Nicholas Thompson - CEO of The Atlantic (50k American Record Holder) | The Simple Sport That Reveals Everything About You
Success Story with Scott D. Clary
Success Story Media
4.6 • 1.9K Ratings
🗓️ 30 October 2025
⏱️ 63 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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Nicholas Thompson is the CEO of The Atlantic, where he has led one of the most successful turnarounds in American media—achieving profitability, record subscriptions, and three Pulitzer Prizes since 2021. Previously editor-in-chief of Wired (where he boosted digital subscriptions nearly 300%) and editor of NewYorker.com, Thompson co-founded two tech ventures sold to WordPress and Amplica Labs, edited stories that became the Oscar-winning film Argo, and authored The Hawk and the Dove, hailed as "brilliant" by The Washington Post. An American record holder in the 50K run with 2 million social media followers, he embodies the intersection of editorial excellence, entrepreneurial vision, and athletic discipline—bringing the same relentless drive to building media companies as he does to distance running.
➡️ Show Links
https://www.instagram.com/nxthompson/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholasxthompson/
➡️ Podcast Sponsors
Hubspot - https://hubspot.com/
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Monarch Money - https://www.monarchmoney.com (Code: Success)
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Think Big, Buy Small Podcast - https://link.chtbl.com/B2cH36AX?sid=SuccessStory
NetSuite — https://netsuite.com/scottclary/
Indeed - https://indeed.com/clary
➡️ Talking Points
00:00 – Intro
01:31 – Why Running Is the Purest Sport
02:28 – The Challenge of Being Alone with Your Thoughts
04:44 – Discovering the Need for Solitude
11:52 – Running with Awareness, Not Just Discipline
14:42 – Living with Conflicting Personalities
16:42 – Sponsor Break
19:27 – The Double-Edged Sword of Obsession
21:14 – How Cancer Changed His Perspective
31:50 – Sponsor Break
43:29 – When Simplicity Becomes Profound
48:40 – Running as a High-Performer’s Edge
49:30 – Nicholas’ Wildest Running Story
53:22 – Running as a Multifaceted Tool
54:43 – The One Takeaway for Readers
55:11 – Advice to His 20-Year-Old Self
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Indeed is a success story partner. |
| 0:01.8 | Now, here's your tech hiring tip of the week from Indeed. |
| 0:03.9 | 73% of tech workers say flexibility is one of their top priorities. |
| 0:08.8 | So if your job posting doesn't mention flexible hours or remote options, |
| 0:12.8 | you're basically invisible to three out of four candidates. |
| 0:16.1 | Keep that in mind. |
| 0:17.0 | Look, hiring tech talent right now, it's tough. |
| 0:19.6 | You are competing for people with super specific skills. |
| 0:22.3 | Everyone wants hybrid work and the salary expectations are through the roof. It's a lot. |
| 0:26.5 | That's why Indeed actually makes sense. They're the number one place where tech people go to |
| 0:30.9 | apply for jobs. We're talking three million tech professionals in the U.S. and 86% of them |
| 0:36.5 | have applied through Indeed. It's not just some |
| 0:39.2 | job board where you post and pray. They've got tools like smart searching and their tech network |
| 0:43.7 | that uses AI to connect you with people who actually have the skills that you need. Companies using |
| 0:48.3 | the tech network saw over four times more relevant applications. That's huge. More qualified people, way less time wasted. |
| 0:55.6 | Whenever I've needed tech talent in the past, Indeed is the only platform I choose. And if I needed |
| 1:00.0 | to hire top tier tech talent today, I'd still go with Indeed. Post your first job and get $75 |
| 1:05.2 | off at Indeed.com slash tech talent. That's indeed.com slash tech talent to claim this offer indeed build for what's now |
| 1:14.1 | and what's next in tech hiring why is running the simplest sport it's the sport that you can do almost at |
| 1:21.1 | any time at any moment just by yourself your successes are your own your failures are your own i start |
| 1:26.4 | running very seriously |
| 1:28.0 | when I'm about 15. And initially I do it for a love of competition. And I do it because I'm good at |
... |
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