On She Said

Like many people, I’ve had to reduce the amount of news I consume in the last few years. It feels strange, because following politics and staying up on the news has been part of my identity since at least middle school. But between Trump, Kavanaugh, and countless #MeToo revelations, repeatedly seeing men behave abysmally and feeling powerless to stop it has taken a mental health toll. I’ve put clear limits around the amount of time I spent hearing these men’s voices: I stay generally informed and try to engage in responses that feel productive, from marching and voting to talking with friends about the issues, but I close my computer or put down my phone when it feels like I’m just marinating in the news cycle.

So in some ways, it was a little surprising that I picked up She Said. Even outside of the current news climate, I don’t usually buy the timely, news-oriented hardbacks positioned at the front of the bookstore — or even many hardbacks at all, for that matter. But the library had a wait list for the book, I was seeing glowing reviews of it everywhere, and I had a long flight coming up, so I bought it.

I was instantly hooked. Even though I obviously already knew what would happen — the New York Times’ incredible reporting team of Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey would start investigating Harvey Weinstein, uncover a horrifying pattern of sexual harassment and abuse, and, with help from brave women who told their stories, ultimately take him down — seeing just how they got there was fascinating. The book was both a page-turner and a primer in how to work with competence and caring.

It was also a reminder of how much process matters. This is something I think about constantly in my work at an innovation center: how you innovate matters, and even when two products — whether they’re tech products or stories on sexual misconduct — might initially look the same, the decision-making behind how they were created often has a lasting impact. Earlier this year, my workplace co-hosted a Global Innovation Symposium, which brought leaders from around the world to the stage to share their approaches to innovation. One takeaway that stuck with me was how maneuvering within existing systems can be hugely innovative: one of the event’s speakers, for example, shared how health workers in Kenya had gradually improved access to HIV care for gay men, working around discriminatory policies by finding ways to make targeted, local changes. I was reminded of this as I read about Kantor and Twohey finding a new path into a story that looked hard to crack — they realized they could follow the trail left by secret settlements — and using this new approach, within the structure of journalistic conventions, to construct a story designed to be airtight.  

Part of this involves getting comfortable with nuances and gray areas. Particularly in the last few sections of the book, which cover the Kavanaugh hearings and the #MeToo movement more generally, Kantor and Twohey thoughtfully address the complexity of #MeToo’s aftermath — especially the open questions around how much has changed, what the backlash looks like, and what life has been like for the women who came forward. As in their reporting, they provide a textured view of what they see on the ground, and they don’t make any claims they can’t back up. This was a good reminder for me, as I think about using words to create impact: I’m often tempted to swing for the fences, making bold, sweeping statements. She Said was a masterclass in the power of building a story in a way that might at first glance seem less groundbreaking, but that ultimately serves as a much sturdier foundation for sustained change. In the midst of more horrible news, the book left me feeling refreshed — and with a new sense of agency.