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Steven Lipin: Activism, M&A, and the Rising Stakes of Board Communication
Description
(0:00) Intro
(1:36) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel
(2:23) Start of interview
(3:11) Steve's origin story
(5:05) His Journey into Journalism
(6:02) The Rise of Governance Movement
(7:00) Transformation of Board Accountability. Reference to the 1992 Board coup at GM and other historical changes.
(10:24) Communication in Governance
(12:25) Establishing Gladstone Place Partners
(15:00) Crisis Management and Board Roles
(17:34) The Importance of Investor Relations
(20:40) Current Landscape of Shareholder Activism.
(25:14) The Snap activism case. The impact of activism on companies with dual-class share structures.
(30:12) M&A Transactions, Delaware and DExit. The impact of Twitter's acquisition by Elon Musk. Reference to E201 with Leo Strine.
(34:47) The Ongoing Cybersecurity Challenge. Reference to Anthropic's new Claude Mythos.
(37:51) The Impact of AI on Governance. The case of Anthropic's dispute with the Pentagon. *Reference to evanepstein.substack.com and E204 with Eric Ries.
(42:50) AI's PR problem. The challenge of building data centers. The geopolitics of AI.
(46:30) Impact of job firings, due to AI?
(49:53) The state of ESG and DEI in 2026.
(52:05) Books that have greatly influenced his life:
- The Island at the Center of the World, by Russell Shorto (2004)
- The Power Broker, by Robert Caro (1974)
- Alexander Hamilton, by Ron Chernow (2004)
(53:10) His mentors.
(54:00) Quotes that he thinks of often or lives her life by (Grateful Dead lyrics)
(54:24) An unusual habit or an absurd thing that he loves
(55:06) The living person he most admires
Steven Lipin is founder and CEO of communications advisory firm Gladstone Place Partners and a trusted advisor in the field of strategic, financial and corporate governance communications.
You can follow Evan on social media at:
X: @evanepstein
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/
Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/
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