
positive cashflow generation is key, manage company by Return on Capital metrics, use
buybacks and debt to create shareholder value). I wanted to dig deeper into personalities and
Katharine’s autobiography came across as most exhaustive out of all the available literature on
the eight CEOs profiled in “Outsiders”. That’s why I picked it up.
Genesis of the story or how the family came to own Washington Post
Ms Graham was born rich into an influential family. She and her siblings led a life of luxury since
childhood, traits which may be associated with reduced ambition in certain stereotypes,
especially people who are not trained to take up the mantle. Her father, Eugene Meyer, made his
money in stock markets and then moved to Washington DC to work in public service, like many
others of his generation. He was the first president of the World Bank. Business came to the
Institutional Equities PERSONAL HISTORY

family accidentally. Eugene had resigned from all government posts in 1933 and didn’t want to
idle away at home, so he bought Washington Post at a bankruptcy auction in 1933. Later part of
Eugene’s life was spent in trying to turn Washington Post profitable although it took them two
decades to turn it around.

I wouldn’t have invested in Katharine Graham’s company had I known her…

Katharine was never trained to be a business leader. She got married to a bright lawyer, Phil
Graham who eventually took over from her father the responsibility of running Washington Post.
Phil was remarkably successful at this venture but Katharine was overshadowed by him. Ms
Graham portrays herself as a boring middle aged housewife lacking in confidence who would
avoid interacting at various social parties as she was scared she would say something stupid.
Katharine also cites instances where Phil got into the habit of ridiculing her in public for her dull
personality. This first part of the book reinforces how Ms Graham thought of herself as most unfit
for what was to become latter half of her life. No one saw it coming, including herself.

Unfortunately, Phil was mentally ill and committed suicide in 1963, forcing Katharine to take
charge of Washington Post Company.

Newspapers and publishing businesses are tough in the sense that you have to push out content
daily. Katharine says she could not find her bearings at first. This is an excerpt from an interview
that she gave to Women’s Wear Daily as late as 1969 (6 years into the job, 3 years before IPO)
reveals her persona and thought process.

“….Kay graham joins in by-play, but doesn’t dominate it…”

“I rely on Fritz’s-and other men’s-judgement in every decision”

“I guess it’s a man’s world….In the world today, men are more able than women at executive
work and in certain situations.”

I quote this here not as her view on women’s position in society but as a reflection of her self-
doubt. The choice of publication where she gave interview is also revealing.

But someone did invest in her company at IPO and made lots of money…
Warren Buffett bought 10% of company’s Class B shares at IPO without having met Katharine
and immediately wrote to her to introduce himself. It was a substantial commitment for Warren
Buffett at the time when he was starting out. Ms Graham’s advisors warned her against

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encouraging an unknown (at that time) fund manager but she went ahead and met him. To
Katharine’s circle, Warren Buffett’s intentions may have been suspect but she over-ruled them.
Throughout initial troubles at Washington Post after IPO, Warren Buffett continued to buy more
of Washington Post Company. He was eventually appointed to the Board of Directors. Right from
IPO, Warren became a confidante of Katharine. He advised her on M&A (accompanying her to
deal negotiations), recommended share buyback when it wasn’t in vogue and defended her in
meetings whenever tough finance questions were thrown her way.

So what did I think made Katharine such an exemplary business leader, despite all her
drawbacks?

1. She knew her drawbacks: At least a quarter of this 627 page tome focuses on Katharine’s
self-analysis and where all she ended short of her own expectations or where she made
mistakes. Her self-analysis is almost brutal in places. Knowing what she was bad at may have
been the first step into trying and fill those gaps.
2. She trusted and relied on a few people in professional relationships that lasted over decades:
Apart from Warren Buffett, the other example cited extensively in this book is that of Ben
Bradlee who was the executive editor at The Washington Post from 1968-1991. Ben and his
team were instrumental in acquiring and publishing “Pentagon Papers” and later led the
expose on Watergate scandal. With these two events, the reputation of Washington Post was
firmly established which enabled it to compete effectively against New York Times as a
journal of national repute. Ben and Katharine didn’t start on great terms but she kept her
personal reservations aside. The publication of Pentagon Papers may have put her IPO plans
at risk but she still went ahead and gave Ben the OK to publish them.
3. Extraordinary ability to absorb shocks: Apart from her family situations including her
husband’s suicide, she details two events in the life of Washington Post which transformed
the company. The newspaper led the expose on Watergate scandal which led to a Pulitzer
Prize win and more importantly, resignation of a US president. Since no other publication
followed them on the expose, Katharine describes those days as lonely. There was also
tremendous political pressure which kept building through a re-election for President Nixon.
While she had no role in reporting or publication of Watergate stories, she never questioned
Ben and his team on their intent, not even their sources. She never tried to bury the expose
either, instead focusing on how best to diffuse the situation with the government. Second
instance of this ability of hers shows up in a debilitating 18 months union strike, where she
ultimately got the employee union to agree to her terms. However during 18 months, the
newspaper circulation and advertising space fell and the costs of printing rose, leading to a

