Author Michael Lewis discusses his experience listening to Acquired during a 10-year anniversary interview with co-hosts Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal.
“You created the environment with the podcast that I tried to create with the book. You grab the listener. Like I try to grab a reader and get them to the state of mind where they'll let you take them anywhere, ah, and teach them about stuff that they don't even know they want to learn about.”
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Opinion
Michael Lewis argues private companies are much better run than public ones
“I think there's an argument to be made that in any industry where they're both private and public companies, the private companies end up being much better run. And I mean like that mostly bad things happen when companies go public and certainly less pleasant.”
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Disclosure
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Insight
Michael Lewis: Book writing does not compound audiences across topics
“The books have a kind of, Market, and it's a big market, biggish market, but it doesn't, I see no evidence that I'm dragging people along with me. I feel like each book feels like another startup, and then I've got to go out and make it happen almost as if I'v…”
Michael LewisDec 15, 2025▶ 26:1510 Years of Acquired (with Michael Lewis) · Acquired
Opinion
Lewis: Nike blew its dominance by ditching wholesale retail for direct-to-consumer
“Nike basically blew it, right? They let these, they let, they got rid of their stores. They thought it's all going to be online and on and Hoka roll in”
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Insight
Michael Lewis: Improvisational risk engages audiences far more than scripted speeches
“Do you know how your heart sinks when someone gets up at a podium with a script, with a speech, and they're gonna read their speech? The audience is waiting for you to get through this thing, because they know nothing's going to happen. Like, whatever's on tha…”
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PredictionNot checkable as stated
Michael Lewis: Acquired will eventually evolve into doing standalone biographies
“At some point you're gonna wake up and say, you know, we should be doing more biography. We should be doing more people, and if that person is not, you know, is not naturally a huge corporation, you may still, I have a feeling there's more, there's an evolutio…”
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