Stories' role in democracy

Nicholas Thompson (Website, X, LinkedIn, Wikipedia) is the CEO of The Atlantic, an elite distance runner, and the author of The Running Ground—a memoir about his father, his life, and the sport of running. Full transcript and all links at dialectic.fm/nick-thompson.

Nick has led The Atlantic to tremendous subscriber growth and profitability since joining the then-money losing publication in early 2021. He was previously editor-in-chief of WIRED and editor of newyorker.com. He also co-founded The Atavist, wrote The Hawk and The Dove, and is a prolific interviewer, including his latest series, The Most Interesting Thing in AI. Nick is also the American record holder in the 50K, which he re-broke two days after we recorded this conversation (Exhales).

We talked about the future of words in the age of AI, what makes a journalist, why legacy media institutions like The Atlantic are worth fighting for, and what great editing and coaching have in common. Then we turned to running and life: the small tailwinds that compound beyond what we can imagine, Nick’s trajectory—through a prodigious start, early career failure and African kidnapping, cancer at 30, and wild success since—to name a few beats, the trials and blessings of inheritance, and the versions of himself he may no longer have time to find. To close, Nick honors Scott Thompson’s memory by sharing how we might all be more like him and reflects on what drives aliveness.

I hope you are inspired to get started, feel the wind at your back, clear unexpected hurdles, savor great words, raise your bar beyond what is reasonable, be grateful for those who came before and pay it forward to those who are next, and remember that there is always more waiting—for you, for me, for us.

P.S. It’s unrelated to this conversation, but please read The Atlantic’s latest cover story and one of my favorite (and funniest) things I’ve read in ages. Caity Weaver on The Best Free Restaurant Bread in America. Long live long form writing.

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Timestamps:

• 0:00 Opening Highlights
• 1:17 Intro to Nick
• 2:24 Thanks to Notion
• 3:30 Start: Words, Reading, and Writing in an Automated World
• 18:39 Why Stories Matter and What Makes a Journalist
• 28:22 Media Institutions, The Atlantic, Democracy, Tech, and Power
• 44:21 Retaining Great Writers and The Virtues of Editors (and Coaches)
• 57:44 Magazines and America
• 1:05:57 Running, Motivation, Momentum, and Tailwinds
• 1:16:08 Aging, Fathers and Sons, Inheritance, and a Mother's Grace
• 1:31:00 Merging Machine-like Discipline and Wild Curiosity, The Boat that Never Touched Water, and Who We Might Still Become
• 1:44:11 Gratitude, Stalin's Daughter, Scott Thompson's Verve, and Feeling Most Alive
• 1:52:40 Closing and Thanks Again to Notion

Key Links:

• The Running Ground - Nick Thompson
• Why I Run (excerpt from Running Ground) - Nick Thompson for The Atlantic
• Not Fade Away book - by Laurence Shames and Peter Barton
• Nick Thompson - Timeless (With Guarav Ahuja)
• Writer Evan Ratliff Tried to Vanish: Here's What Happened (Wired)
• John W. Gardner — "Personal Renewal" Speech
• Will the Humanities Survive Artificial Intelligence? - D. Graham Burnett for The New Yorker