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Institutional Equities PERSONAL HISTORY

significant decline in profitability. However, Ms Graham stood her ground and didn’t buckle
under pressure, leading to a windfall that Washington Post continued to enjoy over next few
decades.
4. Washington Post was not just a business for her, it was a family legacy: During the strike,
Katharine would sit at the classifieds desk during the day, taking ad orders over telephone. At
night, she would pack the printed newspapers for postal despatch. These are just few of the
many instances of the heart and soul she put into managing Washington Post. The
management eventually passed to her son, Donald Graham which also reflects family legacy
of the business.
5. Single-minded focus on profitability: It appears that her family’s struggle to make
Washington Post profitable in the first two decades of ownership left a deep impression on Ms
Graham. For the very few mentions of company’s share price in the book, profitability pops
out of pages quite frequently, almost every 5 years in chronology. The reason for the union
strike described above was Katharine’s focus on profitability. She set an internal profit target
which eventually required her busting the union.

What we liked / didn’t like:

Liked Didn’t Like

• Candid, brutally honest about herself. A • Endless descriptions of Washington DC
departure from usual business biographies. social life of which she was a part.
Best performing CEOs need not be super
humans as long as they know where to
seek help.
• One full chapter worth of material on her
hiring mistakes and how they are
unavoidable.
• Ringside view of major events of
contemporary history.
• A rare memoir of personal work ethic and
succession, how Washington Post
remained central to the family and how the
family remained committed to the Post
through three generations of ownership.

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 Institutional Equities PERSONAL HISTORY

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 Institutional Equities PERSONAL HISTORY

A graph of daily closing prices of securities is available at http://www.nseindia.com/ChartApp/install/charts/mainpage.jsp, www.bseindia.com and http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/stock-quotes.
(Choose a company from the list on the browser and select the “three years” period in the price chart).

Name, Qualification and Certification of Research Analyst: Dr Abhishek Sharma(PGDM)

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Key to our recommendation structure

BUY - Stock expected to give a return 10%+ more than average return on a debt instrument over a 1-year horizon.

SELL - Stock expected to give a return 10%+ below the average return on a debt instrument over a 1-year horizon.

Add - Stock expected to give a return 0-10% over the average return on a debt instrument over a 1-year horizon.

Reduce - Stock expected to give a return 0-10% below the average return on a debt instrument over a 1-year horizon.

Distribution of Ratings: Out of 215 stocks rated in the IIFL coverage universe, 120 have BUY ratings, 4 have SELL ratings, 66 have ADD ratings and 24 have REDUCE ratings

Price Target: Unless otherwise stated in the text of this report, target prices in this report are based on either a discounted cash flow valuation or comparison of valuation ratios with companies seen by the analyst as
comparable or a combination of the two methods. The result of this fundamental valuation is adjusted to reflect the analyst’s views on the likely course of investor sentiment. Whichever valuation method is used there is a
significant risk that the target price will not be achieved within the expected timeframe. Risk factors include unforeseen changes in competitive pressures or in the level of demand for the company’s products. Such demand
variations may result from changes in technology, in the overall level of economic activity or, in some cases, in fashion. Valuations may also be affected by changes in taxation, in exchange rates and, in certain industries,
in regulations. Investment in overseas markets and instruments such as ADRs can result in increased risk from factors such as exchange rates, exchange controls, taxation, and political and social conditions. This
discussion of valuation methods and risk factors is not comprehensive – further information is available upon request.

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