At this time, I’m speaking with Megan Greenwell, a former high editor at Wired and Deadspin, about her new e book Dangerous Firm: Personal Fairness and the Demise of the American Dream. It comes out on June tenth, and it’s a searing account of how personal fairness goes far past impacting failing companies and deeply impacts and transforms the lives of on a regular basis Individuals.
Decoder could be very a lot a present in regards to the techniques and frameworks that designate tech, coverage, and enterprise, and meaning we’ve talked about personal fairness numerous occasions on the present. Personal fairness is in all places throughout the enterprise panorama, despite the fact that its huge affect on how so many corporations function is fairly hidden from view.
However when you see it, you begin to discover it in all places, and it’s extremely validating to listen to that so many individuals have had related experiences with corporations managed by personal fairness. I do know this, as a result of it’s in our numbers and the suggestions we get right here on Decoder — our 2023 episode with lawyer and creator Brendan Ballou about his e book on personal fairness, Plunder, is certainly one of our hottest episodes.
Megan’s curiosity in personal fairness got here from her expertise as editor-in-chief of Deadspin, the well-known and now-defunct sports activities and tradition web site. Deadspin was a part of Gawker, and Gawker was taken over by a personal fairness agency known as Nice Hill Companions, which started to right away micromanage Deadspin’s content material. That was when Megan first realized that the objectives and monetary outcomes of a personal fairness agency have been very disconnected from the objectives and monetary outcomes of the businesses it had taken over.
Megan’s e book is a deep dive into the personal fairness business, as expressed in 4 components of the financial system: retail, media, housing, and — perhaps essentially the most maddening of all of them — healthcare. My household has a number of docs in it, and I’ve heard a lot about how personal fairness has modified healthcare within the US. You’ll hear Megan join the dots between the financialization of healthcare and the poor experiences many individuals have with healthcare immediately.
We additionally spent a while speaking in regards to the historical past of personal fairness, and the throughline from the New York Metropolis actual property world that gave delivery to Donald Trump all the best way to the personal fairness business of immediately. I believe you’ll discover there’s a shocking quantity of historical past right here that basically does assist clarify not simply how the incentives of finance have come to dominate the American lifestyle, but in addition the way it’s seeped into the best ranges of the federal government. Maybe most surprisingly, you’ll hear Megan take nice pains to distinguish personal fairness from enterprise capital, which could be very totally different — and with very totally different issues.
I at all times actually take pleasure in speaking to different editors, particularly about one thing they’re so interested in. Let me know what you concentrate on this one. I believe you should have so much to say.
When you’d wish to learn extra on what we talked about on this episode, take a look at the hyperlinks beneath:
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