The innovator and long-time producer of the CBS television program Sixty Minutes, Don Hewitt, has died. He left a massive legacy.

Hewitt produced CBS’s evening news under anchorman Douglas Edwards. He held a similar job under Walter Cronkite, then in 1963 launched Sixty Minutes, an hour-long program that almost always had three story segments. Until 1999 it was the #1 most watched program, and remains the longest-lived TV program in history.    

What was Hewitt’s secret as an innovator? (Other networks, of coursed, imitated Sixty Minutes, including ABC  — 24 Hours — and NBC,  but never came close). 

In preparing, initiating and editing the Sixty Minutes stories, Hewitt said he always tried to think about the average American viewer, on Sunday evening (the program’s traditional slot), after watching a football game. Nobody has to watch our program, he said. What will interest them? He applied the “Mabel” criterion. Will Herb call to his wife Mabel,  hey Mabel! You gotta come see this?, he said, or will he say, Mable, where’s the remote? Let’s watch the basketball game instead, this is boring.

Hewitt hated being bored. And he desperately fought never ever to bore the viewer. His talented team of reporters and journalists — Morley Safer, Mike Wallace, Leslie Stahl, Ed Bradley, Steve Croft, and others — rarely did.

“Tell them a story!” Hewitt repeatedly said. People love stories. When you are a child, what do you say? Tell me a story. Grownups do too! Sixty Minutes segments were almost always great stories. And Hewitt knew how to prepare promos, 30 second ‘teasers’ that got people to watch later that evening. 

“Tell them a story” is strong advice for innovators, too. Building a business plan? Focus not on Excel but on the story. What is the narrative? What is your product’s story? What need does it fill? Whose? Tell about the user, using it for the first time. A compelling story, in my opinion, is far more persuasive for investors and potential future hires  than a forty-page business plan.