Bethany McLean
19 statements across 1 episodes · 1 bullish · 6 bearish · 1 people on the record · first statement Jun 9, 2020 by Bethany McLean · across every show →
On the record as a speaker too: Bethany McLean's record, appearances and statements → this page counts the times other people say the name.
Everything said about Bethany McLean, oldest first
Jun 9, 2020 neutral
McLean: Fortune's Enron takedown originated from short seller Jim Chanos' tip
“But this piece, nonetheless, which started when a guy named Jim Chanos, who many people know, he's one of the longest-running short sellers out there, came to me and said, how does Enron make money? Tell me if you can figure it out.”
Jun 9, 2020 negative
Jun 9, 2020 negative
Jun 9, 2020
Jun 9, 2020 neutral
McLean: Former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling preferred hiring 'people with spikes'
“Jeff Skilling used to say that he liked people with spikes, and what he meant by that was that he didn't like well-rounded, genial, average people. He liked people with a really exceptional characteristic that defined them, and that may come at the expense of …”
Jun 9, 2020 negative
McLean: Enron investors ignored business fundamentals to chase 20% earnings growth
“So many people who were investors in the company Couldn't answer the basic question, how does this company make money? They just wanted the 20% earnings growth that would spit out the bottom line, and the stock price jump that would happen when the company met…”
Jun 9, 2020 neutral
McLean: Many visionaries lie to keep investors funding their dreams
“Because a lot of visionaries from Thomas Edison through have lied at various points in time and have said things that weren't true in order to keep their employees and their investors believing in them so they can keep getting the money to fund their dreams.”
Jun 9, 2020 neutral
Jun 9, 2020 positive
Bethany McLean: Good journalism is transparency and honesty, not infallibility
“I don't think it's necessarily getting it right, because I think really provocative stories may prove to be wrong. I think it's transparency and intellectual honesty, so being clear about what the facts are and where things are coming from, so that people can …”
Jun 9, 2020 negative
McLean: Hyped digital media models like BuzzFeed and Vice failed to work
“Most of the new business models that have come along and been hyped for a period of time have proven not to work any better than the old business models, whether it was Vice or BuzzFeed or what Vox or whatever else has come along that people have said, this is…”
Jun 9, 2020
Jun 9, 2020 neutral
Jun 9, 2020
McLean: White-collar crime stems from ego and rationalization, not deliberate malice
“I've really come to believe that very few white-collar crimes or stories of business gone wrong are done by people who deliberately set out to deceive other people. Usually it's this odd mixture of Rationalization. Arrogance. Some greed, yes, but usually greed…”
Jun 9, 2020
McLean: Investors succumb to charismatic founder worship over evaluating business profitability
“And I think we're particularly guilty of that today because the lure of the founder is, is so strong. And so there's this idea that the right charismatic person can build anything. And so I People latch on to that. We all want to find that person we can believ…”
Jun 9, 2020 neutral
McLean: Wealth Accumulation Beyond Basic Needs Serves Ego, Not Utility
“Money over a certain point, if it's your goal, is for sure not in service of material goods or making your life nicer. It's just about comparing your balance to those of other people so you can feel bigger than they are, and so that's what I mean by greed in t…”
Jun 9, 2020 negative
McLean: Employees cannot objectively perceive wrongdoing when their pay depends on it
“If you're inside a company and your pay depends on that company, that's that great Upton Sinclair quote, right? You can never tell a man anything if his wallet depends on him not hearing it. That's something like that. If you're inside a company and everybody …”
Jun 9, 2020
McLean: Subjects Always Learn Every Unflattering Claim Prior to Publication
“We always at Fortune, and I still today have a belief, I'd always, if I'm writing something about you will know everything in the piece that is unflattering before it goes to print, so that we'll, we'll have it out before it's in print.”
Jun 9, 2020
McLean: Inspiring a Grand Vision Makes CEOs Blind to Failure
“It's very hard to be the leader of a company, I would think, if you yourself aren't a believer, and aren't biased toward belief, because you need, as the CEO or the leader, to be able to inspire other people, right, with your grand vision. And so how, if you'r…”
Jun 9, 2020 negative
McLean: Stock performance does not rationally prove Elon Musk is a genius
“In the Tesla debate, one of the main things Tesla bulls say is, look at the stock. So, because the stock has done so well, that proves that Elon Musk is a genius and that our belief is, is right. I mean, obviously, it proves nothing of the sort, right? It's a …”