Woodward described a technique he uses during interviews. “CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News each have their facts, and then, there are the facts.” An interview is about making people feel comfortable enough to tell their story so you can get to those facts and build the bigger story. “Everyone has their own version of the truth, but there are facts,” according to Woodward. “Because this is where you get the truth.” “Go to the red hot center of what’s important in somebody’s life,” Woodward said. Photo: © 2017 Bloomberg Finance LPĪfter two Pulitzer Prizes and 19 bestselling books, Woodward has learned that “the purpose of an interview is not gotcha, is not to catch,” it is to build confidence and trust. Robert 'Bob' Gates, former CIA Director and U.S. In 2014, Former CIA director and Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, told POLITICO, 'I would have really liked to recruit for the CIA because he has an extraordinary ability to get otherwise responsible adults to spill guts to him…his ability to get people to talk about stuff they shouldn't be talking about is extraordinary.' Consider Ratan Tata, former chairman of India’s highly-respected Tata Group, Dawn Sweeney, president and CEO of the National Restaurant Association or three-time world champion, Bruce Bochy, manager of the San Francisco Giants, each of these individuals have an intense level of curiosity and deep-seated interest in their people that compels them to “show up and shut up.” Woodward’s method is consistent with some of the best leaders we know. A box office hit i n 1977, All the President’s Men was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won four, including Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, Best Sound Mixing and Best Production Design. What intrigued him about Watergate was the investigative process of the two journalists.

He met Woodward and Carl Bernstein in New York and told them that he wanted to do a movie on them, not the Nixon resignation. At first, Woodward didn’t return Redford’s call. Woodward added that Robert Redford did the same thing when pitching the film, All the President’s Men. After a very long uncomfortable pause, the general invited him inside they talked for nearly two hours. When the general opened the door, he looked at Woodward and asked, “Are you still doing this shit?” Woodward opted to wallow in poker-faced silence.

“Knocking on the door of a four-star general at 8:17 p.m. Woodward asked, “When is the best time to knock on the door of a four-star general?” After a few wild guesses from the audience, he laughed and told us we’d fail in getting the interview.Īs it turned out, Woodward had studied this general’s schedule. The person he wanted to interview was a four-star general. This idea hit him hard when he was being stonewalled by a critical informant while working on his book, Bush At War. Woodward called it “Show up and shut up.”

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