In this episode, Felix, Mihir and Semafor’s Liz Hoffman debate the backlash against woke CEOs. Did America’s corporate leaders go too far when they embraced broad social and political goals? Does corporate activism ultimately undermine political action? What’s the cost of cutting business ties with corporations that are deemed too woke? Plus, we ask Liz Hoffman about her new book, Crash Landing: The Inside Story of How the World’s Biggest Companies Survived an Economy on the Brink. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Hello, everyone.
You're listening to After Hours.
I'm Felix.
I'm Mihir.
And I'm Liz Hoffman, the business and finance editor at Semaphore.
Welcome, Liz.
It's so good to have you.
Thank you for having me.
I'm excited.
So, Liz, you recently moved from the Wall Street Journal to Semaphore, a digital publisher.
What's that like?
Exactly as you'd imagine.
I spent nine years at the Wall Street Journal and I loved it.
I learned so much and have so much respect for the place.
But look, media is changing fast.
One thing we've seen is this declining trust in institutions, but an increasing trust and affinity for individuals.
And I think trying to get closer to my readers and my sources and my subjects, rather than treating journalism as received wisdom that comes down from the mountain from these tablets, a newspaper that's going to be at the bottom of a birdcage tomorrow.
I also was at a point in my career, and you will appreciate this, that I just wanted to try something entrepreneurial and sort of see what it felt like to take a risk.
And I'm told reliably that the best businesses are started in tough economic times.
And then even more exciting.