Knowing when you have the real story

As a journalist for The New York Times, I was always evaluating during the reporting process whether I really had the story. Not necessarily the story people were telling me, or the one the editors were expecting, but the deeper account of what is happening and why, and what it means for our audience.

The hard lesson every journalist learns is that before you can write, record or capture any narrative, you need to understand not just what is happening but also why it is happening now, and then talk to people at the heart of that why. Because in communications, regardless of the sector, the audience or the industry, it is not what a company does, or how it does it, but rather why it does it that is magnetic to us, as Simon Sinek brilliantly explained in his regional TEDx talk ca. 2009.

This is why I think coming from a strong journalism background that rewarded near-endless curiosity is elemental to what FKBS does. The heart of the story, whether it’s about AI or Connecticut dairy farming, is rarely found 3 questions into an interview. More like 30, and sometimes 300.

Working in tech and venture capital, I recognize that humans may not always be the focus of a new development or narrative. But my ability to connect to people and persuade them (even taciturn dairy farmers) to speak candidly is the surest way to know when I have the real story.

— Paul von Zielbauer