Video: 'What's the Story?'

In 1972, actor Jason Robards nearly died when his car hit the side of a mountain as he was driving home. Robards knew his drinking caused the crash, and he was now at a low point in his life personally and professionally. His constant battles with alcoholism affected his ability to gain employment, and his age limited the type of roles he could play. Now, he needed cosmetic surgery to save his face.

Several years later, friend and fellow actor Robert Redford had an ideal part for Robards, playing the legendary Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee in an upcoming movie about the Watergate break-in titled “All The President’s Men.” Redford gave Robards the script and offered him $50K to play the part. After reviewing the role, Robards met with Redford and told him, “I can’t play this part; all Bradlee does is walk around screaming, ‘What's the bleeping story?’” But not only did Robards take the part, he played it flawlessly, even winning an Oscar.

In all successful companies, leaders are tasked with doing the right thing, while managers are charged with doing things right. Robards wasn’t wrong with his description of Bradlee, nor was Bradlee wrong for asking the question. Bradlee’s main job was to force everyone to focus on the main story — not to become distracted by the external.

Once a direction was firmly in place, Bradlee then needed his managers to do the right thing — and to trust their work. Bradlee's brilliance was not in his ability to do investigative work but rather in understanding the story's essence. Watergate was not about a break-in of five burglars. The main story became a conspiracy to infiltrate the opposing party by the White House for political gain. As Post reporter Carl Bernstein once said about Bradlee’s brilliance, “Ben had 50 ways of asking the same question: ‘Where is the story?’” 

As leaders, we must understand the difference between what managers do and what we must we do. Even though we believe our role to be complex and multi-layered, our primary function each day is to make sure that our team is going in the right direction.

In essence, what is the story?