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The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish

#85 Bethany McLean: Crafting a Narrative

The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish

Farnam Street

Business, Investing, Entrepreneurship

4.72.9K Ratings

🗓️ 9 June 2020

⏱️ 95 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Best-selling author of The Smartest Guys in the Room and All the Devils are here, Bethany McLean, discusses how to write a story, the behaviors of CEO’s, visionaries and fraudsters and so much more.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

There's this idea that the business world is hard and cold and rational, and it's not.

0:04.0

It's incredibly emotional, and everybody is pious toward belief because most people stand to make money if a stock goes up.

0:10.8

It's that great quote from the end of the Sun also rises, isn't it pretty to think so?

0:15.4

It's always prettier to think so than it is to say, do not think so.

0:19.4

It's particularly true in business because most people want to make money.

0:30.4

Hello and welcome. I'm Shane Parrish and you're listening to The Knowledge Project, a podcast dedicated to mastering the best what other people have already figured out.

0:46.0

This podcast on our website, FS.log, help you better understand yourself and the world around you by exploring the methods, ideas, and mental models from some of the most incredible people in the world.

0:56.4

If you enjoy this podcast, we've created a premium version that brings you even more.

1:00.0

We'll get ad-free versions of the show, like you won't have to hear me say this.

1:03.6

Early access to episodes you would have got this last week, transcripts, and so much more.

1:08.4

For the price of a couple cups of coffee, you can help us out.

1:11.2

If you want to learn more now, head on over to FS.log, slash podcast, or check out the show notes for a link.

1:17.0

Today I'm talking with the remarkable Bethany McLean, who is one of the best investigative journalists in the world.

1:23.6

In this in-depth interview, we talk about the role of journalism in society, the investigative process, and Ron.

1:29.6

What happens in the wake of exposure? The ways were rational and emotional, and so much more.

1:35.6

It's time to listen and learn.

1:42.8

The Knowledge Project is sponsored by Medalab.

1:45.6

For a decade, Medalab has helped some of the world's top companies and entrepreneurs build products that millions of people use every day.

1:52.6

You probably didn't realize it at the time, but odds are you've used an app that they've helped design or build.

1:57.6

Apps like Slack, Coinbase, Facebook Messenger, Oculus, Lonely Planet, and many more.

2:03.6

Medalab wants to bring their unique design philosophy to your project.

2:06.6

Let them take your brainstorm and turn it into the next billion dollar app from idea sketched on the back of an Appkin to a final ship product.

...

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